More than anything else, his enthusiasm for the realm of pop stardom, without any of the ironic detachment that has allowed peers such as Bowie to thrive in the public eye without losing a shred of their critical cache, has eroded his credibility as an artist of import almost beyond the vanishing point. For a younger critical establishment raised on the likes of Nirvana and Pavement, it would be almost impossible to reconcile the steely likes of Madman Across the Water with the image of Elton as the self-proclaimed “Queen Bitch” of pop, hobnobbing with the rich and richer, making no effort to hide his own beyond-ostentatious wealth. Spignesi, Stephen; Lewis, Michael (15 October 2019). Elton John - Fifty Years On - Captain Fantastic. Post Hill Press. ISBN 9781642933284– via Google Books. Offiziellecharts.de – Elton John – Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 8 November 2021. In September 2005, Elton John and his band again performed the entire album (minus "Tower of Babel" and "Writing") in a series of sold-out concerts in Boston, New York City and the tour's final stop, Atlanta, in October. These "Captain Fantastic Concerts" were a part of the Peachtree Road Tour and were the longest concerts in Elton's career, many lasting at least three and a half hours. The songs from Captain Fantastic were aired by Capital Gold Radio in a broadcast taken from 16 September 2005 performance in Boston. Charts.nz – Elton John – Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 November 2021.

RPM Top 100 Albums of 1975". RPM. Archived from the original on 24 July 2013 . Retrieved 3 October 2011.More importantly, his music is often devoid of noteworthy emotional content. That problem can’t be talked about without bringing up the controversial lyrics of his collaborator, Bernie Taupin. It wasn’t Elton John’s idea to create a “sequel” to Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy, the chart-busting 1975 album inspired by his early days with songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. It wasn’t Bernie’s, either. The Official UK Charts Company: ALBUM CHART HISTORY". Archived from the original on 16 December 2007 . Retrieved 16 December 2007. Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972[ Hit Records and Performers on 1972 Finnish Music Charts] (in Finnish) (1sted.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p.263. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5. a b Landau, Jon (17 July 1975). "Elton John: Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 29 January 2009 . Retrieved 26 November 2011.

That same month, John Lennon’s “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night,” featuring his friend Elton on harmony vocals, went to No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Soon, with considerable trepidation, Lennon was fulfilling his part of the deal – that if Elton appeared on the single, the ex- Beatle would sing with him in concert, as he did at New York’s Madison Square Garden in his last public performance. a b Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2, illustrateded.). Barrie & Jenkins. ISBN 0-214-20480-4. Larkin, Colin (1999). All-Time Top 1000 Albums. Virgin Books. p.144. ISBN 0-7535-0354-9. Archived from the original on 8 October 2021. Between the start of the sessions and the album’s appearance there came another few months of momentous releases and events. Elton’s first greatest hits collection, released in November, became a prodigious success, soaring to what is now estimated at 24 million worldwide sales. A US chart-topper for ten weeks, it was certified 17-times platinum by the RIAA for its American sales in 2016, and is comfortably his biggest-selling album of all. Keeping a bargain Traumafessions:: Reader Bigwig on Captain Fantastic & Hieronymus Bosch". kindertrauma. 24 February 2009 . Retrieved 16 October 2017.Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is the ninth studio album by English musician Elton John. The album is an autobiographical account of the early musical careers of Elton John (Captain Fantastic) and his long-term lyricist Bernie Taupin (the Brown Dirt Cowboy). It was released in May 1975 by MCA Records in America and DJM in the UK and was an instant commercial success. The album was certified gold before its release, and reached No. 1 in its first week of release on the US Billboard 200, the first album to achieve both honors. It sold 1.4 million copies within four days of release, and stayed in the top position in the chart for seven weeks. [3] [4] British album certifications – Elton John – Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy". British Phonographic Industry. Captain Fantastic debuted at number 1 on the US Billboard 200, and was the first album to do so. It stayed in that position for seven weeks. But when they put their mind to making a record based on their ensuing global adventures, what came out was one of their best pieces of work since that album, The Captain And The Kid, released on September 18, 2006. ‘It’s not something I would have thought about doing’

In 2003, the album was ranked #158 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list. [5] Later releases [ edit ] I’ve often wondered just what the common, crucial element has been in the artistic downfall of so many different artists. What’s the process by which otherwise talented musicians — Bowie, the Stones, U2, Stevie Wonder, and especially Elton John and Bernie Taupin — go from frightening acuity to rote professionalism? After considering the matter for some time the only answer that makes any sense is hunger. Everyone starts from the same point of hunger. Desire propels the artist through the stratosphere at frightening velocities, enabling them to accomplish Herculean feats of artistic mastery for as long as they remain in motion. Top Selling Albums of 1975 — The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Recorded Music New Zealand . Retrieved 8 November 2021.Fifty-nine at the time of the album’s release, John co-produced it himself with the Atlanta-based Matt Still, who had engineered and mixed the previous set. He was one of only two other names to appear in the tight-knit team that made The Captain And The Kid, along with percussionist John Mahon (that’s if you don’t count Elton’s dog Arthur, who made a cameo appearance barking at the end of “Just Like Noah’s Ark”). Structurally, the lyric is one of Taupin’s more ingenious inventions, a four-stanza free verse poem without chorus. The music begins at the exact point where “We All Fall in Love Sometimes” fades into something more expectant, rising and rising into an inexpressible crescendo. Like “God Only Knows”, the song instills an almost numinous sense of awe in the presence of what could only be described as divine harmony.