Elton John – Victim Of Love

This is the worst EJ of the 70s and possibly only a tad more listenable than Leather Jackets from 1986. Both could be considered career low points but EJ was in an incredibly creative period from 1978 to 1981 which resulted in enough material for 21at 33, The Fox and Jump Up.
He also toured the Soviet Union with Ray Cooper in Spring 1979 and one of those concerts was issued as a double in recent years. So Victim of Love can be forgiven.
It seems like it was a deliberate ploy to piss his American record company off.
Don’t waste money on this nonsense. If you really want it buy an original. Mine cost €1.00!!!

The Piano Man’s worst album of the 70s and probably of his entire career. Leather Jackets from 1986 is a close runner but at least that’s got “Slow Rivers” a duet with Cliff Richard!

Definetly one of Elton John's most unpopular albums. The entire creative genius of Elton John goes out the window on this one. From the worst rendition of Johnny B. Goode until the last song, everything sounds basically the same. First time listeners can't tell whether they are playing track 4 or 6. It's the same boring drum machine on every track. The same uncreative disco sound all over. Also every track is dragging for minutes on end with repetitive choruses and lines. The sound engineer clearly had a bad day with this one.

But maybe it ain't even Elton's fault. A lot of bands and singers of that era were simply pressed by the record label or management to make records like this. Simply to respond to the ever changing market. Or some artists did this as a one time experiment. See also:

Queen - Hot Space (1982)
Demis Roussos - same titled album (1978)
Demis Roussos - The Magic of Demis Roussos (1977)
Dusty Spingfield - It begins again (1978)
Wishbone Ash - Locked In (1976)
Rod Stewart for sure!

this album sucks, but you didn't need me to tell you that. For what it's worth, this pressing sounds pretty decent.

Genre Rock / Style Pop Rock ? The entire LP is a Disco production, from one of Disco's most famous producers, Pete Bellotte.

The discarded stamp from the public library on the label pretty much tells the story of this album.

This album is a serious misadventure in late 1979 by the piano king! Even the CD remaster apologises for this in the sleeve notes!
It's like no other album he made as each side is a segued disco blast! I almost like the cheeky and bold hammering of Johnny B. Goode with it's frantic piano and circus vocals. I think if it was released with "The Thom Bell Sessions" at the time it might have been better received. I guess no Elton collection would be complete without it and you can buy the LP for less than a £1 and the remastered CD for a few pounds more. It is sandwiched between 1978s "A Single Man" which is an entertaining album and 1980s "21 at 33" which is only fair until he gets back to business with 1981s underrated "The Fox". Victim Of Love suffers from style over substance but remember Elton was due a break after a solid decade of great albums, and we can forgive him for going to the disco!

This is the rare test pressing with slightly different (unfinished) cover and entirely different matrices. Comes with glossy b/w photograph of Elton-same as LP artowrk.

There are in existence a few UNnumbered versions of this box set-whether they were missed when the stamper went for a tea-break-who knows?!

It is doubtful if this is a 1st issue and the UK Test Pressing listed elsewhere-AIN'T ! We have a UK test pressing. The following comment has been placed on the so-called UK test pressing and also in the 'edit release' section though if we come back in 5 years there will be no change to the so-called UK TP:This is not the UK Test pressing. The cat # is the US one. The UK test pressing has a large '1' and a large '2' comes with an unfinished sleeve and a large glossy photograph of Elton as per the pic on the cover. Matrices are: TRAIN 9 1 // 1 * EAZM 1 1 2 and TRAIN 9 2 // 1 * EAZM 1 1 2. On the back cover there is no mention of Phonogram.