Post by erik on Sept 30, 2023 18:30:31 GMT -5
Sir Elton John is in this final Pop Music Hits Spotlight for September 2023, with a grandiose bit of 1990's Adult Contemporary pop balladry.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT (Elton John; Mercury/Rocket: 1997)—Even with all the changes that were going on in the pop music world during the 1900’s, Sir Elton john kept on keeping on with what worked for him; and although his hit-making capacity has all but been totally exhausted as the millennium turned, he still had more than a few moments of success, notably the music he did with lyricist Tim Rice for Disney’s 1994 animated film classic The Lion King. Three years after that, in 1997, Elton released his twenty-fifth album, The Big Picture, an album which was to peak at #9 on Billboard’s Top 200 Album Chart. By this time, Elton had become something of an “elder statesman” in pop and rock, with hits like “The One”, “The Last Song”, and “Believe” far removed from 1970’s classics like “Philadelphia Freedom” and “Bennie And The Jets”, although he still got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. In the meantime, however, The Big Picture yielded what, oddly enough, may have been his longest-running #1 single ever. On The B-side of it was a live recording of his Marilyn Monroe-inspired classic “Candle In The Wind”, which he had originally recorded for his 1973 album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. The A-side was one of the many great songs Elton wrote with his long-time songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, “Something About The Way You Look Tonight”. Done in a fairly passionate style that had characterized many of his other 1990’s hits, the song, which sometimes got confused with The Lettermen’s 1961 hit “The Way You Look Tonight”, had an accompanying video that, in Elton’s words, was “f***ing loathsome”. Even so, with a string orchestra backing by Anne Dudley (of Art of Noise fame), “Something About The Way You Look Tonight” peaked at #1 on the Hot 100 on October 11, 1997, and stayed there for the rest of the year into the second week of 1998. It also peaked at #1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, although it was the last time Elton would do so for twenty-four years, until 2021s “Merry Christmas” with Ed Sheeran. Officially Elton retired from touring after his appearance in Stockholm on July 8, 2023, though he did promise to do “the odd show here and there” when he feels like it.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT (Elton John; Mercury/Rocket: 1997)—Even with all the changes that were going on in the pop music world during the 1900’s, Sir Elton john kept on keeping on with what worked for him; and although his hit-making capacity has all but been totally exhausted as the millennium turned, he still had more than a few moments of success, notably the music he did with lyricist Tim Rice for Disney’s 1994 animated film classic The Lion King. Three years after that, in 1997, Elton released his twenty-fifth album, The Big Picture, an album which was to peak at #9 on Billboard’s Top 200 Album Chart. By this time, Elton had become something of an “elder statesman” in pop and rock, with hits like “The One”, “The Last Song”, and “Believe” far removed from 1970’s classics like “Philadelphia Freedom” and “Bennie And The Jets”, although he still got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. In the meantime, however, The Big Picture yielded what, oddly enough, may have been his longest-running #1 single ever. On The B-side of it was a live recording of his Marilyn Monroe-inspired classic “Candle In The Wind”, which he had originally recorded for his 1973 album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. The A-side was one of the many great songs Elton wrote with his long-time songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, “Something About The Way You Look Tonight”. Done in a fairly passionate style that had characterized many of his other 1990’s hits, the song, which sometimes got confused with The Lettermen’s 1961 hit “The Way You Look Tonight”, had an accompanying video that, in Elton’s words, was “f***ing loathsome”. Even so, with a string orchestra backing by Anne Dudley (of Art of Noise fame), “Something About The Way You Look Tonight” peaked at #1 on the Hot 100 on October 11, 1997, and stayed there for the rest of the year into the second week of 1998. It also peaked at #1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, although it was the last time Elton would do so for twenty-four years, until 2021s “Merry Christmas” with Ed Sheeran. Officially Elton retired from touring after his appearance in Stockholm on July 8, 2023, though he did promise to do “the odd show here and there” when he feels like it.