(10.07.06) Recommends:

Elton John, "The Captain and The Kid" (Interscope, 2006).

Yesterday, was a name from the past. So why not again today?

For the last few years I have been thinking -- more like hoping, really -- that somebody like Rick Ruben should go into the studio with Elton John and come out with a late career, back to the basics, no frills, kick ass rock 'n roll record. What's that? Do I hear snickering? Oh yeah, I forgot. You're one of those people that pretend that you don't know every last song off of every Elton John greatest hits album. Greatest hits albums. As in, (a) the classic Greatest Hits album from '74; (b) Greatest Hits 1976-1986; (c) Greatest Hits II (released in '97, but a follow-up to GH'74); (d) Greatest Hits 1970-2002. Not to mention Remixed, wherein songs from GH 1970-2002 are, you know, remixed. You pretend you don't love "Rocket Man" done trip-hop style. But guess what, partner? You're not fooling anybody. Just like you're not fooling anybody when you claim that the songs you sing/whistle in the shower aren't chosen from a pool containing no less then forty Elton John classics. Most bands you claim to like will never record forty songs in their careers. So stop rolling your eyes, and listen to this record. Maybe it'll be the closest thing we'll have to a Johnny Cash-"American Recordings"-style comeback for the Crocodile Rocker. Or maybe it's a sign that Elton John has thirty years of great music left in him. They've been saying it since 1974, and it's true again in 2006: the bitch is back.