Elton John ‎‎ Too Low for Zero ‎ 1983 Geffen Records Original Vinyl LP NM

$

30

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Too Low for Zero Studio album by  Elton John Released 31 May 1983 Recorded September 1982 – January 1983 Studio

• AIR, Salem, Montserrat
• Sunset Sound, Hollywood, California

1. "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues"
   Released: April 1983 (UK)
2. "I'm Still Standing"
   Released: April 1983 (US)
3. "Kiss the Bride"
   Released: October 1983
4. "Too Low for Zero"
   Released: October 1983 (EU)
5. "Cold as Christmas"/"Crystal"
   Released: November 1983

Too Low for Zero (stylised as 2 ▼ 4 0) is the seventeenth studio album by British musician Elton John, released in 1983. The album marked a comeback for John, whose previous four albums had failed to yield many enduring international hit singles, and had disappointing sales compared to his string of hit records released during the first half of the 1970s.

It is his second-best-selling album of the 1980s (after Sleeping with the Past), earning Platinum certification by both the RIAA and the BPI. It produced several hit songs, each accompanied by successful MTV music videos, and it spent over a year on the Billboard album chart.

Background

For the first time since Blue Moves in 1976, all lyrics were written by Bernie Taupin. John also reunited with the core of his backing band of the early 1970s: Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson and Davey Johnstone as well as Ray Cooper, Kiki Dee and Skaila Kanga (who played harp on John's self-titled album and Tumbleweed Connection).

John played synthesizers on the album in addition to piano (his first since A Single Man), as James Newton Howard left the band. John felt that synths allowed him to write better fast rock songs, having not been entirely happy with such compositions performed on piano.

The album was written and recorded in approximately two weeks, with overdubs completed in a week. It was produced by Chris Thomas and recorded at AIR Studios in Montserrat (the same studio for Jump Up!) and Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood.

Critical reception

Reviewing the album in Rolling Stone, Don Shewey commented, "Elton John and Bernie Taupin have written some great hit singles, but since the early Elton John LP, they have never produced an album of consistently first-rate material. And although Too Low for Zero is a big step up from losers like Blue Moves and A Single Man, it doesn't hang together, either." He praised the catchy energy of "I'm Still Standing", "Kiss the Bride", "Crystal", and "Too Low for Zero", and approved of the way those four songs synthesized the styles of popular artists such as The Pointer Sisters and Joe Jackson. However, he felt the rest of the album suffered from poor lyrics, finding the morbidity of "Cold as Christmas" and "One More Arrow" to be especially distasteful.

Track listing

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

• John
• Taupin
• Davey Johnstone