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Elton John · S5 E6
Victim of Love
A disco album produced by Pete Bellotte. Elton does not play piano on a single track. The absolute lowest point, musically
1979. Elton John records an entire album in a single eight-hour vocal session without writing a song, playing piano, or having any input into the music beneath his voice.
Elton John feat. George Michael -- Wrap Her Up (1985). George Michael, a lifelong Elton fan, shows up for the video and steals every scene. Six years from now, these two will be inseparable. In 1979, Elton can barely get through a recording session.
The Disco Album
Victim of Love is a disco record produced by Pete Bellotte, Giorgio Moroder's regular collaborator. The songs segue into each other like a continuous DJ set. Elton wanted "a record that people could dance to without taking the needle off." The result sounds like a man who has completely disconnected from his own music.
TAP TO REVEAL: What classic rock and roll song did Elton turn into a disco track?
“There's no getting around it. Elton's got problems.”
— Lester Bangs, Village Voice, 1979
Leaping on a Bandwagon
Elton later admitted he was "leaping on a bandwagon." Disco was everywhere in 1978 and 1979, and he wanted in. The problem wasn't the genre. The problem was that Elton had nothing to do with the music beyond lending his voice.
Victim of Love: The Record
What instrument did Elton John play on Victim of Love?
The Road Not Taken
The cruel irony is that Elton recorded far better material the same year. The Thom Bell Sessions, produced by Philadelphia soul legend Thom Bell, gave Elton a top 10 hit with "Mama Can't Buy You Love." Same voice, same era, completely different result when the right producer is in the room.
Mama Can't Buy You Love -- Elton John
Produced by Thom Bell, the architect of the Philadelphia soul sound behind the Spinners and the Stylistics. Recorded in 1977 but released as a single in 1979, it hit number nine on the Hot 100. Where Victim of Love sounds like a man going through the motions, this sounds like a man who actually cares about what he's singing.
Mama Can't Buy You Love, Elton John (1979)
No Bernie Taupin here either, but the difference from Victim of Love is night and day. Thom Bell's arrangement gives Elton room to breathe, to phrase, to actually inhabit the words. This is what 1979 could have sounded like if the right people had been in the room.
Rock Bottom
Victim of Love is the sound of a man who has run out of reasons to try. The drugs are escalating, the relationships are falling apart, and the music that used to be his lifeline is now just another obligation. Rock bottom has a soundtrack, and it sounds like a disco cover of Chuck Berry.
The albums keep getting worse, but the real crisis is the one Elton won't talk about. Next: a single word in a Rolling Stone interview, and the decades-long struggle to be honest about who he loves.
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