Album Review: Elton John - Made in England (1995)

My initial reaction to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was at best lukewarm. Sure, there were the hits like "Bennie and the Jets" and "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" that always got played, but the rest of the album I felt was tepid and often lackluster. That was the first time I heard the album, which was a while ago now.  Second time 'round was a different story altogether. Once I started to dig songs such as "The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1904-1935)" and "All The Girls Love Alice", I soon began to consume the rest of the record with ever-increasing fervor.  It's rare for me to take to an album the second time around - Avalon by Roxy Music is perhaps my best example, and incidentally, an excellent example of falling for an album the second time around that is evidently shared by many critics. Now that I'm reviewing Elton John's 1995 album Made in England, an album I've owned since 1997, I once again am finding myself in a similar predicament, with some slight differences.  I initially bought the album solely because of three songs - "Believe", "Made in England" and "Blessed" - all great songs, and of course, they were the ones you heard on the radio, and therefore the reason I purchased the album in the first place.  I had given the album a full play though a long time ago and at the time didn't think too much of it on the whole, bar the aforementioned trio of radio hits.  But now, I'm finding the album to be much more palatable, and often pleasant. "Cold" and "Pain" are remarkably good, and "Belfast" is still somewhat on the "Meh" side. "Man" isn't too bad, either.  Still, it ain't no Avalon or Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.  But I'm still glad that I decided to pay it another visit. Not bad, not bad at all. B+