The Fox (Elton John album)
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2010) |
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [1] |
| Rolling Stone | [2] |
The Fox is the fifteenth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1981. The track "Elton's Song" was banned from radio play in some countries due to its content,[citation needed] which included references to homosexuality. The album was produced by John, Clive Franks and for the first time, Chris Thomas, who would produce many more albums with John through most of the 1980s and '90s.
Five of the songs (noted below) were recorded during the sessions for his previous album 21 at 33. All B-sides released around this time were also from those sessions.
Track listing
All songs written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, except where noted.
Side one
- "Breaking Down Barriers" (John, Gary Osborne) – 4:41
- "Heart in the Right Place" (John, Osborne) – 5:11*
- "Just Like Belgium" – 4:08
- "Nobody Wins" (Jean-Paul Dreau, Osborne) – 3:37
- "Fascist Faces" – 5:10
Side two
- "Carla/Etude" (John) – 4:46*
- "Fanfare" (John, James Newton Howard) – 1:26*
- "Chloe" (John, Osborne) – 4:40*
- "Heels of the Wind" – 3:32
- "Elton's Song" (John, Tom Robinson) – 3:01*
- "The Fox" – 5:11
(*): Recorded in August 1979 and produced by John and Clive Franks. Chris Thomas produced the other tracks.
On some versions of the CD, "Carla/Etude", "Fanfare" and "Chloe" are combined into one track, making it a nine-track album.
French and Quebec releases of the album included "J'Veux de la Tendresse" in place of "Nobody Wins". "Tendresse" was the original French version of the song which Osborne wrote English lyrics for, thus transforming the song into "Nobody Wins".
In 2003, Mercury/Universal and The Rocket Record Company reissued the album on CD, remastered by Gary Moore. The line-up contained no bonus tracks.
B-sides
| Song | Format |
|---|---|
| "Fools in Fashion" | "Nobody Wins" 7" (US/UK) |
| "Nobody Wins" (extended version) | "Nobody Wins" 12" (US) |
| "Je Veux De La Tendresse" (French version of "Nobody Wins") | "Nobody Wins" 12" (US) |
| "Can't Get Over Getting Over Losing You" | "Just Like Belgium" 7" (UK) |
| "Tortured" | "Chloe" 7" (US) |
Visions: The videos from The Fox
Visions, released on VHS in 1982, is a video of all ten songs recorded for The Fox album. It is notable as one of the first long-form video releases of an album. The collection was also released on RCA's CED digital video disc, a precursor to the Laserdisc and DVD, but has not been released since. One of the videos, for the song "Elton's Song", dealt with a teenager's admiration of another teenage boy he yearns for, but is too shy to confront—it was excluded from the UK video release, because the public school it was filmed at objected to the theme of the song. All the videos were directed by Russell Mulcahy.[citation needed]
Personnel
- Ronald Baker: backing vocals
- Colette Bertrand: French girl on "Just Like Belgium"
- Varl Carwell: backing vocals
- Chuck Cissel: backing vocals
- Bill Champlin: backing vocals
- Rev. James Cleveland: spoken voice and choir on "Fascist Faces"
- Cornerstone Baptist Church Choir: choir
- Victor Feldman: percussion
- Clarence Ford: backing vocals
- Roy Galloway: backing vocals
- James Gilstrap: backing vocals
- Max Gronenthal: backing vocals
- Jim Horn: alto saxophone
- Elton John: lead and backing vocals, piano, vocal solo on "Breaking Down Barriers"
- Roger Linn: drum synthesizer programming
- John Lehman: backing vocals
- Tamara Matoesian: backing vocals
- Reggie McBride: bass guitar
- Dee Murray: bass guitar, backing vocals
- James Newton Howard: synthesisers, vocoder, Fender Rhodes, organ, synthesizer programming, string arrangement, conductor
- Nigel Olsson: drums
- Gary Osborne: backing vocals
- Mickey Raphael: harmonica
- Stephanie Spruill: tambourine, backing vocals
- Alvin Taylor: drums
- Oren Waters: backing vocals
- Richie Zito: guitars
Charts
Chart positions
|
Year-end charts
Certifications
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
- ^ "The Fox". Allmusic. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "austriancharts.at Elton John – The Fox" (ASP). Hung Medien (in German). Retrieved 29 October 2011.
- ^ Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 29 January 2012
- ^ "dutchcharts.nl Elton John – The Fox" (ASP). Hung Medien (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- ^ "InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste" (PHP) (in French). infodisc.fr. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- ^ "charts.org.nz Elton John – The Fox" (ASP). Hung Medien. Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- ^ "norwegiancharts.com Elton John – The Fox" (ASP). Hung Medien. VG-lista. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- ^ "swedishcharts.com Elton John – The Fox" (ASP) (in Swedish). Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- ^ "Chart Stats – Elton John – The Fox" (PHP). UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- ^ "allmusic ((( The Fox > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- ^ "Album Search: Elton John – The Fox" (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- ^ "Les Albums (CD) de 1981 par InfoDisc" (PHP) (in French). infodisc.fr. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- ^ "British album certifications – Elton John – The Fox". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type The Fox in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
