Title:            Ice On Fire(1985) LP
Label:           -Geffen

Ice on fire is not one of my favourite Elton John albums. I know all the hyps about how horrible Leather Jackets is but I like it more than this one. Am I the only one? ;-) I tell you why, they are both pop albums but 'Jackets' has some variety and some very non-commercial sounding tunes. This one gets stuck in a groove. If you remove 'Act of war' whcih I don't have on my vinyl anyway, Cry to heaven and Shoot down the moon, we have 8 mid-tempo, slighly jazzy, slightly R&B pop songs. Okay the tempo has vartiations from mid-fast through to mid-slow but they're all pretty-much the same. Even the production is very similar for each song. I also don't like 'Wrap her up' one bit. There aren't any inspiring brass solo's, it goes for six minutes and Elton sounds half alive. And plus the women they mention at the end were by this time either old or dead. Nancy Reagan? Marilyn Monroe? Half-hearted is how it would describe it and it's not much fun. Shoot down the moon is almost identical to Cry to Heaven, same synth sounds, same arrangement, almost the same melody, same mood, similar lyric, same vocals, same everything. Only Shoot down the moon I seem to find boring, I find Cry to Heaven more attention grabbing. Too Young is a great aching ballad but goes far too long. So they are the three weak tracks in my opinion. The highligts are the energetic 70's R&B opener, with great vocals from Sister Sledge, some very great brass playing and of-course Elton delivers a wonderful vocal. Soul Glove is possibly the best song. It is so much in the same vein as mid-60's pop. It woudl have been a huge hit had it have been released in 1965. Candy By the pound is similar but more cutesy and charming. It perhaps ties with SOul Glove for my favourite off here. THen Nikita is a lovely song. I listened to it before I went to bed one night and that nigth I dreamt about my girl-friend with that song rolling along in my head. It's a wonderful pop song and George Michael's backing vocals really adorns it and creates more atmosphere. Tell me what the papers say and Satellite are quirky, unusual pop gems that deserve to be heard. Not his best but a nice listen.