Elton John – Empty Sky Review

Like his contemporaries at the time, Billy Joel and David Bowie, for instance, Elton John was still trying to find a voice and sound which worked for him. Empty Sky is all but forgotten about by the Rocketman hitmaker and his listeners. It was eclipsed by the strength of one song from his self-titled follow-up, but it serves as an interesting listen still. Piano rock is the obvious aim, but the psychedelic tone of the times and The Beatles’ bust-up are influencing a lot of Empty Sky. You can find the influence of the heavy hitters of the time on John’s debut, and that’s not bad at all. He, like most listeners, is moved by the classics and the contemporary in equal measure. You can hear that blur seamlessly provided on a selection of Empty Sky tracks, an effort which, while not ambitious, certainly does enough to cement John as a performer and, a rarity here, as a songwriter.  

An expectedly lucid tone overwhelms the album. A time when artists were trying to capture the stream of consciousness Bob Dylan had a few years before Empty Sky released, but it never stuck for many. Second track Val-Hala is likeable baroque pop stock and little more than that. Enjoyable but light. That’s the bulk of Empty Sky, an album which even the passing John fan can enjoy, but few will find reason to return to this one. John’s title track is a bold move. Set the audience up with a nearly nine-minute piano rock powerhouse, a very strong statement of intent. But it’s the appeal of hearing his best song first that wears rather thin in the latter stages of the album. Empty Sky begins to dwindle rather rapidly into idle experimentation with this instrument or that tone. It loses its way before John has even found his preferred creative path. An outstanding voice is clear, the instrumental direction is not.  

But that vocal strength is what has guided John through the lowlights of his career. His worst parts are still likeable for the conviction heard in the delivery of covers of Johnny B. Goode and the other dregs of Victim of Love, for instance. Empty Sky is far from those lows but does begin to feel a bit same-y right around Western Ford Gateway. He leaned away from this Joel-style storytelling, warbling vocals and desire for catchy loops. Forcing a toe-tapping song gets you nowhere, but John would learn to let it come naturally in the albums to follow. Hymn 2000 is a nice one, but it has the trouble many A-sides in the early years of great artists has. It overshadows the rest of the album. A few moments of interest in songs which roll on too long. Electric guitar bliss on Sails is one of those great pieces in an otherwise forgettable track.  

Skyline Pigeon is unlike anything John has ever done, that is, he predicts and pops the Joel piano rock bubble. Thankfully, John would steer well away from the nasty sounds of this track, hardly ever returning to the handwringing, heartstring-tugging ridiculousness. He hasn’t quite mastered the subconscious voice here, with tide-turning winds and pigeon dreams really dragging Empty Sky down. John listened to Simon and Garfunkel a little too much before releasing this album, it seems. Scribbles from an artist who had big ambitions but not the experience to write them into existence. Fair enough, it happens. Empty Sky has some moments of interest but it soon fades into everyday pop-rock noise, the closing track Gulliver/Hay Chewed/Reprise confirming that John needed help with his lyrics and also his instrumental style which flows from psychedelic to unoriginal lounge jazz in record time.