Today we have Elton John's eighth studio album Caribou. Released in 1974, the album was quickly recorded in about a week before John embarked on a Japanese tour. The album got lukewarm reviews when it was released and retrospective reviews from fans and critics alike do not generally consider it on par with his best work.
Starting off well with "The Bitch is Back," "Pinky," and "Dixie Lily," you may want to exclaim "the bitch (Elton) was never gone!" like I did, but the album quickly takes a wrong direction after that. Taupin's nonsensical lyrics on "Solar Prestige a Gamma" may in fact be too nonsensical, because while the Beatles's "Sun King" (which this song was inspired by) makes you want to sing along, the use of "molesting" in the first verse immediately quashes that possibility. The horns are overused on "Your So Static" and "Stinker" is named well. Fortunately, the album comes back around on "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" and "Ticking," which is a great lyric from Taupin about a mass shooting, but even both of these are a small step down from John's best output. B
