Description: By 1976, Elton John was the best-selling recording artist and the highest-grossing touring act in the world. With seven #1 albums in a row and a reputation as a riveting piano-pounding performer, the former Reggie Dwight had gone with dazzling speed from the London suburbs to the pinnacles of rock stardom, his songs never leaving the charts, his sold-out shows packed with adoring fans. Then he released Blue Moves, and it all came crashing down. Was the commercially disappointing and poorly reviewed double album to blame? Can one album shoot down a star? No, argues Matthew Restall; Blue Moves is a four-sided masterpiece, as fantastic as Captain Fantastic, as colorful as Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, a showcase for the three elements--piano-playing troubadour, full orchestra, rock band--with which Elton John and his collaborators redirected the evolution of popular music. Instead, both album and career were derailed by a perfect storm of circumstances: Elton's decisions to stop touring and start his own label; the turbulent shiftings of popular culture in the punk era; the minefield of attitudes towards celebrity and sexuality. The closer we get to Blue Moves, the better we understand the world into which it was born--and vice versa. Might that be true of all albums? Matthew Restall is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of History, Anthropology, and Women's Studies at Penn State University, USA. He has written a number of history books, with titles like Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest and When Montezuma Met Cortés, but he secretly always wanted to write about music. Now the secret is out. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife (not a huge Elton John fan), his many daughters (four), and his many records (more than four). Track Listing 1. A Dumb but Gorgeous One-Night Stand 2. Just as Good 3. Best of, Volume 300 4. Our Mount Everest 5. A Few Surprises 6. A Sad, Sad Situation 7. It Could Be Me 8. One of My Favorite Albums 9. The Queen Mum of Pop Acknowledgments Notes Index
Price: 13.39 USD
Location: Gloucester
End Time: 2025-01-16T18:21:30.000Z
Shipping Cost: 0 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 60 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Return policy details:
EAN: 9781501355424
UPC: 9781501355424
ISBN: 9781501355424
MPN: N/A
Book Title: Elton John's Blue Moves
Number of Pages: 160 Pages
Language: English
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication Year: 2020
Item Height: 0.4 in
Topic: History & Criticism, Genres & Styles / Blues, Composers & Musicians, Individual Composer & Musician, Genres & Styles / Rock, Genres & Styles / Pop Vocal
Illustrator: Yes
Genre: Music, Biography & Autobiography
Item Weight: 5.4 Oz
Item Length: 6.6 in
Author: Matthew Restall
Book Series: 33 1/3 Ser.
Item Width: 4.7 in
Format: Trade Paperback
