Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
Elton John can make the listener believe in many things, love, acceptance, bravery, groove, the act of being cool even when the world raises an eyebrow in response, the fierce drive to succeed, but time travel, that perhaps is a step too far, even for the Rocket Man.
Yet, for all that he has accomplished, all Elton John has lived through, perhaps regretted, all the joy he has brought others, in a way time travel is an art form that he has achieved in one simple way, the release of an album once thought lost to the ears of the fans and which was meant to be the introduction to the nation which would eventually take him to their hearts, and who at times loved and were frustrated by in equal musical measure.
Regimental Sgt. Zippo is an album out of time, a set of songs that whilst not having access to a Tardis, somehow manage to evoke a sense of beginning, even in the end of the great man’s career.
It is in the court of the listener to understand that the album is a beginning, even in the scope of it being released almost as a final music epitaph, and the court will need to remind others of this simple fact when looking at the entire catalogue of work.
How are we to look upon an album that is effectively 50 plus years old when its sense of purpose is to reside in the present day…the answer lives in patience, in respect of the art, for the artist’s preserve is to grow, feel more for the subject, become entwined with its own history, but history can be subverted and whilst Regimental Sgt. Zippo is not as strong as what has already released, it is by Time’s definition a marker for what has already been.
Time is a stranger’s barometer of how they look upon the actions of those they have not yet known, and in respects to this upbeat, boogie rock and roll inspired, and sense of drama album, the barometer is firmly set to engage, to be thought-provoking, a curious drama driven by the young Elton John and the ever-attention grabbing lyricist Bernie Taupin.
An album that contains tracks such as And The Clock Goes Round, Sitting Doing Nothing, A Dandelion Dies In The Wind, Nina, Hourglass, and the album title track of Regimental Sgt. Zippo, is one that will frame the heart of the purist, and capture the essence of Elton John at either end of the spectrum of his career.
Time travel is not a work of science fiction, it is the agreement that what might come first is perhaps sometimes better off revealing itself to be the last wave; and one put to extraordinary use by one of Britain’s finest ever musicians, composers, and original artists.
Regimental Sgt. Zippo is a timely reminder that the art inside us may have different plans than what we imagine, and for Elton John it provides the ability to see his mountain of work as not having an beginning or an ending, but being a circle, joined up, complete, and never ending.
Ian D. Hall