Victim of Love (album)

Victim of Love
Studio album by Elton John
Released 13 October 1979
Recorded August 1979
Genre Disco
Length 35:45
Label MCA (US/Canada)
Rocket Records
Producer Pete Bellotte
Elton John chronology
The Thom Bell Sessions
(1979)		 Victim of Love
(1979)		 Lady Samantha
(1980)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Rolling Stone (not rated) [2]
Robert Christgau (C-) [3]

Victim of Love is the thirteenth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1979. Recorded at Musicland, Munich and Rusk Sound Studios, Hollywood, it was not critically or commercially well-received, and is his second lowest charting album to date. This is also the shortest album of Elton John's career at a shade under 36 minutes. Despite its negative reception, the album was reissued in a digitally remastered format in 2003. The only single B-side released, "Strangers," appeared as a bonus track on the previous album, A Single Man, as it was recorded during those sessions.

It is a disco album released shortly after the peak of disco's popularity. This album is truly an anomaly in John's catalog. First, he neither wrote nor played on any of the tunes; he only provides vocals. Secondly, his band is also not featured on this album. Lastly, this is one of only two of John's studio albums (as of 2011) without a single contribution by Bernie Taupin. John's previous album, A Single Man, is the other one.

When the album was released as a CD in the 80's, the tracks often got mixed up. The first 45 seconds of "Spotlight" is actually the previous track, and this error occurs in other tracks as well. This was however fixed on the 2003 remaster, which also featured improved sound and instrumental setup.

Contents

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Johnny B. Goode" (Chuck Berry) – 8:06
  2. "Warm Love in a Cold World" (Pete Bellotte, Stefan Wisnet, Gunther Moll) – 4:30 (3:22 on older pressings)
  3. "Born Bad" (Bellotte, Geoff Bastow) – 5:16 (6:20 on older pressings)

Side two

  1. "Thunder in the Night" (Bellotte, Michael Hofmann) – 4:40
  2. "Spotlight" (Bellotte, Wisnet, Moll) – 4:24
  3. "Street Boogie" (Bellotte, Wisnet, Moll) – 3:56
  4. "Victim of Love" (Bellotte, Sylvester Levay, Jerry Rix) – 4:52 (5:02 on older pressings)

B-sides

Song Format
"Strangers" Victim of Love 7" (US/UK)

Personnel

References

  1. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r10476
  2. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/eltonjohn/albums/album/162465/review/5946339/victim_of_love
  3. ^ http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=elton+john
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