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Elton John
Madman Across The Water
Rocket Records
314-528 161-2
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1. Tiny Dancer 6:12
Recorded 9th August 1971
Drums ROGER POPE
Bass DAVID GLOVER
Electric Guitar CALEB QUAYE
Steel Guitar B.J. COLE
Acoustic Guitar DAVEY JOHNSTONE
Piano ELTON JOHN
Backing Vocals *
(With love to Maxine)

2. Levon 5:37
Recorded 27th February 1971
Drums BARRY MORGAN
Bass BRIAN ODGERS
Harmonium BRIAN DEE
Acoustic Guitar LES THATCHER
Electric Guitar CALEB QUAYE
Piano ELTON JOHN
Backing Vocals +

3. Razor Face 4:40
Recorded 9th August 1971
Drums ROGER POPE
Bass DAVID GLOVER
Electric Guitar CALEB QUAYE
Organ RICK WAKEMAN
Accordion JACK EMBLOW
Piano ELTON JOHN

4. Madman Across the Water 5:22
Recorded 14th August 1971
Drums TERRY COX
Electric Bass HERBIE FLOWERS
Acoustic Guitar DAVEY JOHNSTONE
Percussion RAY COOPER
Electric Guitar CHRIS SPEDDING
A.R.P. Synthesizer DIANA LEWIS
Organ RICK WAKEMAN
Piano ELTON JOHN

5. Indian Sunset 6:45
Recorded 14th August 1971
Drums TERRY COX
Electric Bass HERBIE FLOWERS
Acoustic Bass CHRIS LAURENCE
Piano ELTON JOHN
Cantores in Ecclesia Choir directed by ROBERT KIRBY

6. Holiday Inn 4:22
Recorded 9th August 1971
Drums ROGER POPE
Bass DAVID GLOVER
Electric Guitar CALEB QUAYE
Mandolin & Sitar DAVEY JOHNSTONE
Piano ELTON JOHN
Backing Vocals *

7. Rotten Peaches 5:14
Recorded 14th August 1971
Electric Bass HERBIE FLOWERS
Drums TERRY COX
Percussion RAY COOPER
Slide Guitar CHRIS SPEDDING
Acoustic Guitar DAVEY JOHNSTONE
Organ RICK WAKEMAN
A.R.P. Synthesizer DIANA LEWIS
Piano ELTON JOHN
Backing Vocals *

8. All the Nasties 5:08
Recorded 11th August 1971
Drums NIGEL OLSSON
Bass DEE MURRAY
Tambourine RAY COOPER
Piano ELTON JOHN
Cantores in Ecclesia Choir directed by ROBERT KIRBY

9. Goodbye 1:48
Recorded 27th February 1971
Piano ELTON JOHN

* Backing Vocals
Lesley Duncan, Sue & Sunny, Barry St. John, Liza Strike, Roger Cook, Tony Burrows, Terry Steele, Dee Murray & Nigel Olsson.

+ Backing Vocals
Lesley Duncan, Sue & Sunny, Barry St. John & Liza Strike.

Davey Johnstone, courtesy of Vertigo Records
B.J. Cole, courtesy of United Artists Records
Rick Wakeman, courtesy of A&M Records
Lesley Duncan, courtesy of CBS Records

All songs written by Elton John & Bernie Taupin
© Copyright 1971 by Dick James Music Ltd., London
(except “Indian Sunset” and “Madman across the Water” © Copyright 1970)
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Produced by Gus Dudgeon and engineered by Robin Geoffrey Cable
Re-mix engineer – Ken Scott
Recorded at Trident Studios, London.
Arranged and Conducted by Paul Buckmaster
Co-ordination by Steve Brown

Remastered by Tony Cousins with assistance from Crispin Murray at Metropolis Mastering, London.

Art Direction and Sleeve Design by David Larkham
Front cover embroidery by Yanis
Back cover embroidery by Gill
Booklet cover photograph and illustrations by David Larkham.
Booklet photography by Bob Gruen
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Madman across the Water

‘Madman Across The Water’, released in November 1971, was Elton John’s first studio LP of that year, during the first half of which he had released both a live album, ‘17-11-70’, and ‘Friends’, the soundtrack to a film. ‘Madman’ seemed to some to be a reversion to the introspective singer/songwriter style of Elton’s debut LP, ‘Empty Sky’, and while there is some truth in such a simplistic description, ‘Madman’ is probably Elton’s most undervalued LP, certainly of the early years of his career; this was perhaps because, like ‘Tumbleweed Connection’, it lacked major British hit singles. However, both ‘Levon’ and ‘Tiny Dancer’ were US hits, although neither reached the Top 20, and no UK singles were released from the LP in 1971 at all. Even so, the album reached the US Top 10, remained in the ‘Billboard’ Top 200 for virtually a whole year and became Elton’s third gold album. A personal view is that the ‘Madman’ album was overlooked when it was first released, which may not be unconnected with the fact that it was the fifth new Elton John LP released in 18 months (between April 1970, and October 1971), and there was an inevitable risk of overkill. Even now, over 20 years later, too few people, especially in Britain, seem to realize what they have been missing.

When these tracks were recorded in 1971, it was decided that Elton’s then recently acquired and eventually long-serving rhythm section of Dee Murray (bass) and Nigel Olsson (drums) should only play on a single track, the gospel-flavored ‘All The Nasties’, a Leon Russell-influenced complaint presumably about the bitterness lyricist Bernie Taupin felt when being patronized by his elders and possibly by critics. The other tracks featured session players and/or musicians from other groups: Elton’s DJM label-mates Hookfoot, whose rhythm section of drummer Roger Pope and bass player Dave Glover appear on several tracks, as does their guitar-playing colleague (and Elton’s longtime friend and first producer), Caleb Quaye, was an example of this. Among the songs on which they play are the impressive opening track, ‘Tiny Dancer’, which was dedicated to and inspired by Taupin’s wife, Maxine Feibelman, who was indeed a dancer. The track also features B.J. Cole on pedal steel, who at the time was a member of Cochise, a group fronted by Stuart Brown, Elton’s ex-colleague from the first band with which the then Reg Dwight recorded, Bluesology. Pope, Glover and Quaye also played on the contagious ‘Razor Face’, along with Rick Wakeman on organ, who was about to leave the Strawbs to join Yes, and Jack Emblow (a comparative veteran) on accordion.

Pope, Glover and Quaye also appear on the seemingly Jimmy Webb-inspired ‘Holiday Inn’, on which Davey Johnstone excels on mandolin (which he played when he was the junior half of the oddly-named folk duo, Murph & Shaggis, alongside celebrated folk singer Noel Murphy). This song appears to be about the drudgery of traveling in America, where all the hotels in the chain, which gives the song its title, are built to an identical blueprint. The theory being that those who use such hotels will find access to particular parts of the hotel simple, as whatever is required should be located in much the same place as in other hotels in the chain. This may seem slightly disturbing to those who favor individuality, but is apparently regarded as a positive advantage by others…

Davey Johnstone, a blond 20 year old Scot with an apparently instinctive grasp of fretted instruments, played both electric and acoustic guitar as well as banjo and mandolin on the album, and in February, 1972, joined the Elton John Band from folk/rock group Magna Carta. Elton had apparently been anxious for another instrumentalist to share the onstage burden of instrumental solos, because although he was (and remains) and endlessly inventive player, the pressure of being both lead vocalist and the only soloist was considerable. Perhaps a more obvious choice as guitarist in the band might have been Caleb Quaye, but after Johnstone’s work on both this album, on which he played exactly what was required on four tracks, and on the next Elton LP, ‘Honky Château’ Johnstone was offered the post, possibly assisted by a recommendation from Gus Dudgeon, who had produced the Magna Carta LP, ‘Songs From Wasties Orchard’, on which Johnstone had played.

‘Tiny Dancer’ was the second US single from the ‘Madman’ album, and it almost reached the Top 40 of the ‘Billboard’ chart, soon after ‘Levon’ had peaked inside the Top 30. The title of ‘Levon’ was presumably inspired by Levon Helm, a founder member of The Band, the American quintet who were Bob Dylan’s backing group during the mid-Sixties, and who also enjoyed major success as a recording act in their own right. Their 1968 debut LP, ‘Music From Big Pink’, was revered by musicians and discriminating record buyers perhaps due to its earthy, yet precise sound, and like many songs by The Band, ‘Levon’ has an almost cinematic approach; the subject of the song “wears his war wound like a crown” and “calls his child Jesus because he likes the name” – the name ‘Jesus’ actually appears in three songs on the album: in ‘Tiny Dancer’ (“Jesus freaks out in the street handing tickets out for God”), in ‘Levon’ (ironically as a so-called christian name), and in ‘Rotten Peaches’ (an appeal to the almighty from a slave or an escaped prisoner)… ‘Rotten Peaches’ features Rick Wakeman again, guitarist Chris Spedding (who supposedly played on early recordings by the Sex Pistols), Pentangle drummer Terry Cox, bass player Herbie Flowers, who has played on innumerable hit records, from Lou Reed’s ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ to Clive Dunn’s somewhat sentimental UK Number One, ‘Grandad’ (which he was also responsible for co-writing), and Diana Lewis on synthesizer, which she had also played on the earlier ‘Elton John’ LP. In contrast to the large cast of musicians elsewhere, the final track on the LP, the appropriately-titled ‘Goodbye’, is performed by Elton totally solo. Cox and Flowers also appear on the rather poetic ‘Indian Sunset’, which open with Elton singing accapella, and whose lyrics mention Geronimo.

Although it may have been overlooked originally by comparison with the two US hits, ‘Tiny Dancer’ and ‘Levon’, the album’s title track was performed on the ‘Two Rooms’ tribute album of Elton & Bernie’s songs by Bruce Hornsby, who wrote: “Elton inspired me to learn to play the piano. I remember specifically the time and place I heard Elton’s music for the first time, it moved me that intensely. I chose ‘Madman Across The Water’ (to perform on the ‘Two Rooms’ album) because I always loved the song, and its dark mood, and I wanted to try and take it to another place musically”. Bernie Taupin reflected on the ‘Madman’ lyric: “Some of the songs have had wonderful interpretations. My favourite one, I think, is ‘Madman Across The Water’ – because it was at the time of Watergate, everybody thought the ‘Madman’ was Nixon in the White House”. The version of the song here has the same all-star cast as ‘Rotten Peaches’, and ‘Madman’ has become part of Elton’s latterday concert repertoire. An early recording of the song by Elton was attempted during the sessions for the ‘Tumbleweed Connection’ LP, and featured Mick Ronson on guitar, who came to prominence in the early 1970s as David Bowie’s lieutenant in The Spiders From Mars, the ‘Ziggy Stardust’ band. The version of ‘Madman’ with Ronson is included on the remastered reissue of ‘Tumbleweed Connection’ album. Not only did the celebrity-packed ‘Two Rooms’ collection include Bruce Hornsby’s version of the ‘Madman’ title track, but also another song from the ‘Madman’ album, ‘Levon’ which was covered by Jon Bon Jovi, who explained: “Every once in a while, I hear a song that I wish I had written. The first time I heard ‘Levon’, I knew it was one of those songs”.

Along with well over a dozen musicians who accompany Elton on various tracks on the ‘Madman’ album, ten backing vocalists were involved, who all appear on ‘Tiny Dancer’, ‘Holiday Inn’ and ‘Rotten Peaches’. Among them were Lesley Duncan (whose ‘Love Song’ composition had been included on the ‘Tumbleweed Connection’ album), Sue (Glover) & Sunny (Leslie), Roger Cook (co-leader of Blue Mink, a group which also included Herbie Flowers and Barry Morgan, who pays drums on ‘Levon’), Tony Burrows and Dee Murray & Nigel Olsson. In addition, both ‘All The Nasties’ and ‘Indian Sunset’ feature the Cantores in Ecclesia choir, directed by Robert Kirby. The album was effectively recorded in two bursts – ‘Levon’ and ‘Goodbye’ in February, 1971, and the other seven tracks in August that same year, but no additional tracks of any great interest were completed during the sessions, which accounts for the fact this remastered reissue includes no bonus items, and apparently ends, like the original LP, with ‘Goodbye’.

John Tobler, 1995
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All the tapes used to create these new masters are the original mixes. However, due to the fact that many of the tapes are at least 25 years old, they have “softened up” to varying degrees. So, the sound has been passed through the most up to date digital processing equipment, at 20 Bit Resolution; namely The Sadie Digital System and Prism Super Noise Sharper. The effect is purely to “enhance” rather than “colour” the sound.

As the original producer, I would have used this equipment at the time, had it been available for mastering. The very nature of analog recordings being transferred to vinyl demanded major compromises. With the benefits of digital sound these constraints are removed, and the recordings can be heard much closer to the reproduction we had originally intended.

Gus Dudgeon
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All titles written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin
All Titles published by Dick James Music Ltd. (PRS) controlled in the U.S. and Canada by Songs Of Polygram International, Inc. (BMI)

314-528 161-2 © 1995 This Record Company Ltd. Printed in U.S.A.
Rocket Records, Manufactured and Marketed by Island Records, Inc.
825 Eighth Ave., NY, NY 10019
(P) 1971 This Record Company Ltd. © 1995 This Record Company Ltd.
All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
Warning: Unauthorized reproduction of this recording is prohibited by Federal law and subject to criminal prosecution.