Turntable Talk #41 – It’s Getting Better All The Time

This originally appeared on A Sound Day

Here we go again, with another edition of Dave’s Turntable Talk, which is featured on his A Sound Day blog.  This is the 41st round!

He titled this round ‘It’s Getting Better All the Time!”  Our task this month was to “find something in music – either an album, or a single, or even a whole artist – who has gone up steadily in your estimation through time. That’s to say, one you didn’t like and now do, or one you thought was “ok” and now love.”

Most of Dave’s past topics required very little thinking on my part.  This one, however, really made me think.  I’m open to almost every genre of music.  I also try to listen to music that is suggested by other bloggers.  If I don’t like an artist or a song, it is rare that I would change my mind about them. However, there is one artist who falls in with our topic – Elton John.

When I started in radio in the late 80’s, I was at an oldies station.  Before committing to a basic oldies station, they were a classic rock station. A lot of that classic rock stayed in rotation when it went oldies.

I spent hours listening to Kiss-FM before working there.  One thing I noticed was that they seemed to be a bit heavy on Elton John music. I felt like I heard Crocodile Rock, Philadelphia Freedom, Honky Cat and Rocket Man every day.

When I started working there, I realized that there were many other Elton John songs that were in rotation at the station. There were a lot of requests for his songs, too.  That’s how I met a gal I dated.

She called in often and one day, she and her friends brought coffee to the station for me.  I thought she was cute and we started dating.  She loved Elton John so much that for her birthday, she bought herself (and me) tickets to his show when he was touring with Billy Joel.

I certainly didn’t want to see EJ, but since Billy Joel was there I figured “at least I’ll enjoy half the show”. Billy came out first and was fantastic!  I started to tune out when it was time for Elton. 

There was some sort of audio/visual thing that played and caught my attention. The lighting on the stage changed and the smoke machines kicked in, making the actual stage hard to see.  Then Elton and his piano rose from out of the smoke and he began to play Rocket Man.

I was impressed as I watched him.  He sounded better live than on records to me. He was playing his hits and there was something different about each of them.  When he played “Your Song,” it was a completely different arrangement and it blew me away. It was better than the recording!

That show and the music he played that night, Led me to open my mind a bit and dig deeper into the EJ library. I found many songs that were not singles that I liked a lot. 

At that time, he was still releasing new music.  I played Sacrifice and Club at the End of the Street when they were current singles and liked them so much, I bought the album.

Can You Feel the Love Tonight and Circle of Life were both big requests at weddings for bridal dances or parent dances.  If they weren’t part of the wedding party dances, it was requested as a slow song that couples loved to dance to.

That concert was my first ever.  As my radio career continued, I began to go to more shows.  I really started to appreciate artists and their talent. I learned that you cannot let one bad song or one bad album prevent you from listening or taint your feelings about an artist.

Thanks to Dave for always presenting a great topic each month.  I know that I always enjoy writing for Turntable Talk.  Based on the others who participate with me say, they love it too.

Thanks for reading!