Elton John – Too Low For Zero

I don’t own an original press, but wanted to try this out new before shelling out to find a VG+ copy of an original press. Packaging is very nice. The record sounds great, but I’m not sure the remaster is really anything special compared to the original. My disc has a small warp on the very outer edge which causes some popping for the first 3-4 rotations on “Crystal”. For the price it’s a good deal, but I’d check for warps. Not sure if mine is a one off or a manufacturing issue.

Equipment used to test:
ATLPW30TK Turntable
VMN95ML Stylus
Dayton Audio HTA100 Tube Amplifier
Klipsch R-50M Speakers

I have the '83 Allied pressing as well as this '17 remaster so I ran an A/B compare. The high end frequencies on the 2017 copy have been dialed back a bit so it sounds a bit flat/compressed compared to the '83 copy, but it's not horrible. My ears definitely adapted to the '17 LP as I listened to it, but the '83 copy has a somewhat "live" feel to it. A lot more air around the instruments and the vocals are crisp and clean. The harmonica solo on the '83 version of "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" sounds like Stevie Wonder is in the room with you. Utterly ridiculous.

After a few years of varying critical and commercial success, Elton John made a full comeback with Too Low For Zero. It saw him fully reunite with lyricist Bernie Taupin as well as his original band , and it worked like a treat, delivering Elton’s best album of the 1980s by far, and his best since at least 1976’s Blue Moves.

It produced two of his best known 80’s hits, the energetic, upbeat ‘I’m Still Standing’ and the magnificent ballad ‘I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues’, the latter being one of the best songs he has ever written with Taupin or anyone else. It is more confident than any album he had made in years, and is also more consistent than many of its immediate predecessors, with album tracks being very memorable and unique.

This was before his mid-80s drug problems affected his voice, so he is also singing very well. The band are in great shape, and Chris Thomas does a commendable job of producing, helping to give several songs like ‘Kiss The Bride’ and ‘I’m Still Standing’ additional energy and emotion. Like someone else said, this is perhaps his only album of the eighties that doesn’t sound too eighties nowadays.

One of, or possibly the best album Elton John ever made after his 70s heyday.

Great packaging and pressing. Comparing this to a German OG, Bob Ludwig hasn’t brought anything special to this remaster - the vocals a little more upfront, however the original recording was extremely ordinary at best. This is unusual for Elton, as most of his albums were generally well recorded / produced.

After a few duds, Elton brings back his old band from his from 70's years and Bernie Taupin to write all the lyrics on this album to re-capture some of that old magic. The result was Elton recapturing *some* of the magic. No, this album isn't great like the nine studio LP's the band released from 1970-75, but for 1983, this was as close as you are going to get and it is a very good record.

Songs like "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues", "I'm Still Standing" and the title track do capture some of that 70's magic. There are some clunkers, though. "Crystal", "Kiss the Bride" and "Whipping Boy" and terrible. I don't expect Elton at 36 to be like Elton at 26, but it seems like there were times where he was trying to be 26 and it just fell flat. Songs like "...Call it the Blues" and "Too Low..." at the perfect pocket for where he was at the time. Good tunes that appealed to both old and new audiences. Certainly an album worth owning for any EJ fan.

Probably his return to best as I never liked anything from Victim of love to this, a patchy period in his career

From the opening chords of the first track, Cold As Christmas, listeners are in for a treat.
Elton's haunting vocal, coupled with the incredible backing vocals of the band, take the listener on a story of an elderly couple whose romantic flame as burned out.
From there, the album slowly builds. The synthesizers are heavy- it's 1983 afterall, and i love early 80s sound! - but they never intrude. They supplement the melody and reinforce Elton staying with the times.
The title track should have been a single as it went over big on the tour that followed - the Breaking Hearts Tour.
I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues remains an instant Elton classic with it's overtly sentimental lyric about pining for a love one.
Elton and the band deliver a rock solid effort on this one. And speaking of rock, the "rock" songs on the album are also worthy of mentioning.
Kiss The Bride and Whipping Boy are fun, yet throwaways that, taken in the context of the album, fit in just fine.
Crystal relies on a drum machine and is clearly an experimental effort that again, would have made a great choice for a single.
Saint and One More Arrow round out the ballads and are equally satisfying primarily on the strength of Elton's vocals.
The only song here that feels out of place is Religion.
An obvious attempt to mimic a country-rock feel and would have been better suited on a b-side.