comments on 90-81:
90. jersey boy dreams of the big city. added bonus: rosie, and the saga of spanish johnny and puerto rican jane.
89. lady soul is the canonized classic, but i never loved a man has the tunes. (title track, "respect," "dr. feelgood," "do right woman...," "save me," etc.)
88. taupin had never been to america when he wrote this, and it sounds it. per usual, elton has to save his ass and delivers his second-best bunch of tunes. as with the very best elton albums, paul buckmaster arranges.
87. music by james brown, lyrics by a metaphysician. creates a third way for hip-hop.
86. oh, how i wanted to cling to heartattack & vine. and then, longed to put small change in its stead. but i now begrudgingly admit that this is his best album. also: astral weeks is good. really!
85. you can almost see him on stage. almost. still, all of the fury, passion, and ardor -- from both band and audience -- doesn't make up for the fact that i don't much care for the setlist.
84. see 86. also: see the movie, in theaters this summer.
83. our priest would always say "achtung!" when we weren't paying attention. apparently, so do rockers who are coming off rather unsuccessful half-live/half-roots rock albums. in one case, it just seemed like it worked; in the other, it really did. but which is which...
82. functions in both the "on" and "off" position.
81. one day, i was going buy both this and tigermilk on the same day. i only left with one of them that day, and i have yet to regret the decision.