A little over thirty years ago I was on my first round of share accommodation at Balgowlah Hts and later, Gordon. Oh lahdeedaa I hear you say! This was merely a pause before the journey further and further into Sydney's Western Suburbs. But I digress. At these former abodes, one of my flatties had a copy of The Thom Bell Sessions, an EP by Elton John, produced by noted Philadelphia soul meister, Thom Bell. The EP was a trifling three songs in length but far more worrying yet was the fact that I had never heard of it. I cannot to this day explain this gap in my EJ discography, for at that time I was a huge aficionado of the man, with every original LP in my collection.

This is pure arcana for the general reader and I raise it only to make a similar confession. Looking through the Spotify EJ album collection today, and coming upon The Complete Thom Bell Sessions, I was astonished to see the EP had grown to six songs. Also included was an original and significantly different version of Are You Ready For Love. The latter features the voices of Bobby Smith and John Edwards from The Spinners and is a much better song for their inclusion.

Many of Mr. Dwight's fans winced at this EP and its notorious follow-up, Victim of Love. Disco seemed like a bit of sell-out for a piano player with a pop-rock sensibility, but there is always a case to be made for getting something out of your system. For me, the albums spanning A Single Man through 21 at 33 marked a fundamental change in the style and creativity of Elton's music, though not necessarily for the better. There was still good music to come, though not much that made the hairs on my neck stand on end.