Elton John had started the 80s with a huge hit called Little Jeannie from a solid album called 21 At 33. He followed that album with the similar but lukewarm The Fox. Well hold on. Because on this outing, Elton John wakes up and hits the ground running. If you thought he was down and out, he was preparing his fans for a release that was truly the jump start of his career in the 1980s.

Jump Up contains some outstanding songs. Dear John, Spiteful Child, Legal Boys, Blue Eyes, Empty Garden, Where Have All The Goodtimes Gone and All Quiet On The Western Front. The production has never been stronger with thanks to Chris Thomas for giving these songs a real shine without over doing it. The tight production on songs like Spiteful Child and Legal Boys measure up to anything that came before this effort.

Elton sings convincingly and with a self-assurance that resembles his best known work. The ache in his voice during Empty Garden, the wonderful tribute to John Lennon is moving. Elton has said he had fun making this release and it shows. He and producer Chris Thomas started to gel and while the hits Blue Eyes and Empty Garden may overshadow this album, it was a perfectly well executed album that deserves to be heard.

A year after 1981's somewhat tepid response to that year's majestic and stately album "The Fox" (see my review for that album), Elton John broke out of the gate with "Jump Up!". While "The Fox" was subdued and understated, "Jump Up!" came out rocking and fun. Recorded in Montsarrat, it feels like an album that was recorded at leisure while on holiday.

From the thundering opening drums of "Dear John", the album as a whole is upbeat. Only the two American Singles "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)" and "Blue Eyes" were ballads. "Dear John" rocked harder and louder than anything he'd done since "Rock Of The Westies" (though not quite as hard as 1984's "Li'l Frigerator" from the "Breaking Hearts" album (see my review for that album)).

Like the "21 At 33" album (see my review for that album), the arrangements and production values were crisp and pointed. The piano in "Spiteful Child" has punch to it, the synth-solo in the Summer-y "Princess" (released as a single outside the United States) has a sense of urgency.

But every now and then, John surprises his listeners and records a "period piece". A track that highlights the musical flavourings of the moment without going overboard (NOTE TO JOHN: I'd love to hear an all instrumental album from you someday). Prime examples up to this point were disco (from the "Victim Of Love" album - DEFINETELY see my review of that album) and Philly-Soul from "The Thom Bell Sessions".

With "Jump Up!", the period piece is "I Am Your Robot". With elements of electronica and industrial along the lines of A Flock Of Seagulls' "I Ran", "I Am Your Robot" remains one of my favorite John tracks. Only John can give credibility to lyrics like "I am your robot, I'm programmed to love you...my serial number is 4-4-3-5-7". Great stuff!

Like most of his 80's output, the album closes with a stately more solemn number. In this case, it's "All Quiet On The Western Front" (released as a single outside the United States). With hymn-like vocals front-and-center, the track mirrors the bleakness and despair of war. The arrangement builds throughout, with a church organ brining it to a soaring conclusion. My father (a Korean War veteran) loves this song.

Like the other 1979-1984 import remasterings, the only drawback is the lack of bonus tracks. There were some great b-sides available, such as "Lonely Boy" and "Take Me Down To The Ocean". In fact, "Ocean" is one of his best written and arranged b-sides, right up there with "Love Sick" (available as a bonus track on 1978's "A Single Man").

But with great packaging and liner notes, the remastering only enhances the sound, making this album a welcomed return to the spotlight in the John catalog. Those of you who prefer John's 70's output should take a closer look throughout the 80's. Though more of a "singles artist" during this time, there were some great records!

Elton John had already peaked as an artist and his collaborations with his best lyricist Bernie Taupin had dissolved when he came to record "A Single Man". With "21 at 33", "The Fox" and "Jump Up" he tentatively reunited with Taupin on a small amount of songs for each album still working with lyrcist Gary Osborne and adding new collaborators including Tom Robinson ("Glad to be Gay")and his future "The Lion King" collaborator Tim Rice ("Jesus Christ Superstar")on this album. Although "Jump Up" doesn't scale the heights of, say, "Honkey Chateau", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" or even "Madman Across the Water", it does compare favorably to "Caribou" and is often better than "Rock of the Westies" recorded at the tail end of his most creative period as an artist.

As far as sound goes those who don't like No Noise will be unhappy as it clearly was used here to eliminate tape hiss and, as a result, sucks some of the life out of the original recording. While this isn't as loud or compressed as most reissues that came out in 2003, it does sound a bit more compressed than the original disc. For those folks, I'd strongly recommend the original CD issue on Geffen/Universal from 1992. The only difference aside from that is a very good booklet with lyrics and John Tobler's liner notes discussing the making of the album and an accurate replica (it was simplified for the 1992 CD release) of the original album artwork.

The big hit was "Blue Eyes" (John wrote it with Gary Osborne) but there's other strong material here as well. "Dear John" is a solid rocker written with Gary Osborne that could hold its own musically with Elton's earlier rockers. The tracks that John writes with Osborne here are better than the work they did on "A Single Man". The other highlights include "Legal Boys" a clever ballad about a divorce written with Rice. The stand out track, though, is the moving "Empty Garden" written with Bernie Taupin about their idol (and friend) John Lennon and his murder in 1980. It's probably the most moving of any of the songs written about Lennon (certainly better than most of the songs written by Lennon's former bandmates Paul McCartney and George Harrison).

Although the album and some of the production touches (particularly on the weaker tracks such as "I Am Your Robot")put the album firmly in the 80's, that's not a bad thing--it's an album of its time that manages at its best to transcend its time. The most appealing songs are still exceptionally good. Although it doesn't quite measure up to "Too Low for Zero", it's a nice return to form and certainly better than John's career low the horrible disco album "Victim of Love" (a complete miscalculation).

It's a pity we don't get any bonus tracks as with the other albums from John's earlier discography but what we do get here is very good at its best. Curiously, "The Retreat" the one b-side that would have fit on this album and was released as a b-side for "Blue Eyes" was carried over to "2Lowfor0" (or Too Low For Zero) and isn't here. Elton hadn't lost his touch just got a little lost in the maze of drugs and good living that took over much of his life during the late 70's/early 80's.

Without question, this is one of Elton John's finest 1980's albums. I agree with those who say that for once, Elton almost returned completely to his mid 1970's form, with an entire album of very good to excellent pop ballads and up tempo rockers. Here, he is well served by his long-time partner, lyricist Bernie Taupin, and also by Gary Osborne (perhaps best known for the "21 at 33" smash hit "Little Jeannie"), who wrote the lyrics for "Dear John", "Blue Eyes", and "Princess". Tim Rice contributes the words to a witty song on divorce, "Legal Boys", which foreshadows some of his finest work with Elton John at the end of the 1990's ("Aida", "The Road to El Dorado"). Without a doubt, "Blue Eyes" and "Empty Garden", his tribute to his friend John Lennon, are the finest songs on this album, but the others sound great too. Even the quirky Bernie Taupin-penned "I Am Your Robot" works, with Elton sounding like a punk rock diva. "Jump Up" shows a mature Elton John willing to take risks musically. Long-time bandmates Davey Johnstone and Dee Murray and "Toto" drummer Jeff Porcaro give excellent performances of their own, successfully backing Elton's fine vocals and piano playing. "Jump Up" is clearly among his best work from the 1980's; only "Sleeping with the Past" surpasses it.

The album comes at a time in his career when it's almost impossible to shake comparisons to his earlier works. Those early albums were about as close to perfect as recordings get. When that happens, it's easy for some really good work to get over looked. I had sort of fell off the Elton band wagon by the time this one came around. But "Jump Up!" put me right back on. The tribute to his dear friend John Lennon, is a beautifully crafted song. The metaphor is spot on and manages to create just the right tone and sentiment. John Lennon as a gardener tending his garden is perfect. Though fairly simple and straight forward, "Blue Eyes" is a great showcase for Elton's changing voice. His deeper voice sounds seasoned and reminiscent of the Sinatra era. "The Legal Boys" is a very creative lyric from Bernie. It's a love song that is able to capture the escalating divorce rate of the late seventies while also foreshadowing a bit of corporate greed coming our way in the eighties. "Ball and Chain" just rocks. Though this one doesn't often get mentioned as a classic Elton album, it still deserves a listen. There are some great, under valued tracks here.

Chris Bowen

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