Everyone seems to forget the solid work of Empty Sky, and that’s a shame. It’s an important step Elton John made towards his self-titled second album, a release which features his first all-time great song. He and Bernie Taupin hit an exceptional hot streak of strong work, and Elton John, like Empty Sky, puts in some great groundwork for what listeners could expect from the pair. John has a sensational voice, he still does, and Taupin has a knack for writing songs which relate his own feelings as well as that of John’s personal life. The structure to their creative relationship is crucial, and songs like Your Song are the peak for not just Taupin as a writer but for John as an interpreter of the lyrics. They’re about him, about his worldview, and yet written by someone who seems to know John better than himself. Taupin figures out the subtleties of a raw, strong view of the world.
Your Song is quite the start to his second album. No doubt about it, it’s one of his and Taupin’s best compositions. Not just lyrically, but instrumentally and the sentimentality which comes through John’s vocal performance, it’s the perfect trifecta. Few songs can hit that so brilliantly, but John is a natural at creating that mood. John brings about a conversational tone to Your Song, it feels more like a want for the spotlight to be on hope than anything else. John would manage this with the string sections featured throughout his self-titled second album, though there are moments where it feels they overwhelm the emotional impact of the song. I Need You to Turn to doesn’t need the heartstrings plucking with obvious instrumental collectives; it has that from John’s delivery. Take Me to the Pilot is no better for that, but it does feel more upbeat and jovial in its intent.
John was not quite leading the piano rock charge with this debut, and instead has some blues-y rock to offer. No Shoe Strings on Louise has John do his best Mick Jagger impression, a rather noteworthy one and a nice continuation of the themes found on the album so far. That much is kept up the rest of the way through, warm and instrumentally rich-sounding experiences. They’re not the most emotionally depthful but there’s much to love about the singer-songwriter style which John toys with on First Episode at Hienton. He’s finding his voice and the style of songwriting which works best for him, though doesn’t come quite as close as some would hope him to after how strong a song Your Song turned out to be. Sixty Years On struggles to leave much of an impression, the acoustic guitar softness blown out by the string section.
A lack of confidence is one of the reasons for that string section reliance. There’s material throughout this self-titled album that would benefit from removing the strings entirely. But such is the style of the times and what John had been working with as he figured out the nuance of his sound and what he wanted from it. You can hear what he was wanting on Border Song, the heavier reliance on piano rock begins to form there. The Greatest Discovery, too, serves as a very solid example of the instrumental style John would soon carve into the popular sound which has served him for decades. Funky bits and pieces keep Elton John alive, with The Cage quite a strong, late-stage moment on the album. Solid work all around which highlights what John would do on later albums, and better at that.
