Jump Up

Elton John - Jump Up

List Price: ~~$9.98~~
Our Price: $3.82
You Save: $6.16 (62%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Listen soundtracks from this album

Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store

CD Details

Artist: Elton John
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Import, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2003-05-12
Music Label: Rocket/Mercury/Universal
Soundtracks:

Dear John
Spiteful Child
Ball And Chain
Legal Boys
I Am Your Robot
Blue Eyes
Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)
Princess
Where Have All The Good Times Gone
All Quiet On The Western Front

Music reviews of Jump Up

Music Review: Some terrific songs mixed with more mundane material makes this an "Up" and down affair
Rating: 3 Stars

Elton John had already peaked as an artist and his collaborations with his best lyricist Bernie Taupin had dissolved when he came to record "A Single Man". With "21 at 33", "The Fox" and "Jump Up" he tentatively reunited with Taupin on a small amount of songs for each album still working with lyrcist Gary Osborne and adding new collaborators including Tom Robinson ("Glad to be Gay")and his future "The Lion King" collaborator Tim Rice ("Jesus Christ Superstar")on this album. Although "Jump Up" doesn't scale the heights of, say, "Honkey Chateau", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" or even "Madman Across the Water", it does compare favorably to "Caribou" and is often better than "Rock of the Westies" recorded at the tail end of his most creative period as an artist.

As far as sound goes those who don't like No Noise will be unhappy as it clearly was used here to eliminate tape hiss and, as a result, sucks some of the life out of the original recording. While this isn't as loud or compressed as most reissues that came out in 2003, it does sound a bit more compressed than the original disc. For those folks, I'd strongly recommend the original CD issue on Geffen/Universal from 1992. The only difference aside from that is a very good booklet with lyrics and John Tobler's liner notes discussing the making of the album.

The big hit was "Blue Eyes" (John wrote it with Gary Osborne) but there's other strong material here as well. "Dear John" is a solid rocker written with Gary Osborne that could hold its own musically with Elton's earlier rockers. The tracks that John writes with Osborne here are better than the work they did on "A Single Man". The other highlights include "Legal Boys" a clever ballad about a divorce written with Rice. The stand out track, though, is the moving "Empty Garden" written with Bernie Taupin about their idol (and friend) John Lennon and his murder in 1980. It's probably the most moving of any of the songs written about Lennon (certainly better than most of the songs written by Lennon's former bandmates Paul McCartney and George Harrison).

Although the album and some of the production touches (particularly on the weaker tracks such as "I Am Your Robot")put the album firmly in the 80's, that's not a bad thing--it's an album of its time that manages at its best to transcend its time. The most appealing songs are still exceptionally good. Although it doesn't quite measure up to "Too Low for Zero", it's a nice return to form and certainly better than John's career low the horrible disco album "Victim of Love" (a complete miscalculation).

It's a pity we don't get any bonus tracks as with the other albums from John's earlier discography but what we do get here is very good at its best. Curiously, "The Retreat" the one b-side that would have fit on this album and was released as a b-side for "Blue Eyes" was carried over to "2Lowfor0" (or Too Low For Zero) and isn't here. Elton hadn't lost his touch just got a little lost in the maze of drugs and good living that took over much of his life during the late 70's/early 80's.

More Jump Up free music reviews:
1 2 3 4

Description of Jump Up

Remastered reissue of 1982 album. Ten tracks including the hits, 'Blue Eyes', 'Princess', & 'Empty Garden'. Mercury. 2003.

Classic Rock CDs

Music Genres

Bestsellers in Classic Rock CDs

Paul Mccartney, Wings - Wings at the Speed of Sound
Release date: 1996-09-24; Music CD
Best price: $287.77

Small Faces - Boxed
Release date: 1997-11-01; Music CD
Best price: $43.38

Dr John - Gris Gris
Release date: 1994-07-15; Music CD
Price in other shops: ~~$18.98~~

Eric Clapton: Live in Hyde Park [VHS]
Warner Bros / Wea; Release date: 1998-02-17; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.75
Price in other shops: ~~$19.98~~

Human Highway [VHS]
Warner Bros / Wea; Release date: 1995-08-08; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $120.79

The Monkees - Head [VHS]
Rhino / Wea; Release date: 1995-01-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.42
Price in other shops: ~~$14.98~~

Ozzy Osbourne - Live & Loud [VHS]
Sony; Release date: 1993-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $3.96
Price in other shops: ~~$14.98~~

Bruce Springsteen - Unplugged [VHS]
Sony; Release date: 1992-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $2.75
Price in other shops: ~~$14.98~~

Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel - P.O.V. [VHS]
Virgin Records Us; Release date: 1992-06-29; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $121.90

Toto - Past to Present [VHS]
Sony; Release date: 1991-07-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $72.82