Elton John Here And There 1974

Here And There is a live album recorded by Elton John in 1974. It’s very special for having the last public concert appearance by John Lennon who performs on three songs.

“Here” was recorded at the Royal Festival Hall in London in the summer of 1974; “There” was recorded Madison Square Garden, New York on November 28, 1974.

When the live album was first released in 1976 it was the only Elton John album that made any impression on me but it only had nine tracks. It was reissued in 1995 and we have finished up with 25 tracks.

Wow I wish that could happen more often.

Elton John Here And There – Overall rating 24/30

Elton John Here And There album cover

Set List – 8/10

Disc one: “Here” – London

  1. Skyline Pigeon – 5:41 (originally on the album Empty Sky)
  2. Border Song – 3:27 (Elton John)
  3. Take Me to the Pilot – 4:33 (Elton John)
  4. Country Comfort – 6:44 (Tumbleweed Connection)
  5. Love Song (with Lesley Duncan) – 5:03 (Tumbleweed Connection)
  6. Bad Side of the Moon – 7:54 (the B-side to the Border Song single)
  7. Burn Down the Mission – 8:25 (Tumbleweed Connection)
  8. Honky Cat – 7:04 (Honky Château)
  9. Crocodile Rock – 4:08 (Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player)
  10. Candle in the Wind – 3:57 (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road)
  11. Your Song – 4:07 (Elton John)
  12. Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting – 7:09 (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road)

Disc two: “There” – New York

  1. Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding – 11:53 (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road)
  2. Rocket Man  – 5:03 (Honky Château)
  3. Take Me to the Pilot – 6:00 (Elton John)
  4. Bennie and the Jets – 5:59 (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road)
  5. Grey Seal – 5:27 (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road)
  6. Daniel – 4:06 (Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player)
  7. You’re So Static – 4:32 (Caribou)
  8. Whatever Gets You thru the Night” (with John Lennon) – 4:40
  9. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (with John Lennon) – 6:15
  10. I Saw Her Standing There (with John Lennon)) – 3:17
  11. Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me – 5:57 (Caribou)
  12. Your Song – 3:58 (Elton John)
  13. The Bitch Is Back – 4:23 (Caribou)

You have probably spotted that there are two versions of Take Me To The Pilot and Your Song. They are sufficiently different and well separated for this not to be a problem when you’re listening to the album as a CD or on your iPod..

If you own or are very familiar with the original album and you’re not sure what’s new on this version, the original tracks on the first release were:

  • Here – Skyline Pigeon, Border Song, Honky Cat, Love Song, Crocodile Rock
  • There – Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, Rocket Man, Bennie and the Jets, Take Me to the Pilot

For me this is a nice mix of hit singles, favourite album tracks (Funeral) and unknown songs from the studio albums that have never made any impression.I should also say that the LP version had the pick of the tracks excluding the John Lennon appearance.

Only 8/10? I think that’s because I’ve never felt any urgency to explore Elton John’s back catalogue. This serves very nicely as a best of for his early seventies output but I don’t need more.

Performance – 8/10

Perhaps that should be 7/10 for London, 9/10 for New York which is a much gutsier performance.

Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding is particularly powerful.

The appearance of Lennon seems to mean that I lose all objectively on the album.

To get you in the mood, here is Elton John and John Lennon performing Lennon’s recent #1 single Whatever Gets You Through The Night

Atmosphere & Authenticity – 8/10

The audience in London is a bit quiet in the presence of royalty. The New York crowd don’t hold back.

Overall Rating For Here & There – 24/30

I really wish I’d been there in New York to see that last John Lennon performance.

That’s perhaps my problem.

I like the Elton John songs on here but I don’t have anything like the admiration for him that I do for the man who walked onto the stage half way through.

It’s the album I play when I want to hear some Elton John, partly because I only own this and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (yes Funeral For A Friend was the reason I got that before this extended version was released.)

What Other People Say About Here And There

It’s missing from the best live album lists that I’ve seen.

However there are plenty of five star reviews on Amazon so the Elton John fans like it.

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Buying Here And There

To help you to find the album quickly and easily, I’ve given you the following links::

What Do You Think About Here And There By Elton John

I’d like to know if you think this is the best Elton John live album so please leave me a comment.

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Best classic rock albums

What Are The FIVE Best Classic Rock Live Albums? (Click on the links to go to the reviews)

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Because there are so many excellent classic rock live albums I have split the poll into two and you may find some of your favourites in the second division. Albums will be promoted when they get enough votes.

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You can get these albums from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk.

You may also be interested in this other category of live albums – Best singer songwriter albums

 

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