The Captain & the Kid

The Captain & the Kid is the twenty-eighth studio album by English musician Elton John, released in 2006. It is his second autobiographical album with lyricist Bernie Taupin, picking up where Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975) left off. The Captain & the Kid chronicles the events in their lives over the intervening three decades.

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic69/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[3]
The Independent[4]
Los Angeles Times[5]
PopMatters4/10[6]
Rolling Stone[7]
This Is London[8]
For the comic strip titled The Captain and the Kids, see The Katzenjammer Kids. For the Jimmy Buffett song The Captain and the Kid, see Down to Earth (Jimmy Buffett album) and Havaña Daydreamin'.

The Captain & the Kid
Studio album by
Elton John
Released18 September 2006
RecordedSpring 2006
StudioCenter Staging, Atlanta
GenreRock
Length45:59
LabelInterscope, Mercury
ProducerElton John, Matt Still
Elton John chronology
Peachtree Road
(2004)		 The Captain & the Kid
(2006)		 Rocket Man: The Definitive Hits
(2007)

The Captain & the Kid reached No. 6 in the UK, a considerable improvement over the performance of John's preceding Peachtree Road in 2004, which peaked at No. 21. Captain reached No. 18 in the US, before quickly falling off the charts. At concerts in early 2007, John made clear his dissatisfaction with Interscope Records' promotion of the album, having threatened to terminate his contract with the label and because of that, John did not release a solo album until 2013's The Diving Board.

Background

Interscope Records announced that there would be no physical single released from this album as the emphasis is on presenting the album as a body of work, making the album his third after Tumbleweed Connection and Leather Jackets to not have any Top 40 singles in the UK (as John, during that time, still hit the Top 40 in the US Adult Contemporary chart).[9][10]

However, a radio single would be released in "The Bridge". The album's booklet has photos of John and Taupin all throughout their career, and in the lyrics section, two songs are included, "Across the River Thames" and "12", which do not appear on the album. "Across the River Thames" was available as a free download to anyone who played the CD on a computer. This is the first album recorded by John and Taupin to show them together on the front cover.

It was also the last studio album to feature Guy Babylon on keyboards; he died in 2009. This was also Bob Birch's last appearance on any of John's solo studio albums before his own death in August 2012 (Birch last appeared on the Gnomeo and Juliet soundtrack).

Track listing

All tracks are written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Postcards from Richard Nixon"5:15
2."Just Like Noah's Ark"5:33
3."Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way (NYC)"4:38
4."Tinderbox"4:25
5."And the House Fell Down"4:48
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."Blues Never Fade Away"4:45
7."The Bridge"3:38
8."I Must Have Lost It on the Wind"3:53
9."Old '67"4:01
10."The Captain and the Kid"5:03
Total length:45:59
UK bonus track and download
No.TitleLength
11."Across the River Thames"4:31
Total length:50:30

Other bonus tracks
Song Availability
"Someone Saved My Life Tonight" (live)Best Buy (CD included download link)/iTunes
"We All Fall in Love Sometimes/Curtains" (live)Best Buy (CD included download link)
"Tell Me When the Whistle Blows" (live)iTunes
"(Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket" (live)iTunes
"Better Off Dead" (live)iTunes

Personnel

Producer Matt Still noted during an interview that in "Just Like Noah's Ark", Elton's black and white spaniel dog Arthur "barked in the middle of [the recording], because John Mahon was playing a cowbell, and the cowbell freaked him out. So he ran over to John and started barking at him right in the middle of a take. It's funny, just randomly he happened to hit the beats and he barked in time. So I recorded it and we actually kept him in there."

The sampled "woof-bells" can be heard in place of the cowbell on the track.

Production
  • Produced by Elton John and Matt Still
  • Recorded and Mixed by Matt Still
  • Recording Assistant – Tom Rickert
  • Mix Assistant – Dan Porter
  • Recorded at Center Stage (Atlanta, GA).
  • Mixed at Townhouse Studios (London, England).
  • Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering (Portland, ME).
  • Studio Coordinator – Adrian Collee
  • Drum Technician – Chris Sobchack
  • Guitar Technician – Rick Salazar
  • Piano Tuner – Andy Williams
  • Director of Ops – Bob Halley
  • Cover Photography – Ryan McGinley
  • Art Direction and Design – David Costa
  • Management – Keith Bradley, Mark Mercuriadis and Frank Presland.

Charts and sales

References
  1. "The Captain & The Kid Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  2. Thomas, Stephen (12 September 2006). "The Captain & the Kid – Elton John : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  3. "CNN.com – EW review: Elton's best album in decades – Sep 19, 2006". CNN.
  4. Going out?. "Album: Elton John – Reviews, Music – The Independent". Enjoyment.Independent.co.uk. Archived from the original on 8 August 2008. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  5. Nichols, Natalie (18 September 2006). "Elton John pauses for a glance back". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  6. O'Neil, Tim. "Elton John: The Captain & the Kid < PopMatters". Popmatters.com. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  7. "Rolling Stone Music | Album Reviews". Rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on 20 February 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  8. "CDs of the week | Music". Thisislondon.co.uk. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  9. "Elton John | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  10. "Elton John Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  11. "And the House Fell Down". Songfacts. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  12. "Wild Things: 11 Pets That Influenced Rock and Pop". On Rolling Stone. 2 May 2014.
  13. "Elton John – The Captuin & the Kid (Album)" (ASP). Australian Charts. Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  14. "Elton John – The Captain & the Kid (Album)" (ASP). Austrian Charts. Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  15. "Elton John – The Captain & the Kid (Album)" (ASP). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  16. "Elton John – The Captain & the Kid (Album)" (ASP). Danish Charts. Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  17. "Elton John – The Captain & the Kid (Album)" (ASP). Les Charts. Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  18. "Chartverfolgung / JOHN, ELTON / Longplay". Music Line (in German). Media Control Charts. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  19. "Artist Ranking CD Album". Oricon Style (in Japanese). Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  20. "Elton John – The Captain & the Kid (Album)" (ASP). Dutch Charts. Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  21. "Elton John – The Captain & the Kid (Album)" (ASP). Norwegian Charts. Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  22. "Elton John – The Captain & the Kid (Album)" (ASP). Spanish Charts. Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  23. "Elton John – The Captain & the Kid (Album)" (ASP). Swedish Charts. Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  24. "Elton John – The Captain & the Kid (Album)" (ASP). Schweizer Hitparade. Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  25. "Chart Archive: Top 40 Official UK Albums Archive – 30th September 2006". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  26. "The Captain & the Kid – Elton John". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  27. "British album certifications – Elton John – The Captain & the Kid". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type The Captain & the Kid in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  28. "Elton John mulling Ronson collaboration". billboard.com. Billboard. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
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