Captain Fantastic & The Brown Dirt Cowboy: ... - John, Elton (CD 2005)

I can recall with some detail the day I purchased the LP as a new release in the '70s. It was a weekday evening, I was in middle school at the time, and had saved up for a few weeks to have the extra $4 or $5 I paid for the LP. I also remember being slighlty underwhelmed by the mellow, almost 'country' sounding guitar intro to the title song. But after a few plays of the record, it became (and remains) not only my favorite Elton John record, but quite possibly one of my all time favorite records. Yet, as Bernie Taupin articulates in the introduction, the double album "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" tends to overshadow this work in the minds of many. It may be because "Yellow Brick Road" had more hit singles ("Bennie and the Jets," "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting"); quite possibly the remake of "Candle in the Wind" led a new generation of fans to discover the original version. What, in my mind, sets "Captain Fantastic" apart is that it is a version of a'Concept Album,' yet the songs (with the possible exception of the last two tracks, "We All Fall in Love Sometimes" and "Curtains," which flow together) all stand up well on their own without needing the context of the others. Beyond that, the tunes which comprise "Captain Fantastic" are all solid and singable (or hummable); nothing has the sound of 'filler.'
This compact disc package, like the LP, contains a number of things besides the music - a booklet of lyrics, another booklet containing odds and ends of photos, Elton's diary excerpts, clipped articles from old newspapers and a comic book version of the story of how Elton and Bernie met and met success. There is also a small version of the poster based on the cover artwork by Alan Aldridge. I appreciated the inclusion of these items even in the minaturized versions (compared to the full-sized inserts in the LP), although portions were difficult for me to read as I approach (maybe have arrived at) the time of my life to need bifocals.
Unlike my eyesight, this music has aged very well. The songs are superb, the arrangements sound ageless and the musicianship is faultless. I believe that the sequence of the tunes didn't really suffer from the limitations of the LP record (if you consider having to turn it over a 'limitation') so, in my mind, even when I hear the CD, I still hear a sort of 'break' between sides one (which ends with "Someone Saved My Life Tonight") and side two (opens with "{Gotta Get a} Meal Ticket.")
The reason to buy this 'Deluxe Edition' is disc 2 - which contains a live recording from 1975 of the "Captain Fantastic" record in its entirety as well as a few bonus encore numbers (live versions of "Pinball Wizard" and "Saturday Night's Alright"). Hearing the perfect almost to the note versions of the "Captain Fantastic" songs I can see that I really missed out in not seeing the Elton John Band live during the mid 1970s. (My hometown didn't have a large enough venue, and I wasn't yet of driving age.) I can also appreciate more some of Sir Elton's feelings about artists in general who don't really perform 'live' as the level of skill (and hours of preparation to attain and maintain such skill) in his (and the band's)live performance is obvious when listening to this recording.
I'd highly recommend this recording to anyone who used to (or still has) the record or the single disc version of the CD; as well as anyone who is a fan of 70s music, or anyone who likes to hear well-performed, well-written songs.