Tumbleweed Connection by Elton John (Vinyl record album review)

Record basics

Album name: Tumbleweed Connection

Artist name: Elton John

Year: 1970

Number of discs: one

Label: Uni Records

Collection: Selman

Distinguishing characteristics: clipped corner (top right)

Buy it on Amazon: $41.91

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’m not familiar with Tumbleweed Connection, but I did previously listen to two other Elton John records, first Caribou and then 11-17-70. I didn’t really enjoy either of them.

What I expected

More heavily produced singer-songwriter 1970s soft rock with extensive use of the piano.

What it was actually like

Tumbleweed Connection definitely had more a country sound than the other Elton John records, particularly on songs like Country Comfort, which kind of went back and forth between what I would consider to be a more classic Elton John style and a whiny country instrumentation. Similarly, Son of Your Father had only the smallest amount of country wah-wah during the verses, and then the chorus went full honky-tonk.

Many parts of the record had an orchestral quality, like towards the end of My Father’s Gun, and others had more than a hint of funk, like Where to Now St. Peter?

Love Song, meanwhile, was a very simple folk style song.

I didn’t care for Tumbleweed Connection any more than I enjoyed Caribou and 11-17-70, but there is another Elton John record coming up in the next few weeks, and there may be more after that.

Grade

2/5: weak, but I was able to listen to the whole thing