‘Rotten Peaches’ is the second track from Elton John’s Madman Across the Water to make my personal playlist.
This is a big, anthemic piano ballad that makes good use of a gospel choir. My hunch is that if it didn’t have such an off-putting title phrase it could have been a hit. This song plus ‘Holiday Inn’ anchor Side Two of Madman Across the Water, making the album a rewarding listen start to finish.
Elton John followed up his 1970 self-titled album with Tumbleweed Connection later the same year. I’m leaving that country-themed album out of my rundown because the songs I kept from it were already known to me: ‘Come Down in Time,’ ‘My Father’s Gun,’ and ‘Amoreena.’ Nothing else from the album really won me over.
It’s a very different story for 1971’s Madman Across the Water, which would definitely vie for my award as John’s best album overall.
My overall enjoyment of the movie Rocketman sent me down a bit of an Elton John rabbit hole.
I created a playlist of his most notable albums (particularly those released between 1970 and 1975 plus a couple of entries from the 80s) and listened to them all in order. I wanted to see what I’d been missing, as I’m primarily a fan only through his best-known songs.
After spending a few weeks on the exercise, the simple verdict is that John is primarily a greatest hits artist for me. But not entirely.
‘Cherish the Day’ is the fourth Sade song to show up on Random Weekends, and the second in a little more than a month (‘The Sweetest Taboo’ had its day back in June).
This song was the fourth single from Sade’s 1992 album Love Deluxe, which also featured the excellent ‘No Ordinary Love’ and ‘Kiss of Life.’ All of those songs create such a gorgeous, seductive mood.
I’ve posted three Jack Johnson songs over the past 11 years. Two were from his 2001 debut album Brushfire Fairytales and the third was ‘Upside Down,’ the great song he wrote for the Curious George movie.
The last Brushfire Fairytales song appeared seven years ago and, like today’s song, showed up on a Random iTunes Weekend. This is the only album I own of his so I guess his odds aren’t great of popping up randomly.
Meet Me In Montauk 