The Captain & the Kid

src: i.ytimg.com

The Captain & the Kid is the twenty-eighth studio album by British singer-songwriter Elton John, released in 2006. It is his second autobiographical album with lyricist Bernie Taupin, picking up where 1975's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy left off. The Captain & the Kid chronicles the events in their lives over those subsequent 30 years.

The Captain & the Kid reached No. 6 in the UK, a considerable improvement over the performance of John's preceding Peachtree Road in 2004, which peaked at No. 21. It reached No. 18 in the US, before quickly falling off the charts. At concerts in early 2007, John made clear his dissatisfaction with Interscope's promotion for the album, having threatened to terminate his contract with the label.

Video The Captain & the Kid

Background

Interscope Records announced that there would be no physical single released from this album as the emphasis is on presenting the album as a body of work. However, a radio single would be released in "The Bridge". The album's booklet has photos of John and Taupin all throughout their career, and in the lyrics section, two songs are included, "Across the River Thames" and "12", which do not appear on the music album. "Across the River Thames" was available as a free download to anyone inserting the CD into their computer. This is the first album created by John and Taupin to have them both together on the cover. This was the last studio album to feature Guy Babylon on keyboards; he died in 2009 and was replaced by Kim Bullard. This was also Bob Birch's last appearance on any of John's solo studio albums before his own death in August 2012 (Birch last appeared on the Gnomeo and Juliet soundtrack).

Maps The Captain & the Kid

Track listing

All songs written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

Side one

1. "Postcards from Richard Nixon" - 5:15
2. "Just Like Noah's Ark" - 5:33
3. "Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way (NYC)" - 4:38
4. "Tinderbox" - 4:25
5. "And the House Fell Down" - 4:48

Side two

1. "Blues Never Fade Away" - 4:45
2. "The Bridge" - 3:38
3. "I Must Have Lost It on the Wind" - 3:53
4. "Old '67" - 4:01
5. "The Captain and the Kid" - 5:03

Bonus track

1. "Across the River Thames" - 4:31 (UK bonus track and download)

src: i.ytimg.com

Bonus tracks

src: localimprint.com

Personnel

• Elton John - vocals, piano
• Davey Johnstone - guitars, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, backing vocals, music director
• Nigel Olsson - drums, backing vocals
• Guy Babylon - keyboards, arrangements
• Bob Birch - bass guitar, backing vocals
• John Mahon - percussion, backing vocals
• Matt Still - backing vocals
• Arthur - "woof-bells"

Producer Matt Still noted during an interview that in "Just Like Noah's Ark", Elton's black and white spaniel dog Arthur "barked in the middle of [the recording], because John Mahon was playing a cowbell, and the cowbell freaked him out. So he ran over to John and started barking at him right in the middle of a take. It's funny, just randomly he happened to hit the beats and he barked in time. So I recorded it and we actually kept him in there."

The sampled "woof-bells" can be heard in place of the cowbell on the track.

src: static.comicvine.com

Production

• Produced by Elton John and Matt Still
• Recorded and Mixed by Matt Still
• Recorded at Center Stage (Atlanta, GA), assisted by Tom Rickert.
• Mixed at Townhouse Studios (London, England), assisted by Dan Porter.
• Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering (Portland, ME).
• Studio Coordinator - Adrian Collee
• Drum Technician - Chris Sobchack
• Guitar Technician - Rick Salazar
• Piano Tuner - Andy Williams
• Director of Ops - Bob Halley
• Cover Photography - Ryan McGinley
• Art Direction and Design - David Costa
• Management - Keith Bradley, Mark Mercuriadis and Frank Presland.

src: punkworldviews.com

Charts

src: www.thehollywoodnews.com

References

Source of the article : Wikipedia