Blue Moves

Background

While giving a concert at Wembley Arena to promote the album, John announced "I haven't been touring for a long time. It's been a painful decision, whether to come back on the road or not... I've made a decision tonight – this is going to be the last show... There's a lot more to me than playing on the road." He accordingly left the touring/live performing scene. Kenny Passarelli, Caleb Quaye, James Newton-Howard and Roger Pope left the band after the album's release. Newton-Howard would briefly rejoin John's touring band in 1980. Only Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper returned in limited roles for John's next album, A Single Man.

John has stated that Blue Moves is one of his favourites of the albums he has recorded. It was Gus Dudgeon's last album produced with John for almost a decade. The cover art is from a painting by British artist Patrick Procktor. In the U.S., it was certified gold in October and platinum in December 1976 by the RIAA.

"Cage the Songbird" was a tribute to legendary French songstress Edith Piaf, and a year or so later was covered by Kiki Dee on an unreleased Rocket album, which finally was issued in 2008. ("Songbird" originated as part of the Rock of the Westies sessions, but wasn't completed during them, probably because the song's acoustic, delicate sound didn't fit with the more rock 'n' roll approach of the rest of the songs that made the Westies final track list.) The Beach Boys turned down "Chameleon" (which was written two years prior to the album's release), but Bruce Johnston, a former Beach Boy, performed backing vocals on John's version along with Toni Tennille. John also performed the song at Wembley Stadium in 1975, where he also performed the Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy album in its entirety. An excerpt from "Out of the Blue" was used for the closing titles on Top Gear until the end of that Top Gear format (in 2001). This was one of two albums in which Davey Johnstone does not provide backing vocals; 1997's The Big Picture would be the other.

John has played several songs from Blue Moves live: "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word", "Bite Your Lip", "One Horse Town", "Tonight", "Idol" and "Crazy Water" have been played during various of his concert appearances through the years.

Reception

Blue Moves has received negative reviews since its release. A contemporary review for Rolling Stone said the album "contains nowhere near enough good songs to justify the extended length" and that the interludes and instrumentals were done "to the exclusion of sense." Robert Christgau, writing for The Village Voice, giving the album a C rating, described it as "impossibly weepy" and "excessive". Retrospectively, Lindsay Planer of Allmusic said the album showed the "inevitable fatigue" of John's "immense creativity" that had helped create his previous albums of his career.

Track listing

All songs written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, except where noted.

1. "Your Starter for..." (Caleb Quaye) – 1:23
2. "Tonight" – 7:52
3. "One Horse Town" (John, James Newton-Howard, Taupin) – 5:56
4. "Chameleon" – 5:27

1. "Boogie Pilgrim" (John, Davey Johnstone, Quaye, Taupin) – 6:05
2. "Cage the Songbird" (John, Johnstone, Taupin) – 3:25
3. "Crazy Water" – 5:42
4. "Shoulder Holster" – 5:10

1. "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" – 3:48
2. "Out of the Blue" – 6:14
3. "Between Seventeen and Twenty" (John, Johnstone, Quaye, Taupin) – 5:17
4. "The Wide-Eyed and Laughing" (John, Johnstone, Newton-Howard, Quaye, Taupin) – 3:27
5. "Someone's Final Song" – 4:10

1. "Where's the Shoorah?" – 4:09
2. "If There's a God in Heaven (What's He Waiting For?)" (John, Johnstone, Taupin) – 4:25
3. "Idol" – 4:08
4. "Theme from a Non-Existent TV Series" – 1:19
5. "Bite Your Lip (Get Up and Dance!)" – 6:43

Initial CD versions of the album maintain the same running order, but omit the following tracks:, "Shoulder Holster", "The Wide-Eyed and Laughing" and "Out of the Blue" It has since been remastered and re-released as a 2-CD set retaining the original LP track listing.

Personnel

Production