Victim of Love (album)

Updated on Oct 01, 2024

Edit

Comment

Released 13 October 1979 Length 35:45 Artist Elton John Label The Rocket Record Company Genres Rock music, Disco		Recorded August 1979 Victim of Love (1979) Lady Samantha (1980) Release date 13 October 1979 Producer Pete Bellotte

Similar Elton John albums, Rock music albums

Elton john spotlight victim of love 5 of 7

Victim of Love, released in 1979, is the thirteenth official album release for Elton John. It is a disco album, released shortly after the peak of disco's popularity. It was not critically or commercially well-received, and is Elton John's third lowest charting album to date in the US, after 1986's Leather Jackets and 1985's Ice on Fire.

The title track of the album, however, was moderately successful as a single. It reached No. 31 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and No. 46 in Canada.

Background

It is the shortest album of Elton John's career at under 36 minutes.

It is atypical of John's recording career in several respects. John neither wrote the songs nor played pianos or keyboards on it; he only provided vocals. It was his first album without any of his original band members, which would not happen again until his 2010 collaboration with Leon Russell, The Union. Along with A Single Man, it is also one of only two studio albums as of 2012 without lyricist Bernie Taupin. Apart from an appearance on the Australian television series Countdown, Elton did little promotion for the album. There was no tour to promote Victim of Love, and none of its songs have ever been played live by Elton. It is also the only studio album in Elton's discography to not have any songs of the album performed on stage.

The only B-side released on a single, "Strangers", appeared as a bonus track on his previous album, A Single Man, as it was recorded during those sessions.

When the album was released as a CD in the 1980s, the track breaks were incorrect. The first 45 seconds of "Spotlight" is part of the previous track, and similar errors occur in other tracks as well. The album was reissued in a digitally remastered format in 2003, with these issues corrected, and with improved sound and instrumental setup.

Side one

"Johnny B. Goode" (Chuck Berry) – 8:06
"Warm Love in a Cold World" (Pete Bellotte, Stefan Wisnet, Gunther Moll) – 4:30 (3:22 on older pressings)
"Born Bad" (Bellotte, Geoff Bastow) – 5:16 (6:20 on older pressings)

Side two

"Thunder in the Night" (Bellotte, Michael Hofmann) – 4:40
"Spotlight" (Bellotte, Wisnet, Moll) – 4:24
"Street Boogie" (Bellotte, Wisnet, Moll) – 3:56
"Victim of Love" (Bellotte, Sylvester Levay, Jerry Rix) – 4:52 (5:02 on older pressings)

Personnel

Elton John – lead and backing vocals

Michael McDonald – background vocals on "Victim of Love"

Keith Forsey – drums

Todd Canedy – drums

Patrick Simmons – background vocals on "Victim of Love"

Thor Baldursson – keyboards, arranger

Tim Cansfield – rhythm guitar

Paulinho Da Costa – percussion

Roy Davies – keyboards

Steve Lukather – guitar solo on "Warm Love in a Cold World"

Marcus Miller – bass

Lenny Pickett – saxophone on "Johnny B. Goode"

Julia Tillman Waters – background vocals

Craig Snyder – lead guitar

Stephanie Spruill – background vocals

Maxine Willard Waters – background vocals

Production

Produced by Pete Bellotte

Engineer and Mixdown – Peter Luedmann

Assistant Engineers – Hans Menzel and Carolyn Tapp

Technical Engineer – Roman Olearczuk

Recorded at Musicland, Munich and Rusk Sound Studios, Hollywood.

Mastered by Brian Gardner at Allen Zentz Mastering (Hollywood).

Contractor – Trevor Veitch

Production Coordination – Jerry Simpson

Project Coordination – Joe Black

Photography – David P. Bailey

Design – Jubilee Graphics

Songs

1Johnny B Goode8:05
2Warm Love in a Cold World4:30
3Born Bad5:16

References

Victim of Love (album) Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA