Jump Up! (Elton John album)
Sixteenth studio album by Elton John, released in 1982.
In 1982, Elton John put out his sixteenth studio album, Jump Up!. The Rocket Record Company released it globally, but Geffen Records handled the US and Canadian editions. By November of that year, the RIAA had certified it gold in the United States.
Quick Facts
- Artist
- Elton John
- Released
- 9 April 1982
- Recorded
- September–October 1981
- Studio
- AIR
- Salem
- Montserrat; Pathé Marconi
- Paris
- Genre
- Pop rock
- Length
- 42:31
- Label
- Geffen (US), Rocket (UK)
- Producer
- Chris Thomas
Facts from the source article.
Track listing
Side one
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dear John | Elton John, Gary Osborne | 3:31 |
| 2 | Spiteful Child | John, Bernie Taupin | 4:15 |
| 3 | Ball & Chain | John, Osborne | 3:27 |
| 4 | Legal Boys | John, Tim Rice | 3:05 |
| 5 | I Am Your Robot | John, Taupin | 4:43 |
| 6 | Blue Eyes | John, Osborne | 3:25 |
| Total length | 22:26 | ||
Side two
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny) | John, Taupin | 5:09 |
| 2 | Princess | John, Osborne | 4:56 |
| 3 | Where Have All the Good Times Gone? | John, Taupin | 4:00 |
| 4 | All Quiet on the Western Front | John, Taupin | 6:03 |
| Total length | 20:08 | ||
Track listing from the source article.
Background
The album features "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)", a song honoring John Lennon, who had also signed with Geffen for the release of Double Fantasy. Jump Up! is one of the first records where Elton John uses a lower vocal register, noticeable on tracks like "Blue Eyes", "Princess", "Ball and Chain", and "Spiteful Child". The song "Legal Boys" was co-written by John and Tim Rice, who later wrote lyrics for The Lion King and The Road to El Dorado. This album marks the final studio appearance of keyboardist James Newton Howard, though he would reunite with John on the Gnomeo & Juliet soundtrack nearly three decades later.
The inner sleeve artwork features Vance Buck, a lifelong friend of John, and Luke Osborne, the then five-year-old son of lyricist Gary Osborne. Recording and digital mixing took place at AIR Studios in Montserrat and Pathé Marconi Studios in France. In a 2010 Sirius radio special, lyricist Bernie Taupin described Jump Up! as "one of our worst albums," calling it "a terrible, awful, disposable album," but added that "Empty Garden" made it worthwhile.
John performed several tracks from the album on the Jump Up! Tour, including "Ball and Chain", "Dear John", "Where Have All the Good Times Gone", "Empty Garden", and "Blue Eyes". He later included "Blue Eyes" in set lists for the 1984 Breaking Hearts and European Express tours, and played both "Blue Eyes" and "Empty Garden" during his 1999 solo piano tour.
Outtakes
The album had two B-sides: "Take Me Down to the Ocean" (backing "Empty Garden") and "Hey Papa Legba" (backing "Blue Eyes"). Several other tracks were left off the record, including "At This Time in My Life", "Desperation Train", "I'm Not Very Well", "Jerry's Law", "Moral Majority", "Waking Up in Europe", and "The Ace of Hearts and the Jack of Spades". None of these have ever surfaced on official releases or bootlegs. However, "Desperation Train" later appeared on Bernie Taupin's 1987 album Tribe, set to a new melody by Martin Page.
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