Released:
1979
Review Date:
February 4, 2024
By:
David Sigler
Elton John’s icy cold stare on his 1979 disco album Victim Of Love, seems to be asking one of three questions. Has he been placed in a witness protection program and therefore, it’s not really him on the cover? Is he trying to pretend he has nothing to do with this album? Or, is he simply daring us to actually listen to the album? I will choose the last one. Because however this album came to be, Victim Of Love has a bewildering defiant attitude in that it starts at the bottom of the barrel and seems perfectly delighted to stay there until the bitter end.
How else can you then explain this mindset when the lead off track Johnny B. Goode (a cover of the 1958 classic Chuck Berry hit) gets the full on disco treatment with no regard to the historical impact the song has had since the early days of rock-n-roll? No apologies here pal – you’re going to get a disco version of Johnny B. Goode whether you like it or not!
Pulling out all the stops with its 8 minute running time in a desperate attempt to win you over, Johnny B. Goode contains a good sax solo by Lenny Pickett, a funky bass interlude and some really exuberant female backing vocals. Yet, it just lumbers on and on over a steady four on the floor drum beat (thump, thump, thump, thump), while the listener prays for it to end at the half way mark. It’s a startling choice to cover this song in this style in the first place, much less kick off the album.
It’s not that John hasn’t done covers before (he had great success with The Who’s Pinball Wizard and The Beatles Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds), both in 1975. That’s what makes this cover of Johnny B. Goode so frustrating. When John has covered other artists, he always seems to put his own spin on it – paying homage to the original yet still adding that unique Elton John touch. When other contemporaries of John jumped on the disco bandwagon in the late 70’s (The Rolling Stones, The Bee Gees, Cher and Rod Stewart), the songs at least sounded like them. Sadly, no luck here for John and Co. on Victim Of Love. He comes off as guest vocalist on someone else’s album as he didn’t co-write any of the songs or play any instruments on it.
The next song, Warm Love In A Cold World has the pleasure (or curse) of following Johnny B. Goode and starts off promising but quickly reverts to a chorus that simply goes nowhere: “Warm love in a cold world / Oh we’re gonna make it, oh we’re gonna make it, we’re gonna make it.” Or take (or not) the next song, Born Bad, which is practically a carbon copy of Love. For what’s its worth, legendary guitarist Steve Lukathur of Toto fame delivers some decent solos on both as one would expect from this great guitar player.
Thunder In The Night is marginally saved by having long instrumental passages that thankfully spare us from the trite lyrics. Things don’t get much better on Spotlight, in which John sings: “Night life, hot spot light / I’ll show them how to dance tonight.” It’s about as unconvincing as it sounds. John may be a lot of things, but a dancer he’s not! Street Boogie follows and is as indistinguishable as the preceding five songs, as the arrangements on each song follow a rinse and repeat formula that strips any of them from standing out.
But like the light at the end of a tunnel, by the time we get to the last song which is the title track, there is a little glimmer of hope. It’s the albums one highlight (and I’m being generous here). Complimented by backing vocals by Michael McDonald and Patrick Simmons of The Doobie Brothers, who together elevate the song Victim of Love to a level of at least minimal tolerance, that is not found anywhere else on this album.
Despite the stellar studio musicians on board, Victim Of Love can’t seem to get out from under its own weight. That’s chiefly because of the songs. They just aren’t that well written. Producer Pete Bellotte who had an amazing string of hits with Donna Summer during this time (Hot Stuff, Bad Girls, Dim All The Lights), either ran out of ideas or just gathered up left over disco songs that no one else wanted. Either way, it’s still mind blowing that Bellotte could produce such a bland lifeless disco album of mediocre songs for someone as talented as Elton John. Bellotte also segues each song together on Victim Of Love in what I guess is an attempt to create a non-stop dance party that shows no mercy until the final fade out.
To be fair, I guess if you want some energetic workout music and think of Victim Of Love as John’s dance album where he is only providing guest vocals, then Victim Of Love may be passable as he does sing it well despite the material. In the end however, there is good disco music for sure but sadly you won’t find much of it on Victim Of Love.
| Song | Rating |
|---|---|
| Johnny B. Goode | 1.00 |
| Warm Love In A Cold World | 1.00 |
| Born Bad | 1.00 |
| Thunder In The Night | 1.00 |
| Spotlight | 1.00 |
| Street Boogie | 1.00 |
| Victim Of Love | 2.50 |
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