"21 At 33" is often overlooked by fans and critics; if it is remembered at all, it is best known as the album which yielded Elton's American Billboard Top 3 Hit "Little Jeannie", which ranks along with "Blue Eyes" as the best song he co-wrote with lyricist Gary Osborne. However, I think this fine album deserves recognition as yet another example of his splendid songwriting craft, having written all of the songs on this album in August, 1979 in France's Cote d'Azur (The album was co-produced by Elton and long-time associate sound - and concert stage - engineer Clive Franks.). Musically it is also noteworthy for being a partial reunion of the John/Taupin songwriting team, yielding such memorable rockers as the opening track, "Chasing The Crown", "Two Rooms At The End Of The World" (A post-"Captain Fantastic" sequel reminding listeners that the team had been separated only by distance - since Bernie had moved to California - and that they were still musically at - or at the very least close to - the stratospheric artistic heights they had achieved from the early to mid 1970s.), and "White Lady, White Powder". While these were among this album's best songs, along with "Little Jeannie", the most memorable ones also included the minor hit "Sartorial Eloquence" (co-written with Tom Robinson) and the bluesy hymn "Dear God" and the country-western ballad "Take Me Back" with lyrics from Robinson and a young English songwriter, Judie Tzuke, who was signed to Elton's Rocket Records. "21 At 33" should also be remembered as the first partial reunion of Elton with his original rhythm section of bassist Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson (Olsson has a memorable drum solo on "Little Jeannie".), who would be featured - either together or separately - on every Elton John album in the early 1980s, and with both officially rejoining his touring band by 1980.

In fact, 21 At 33, supposedly Elton's 21st record at the age of 33, is his seventeenth (unless collections count). Either way, the numbers don't matter; Elton sounds on this record like he has the energy of age 21 at 33-- hell, that's what I thought the title meant when I was a kid and I first bought this record on cassette! Having just received the CD through the Amazon Marketplace, replacing that long-lost cassette, I put it right on, hearing it for the first time in about fifteen years. Unlike me, the record hasn't aged a day; if anything, it sounds better, and the reissue art and liner notes from the omnipresent John Tobler are lovely additives. Not that the record needs them; 21 At 33 is, in my estimation, one of Elton's best, not only from this transitional period of his career but from his entire ouvre. Bernie Taupin makes a triumphant return to his partner's work here, with the three best songs on the record: 'Chasing the Crown' (John/Taupin's answer to the Rolling Stones' 'Sympathy for the Devil'), a hard-rocking testiment of the eternal Adversary that has never received the attention it deserves (Elton, if you're listening, you should add this one to your live show!); 'Two Rooms at the End of the World,' a state-of-their-union update and response from John/Taupin to the rumour that their creative relationship had reached its end, and 'White Lady, White Powder,' an honest and good-humoured ode to Bernie's coke habit (which, according to Phillip Norman's book 'Sir Elton,' was coming to an end around this time). Of the non-Taupin songs, the best is 'Sartorial Eloquence,' with lyrics by the gay punk-pop songwriter Tom Robinson. This one should go down in music history as one of the gayest love songs ever (sample lyric: 'Oh your lifestyle shows / In the clothes you chose / Sitting pretty in the masquerade'). Robinson's other lyric on this album, 'Never Gonna Fall In Love Again,' isn't as much of a standout, however; it's merely good. Of the remaining four tracks, three are written by Elton's collaborator on A Single Man, Gary Osbourne, whose best contribution here is the hit single 'Little Jeannie,' a seemingly straight love song that verges on sappiness at times, but is redeemed by Elton's emotionally effective but restrained vocal and the song's relaxed tempo. Osbourne's other two contributions here, the spiritual 'Dear God' and the countrified 'Take Me Back' are good, if not especially remarkable; the important thing is that they work in their context, neither slowing the record down or otherwise upsetting its flow. Outside of their context, neither song stands out particularly, but in it, they work beautifully. One of the great strengths of Elton John over the years is the diversity of not only his work entire, but specifically of his 'love songs.' While many an artist sticks with one, or at best, two dimensions of what we call 'love' (namely hetero-sexual lust and romantic love of the straight variety), the work of Elton John (particularly in tandem with Bernie Taupin) runs the gamut: straight love ('Tiny Dancer,' 'Amy,' 'Blues For Baby and Me,' 'Little Jeannie,' etc.); [...] love ('Elton's Song,' 'Sartorial Eloquence,' 'Razor Face,' 'Dan Dare [Pilot of the Future],'); brotherly love ('Daniel,' 'Two Rooms...,' 'We All Fall In Love Sometimes/Curtains'); etherial love ('Candle In The Wind,' 'Lady Samantha,' 'High Flying Bird'); dysfunctional love ('All the Girls Love Alice'); damaged and failed love ('Someone Saved My Life Tonight,' 'Cold As Christmas,' 'Sacrifice,' 'Dear John,' 'Love Lies Bleeding'); rented love ('Sweet Painted Lady,'); interracial love ('Amazes Me'); international love (Nikita) long-distance love ('I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues,') and just all-purpose, whomever-you-are love ('Your Song,' 'Love Song,' 'Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me,' etc). Lord knows I could go on; off hand, I can think of several more categories and tunes to fill them, but I digress. This brings me to the good all-purpose love song that concludes the album, the appropriately titled "Give Me the Love,' Co-written by Elton and Judie Tzuke (an artist that was signed to Rocket at the time). It's a funky little number, and an excellent closer to an underrated record by a man who still hasn't even come close to running low on energy and a songwriting team who still have much to teach us about love.

"21 at 33", originally released in 1980, is not usually considered to be one of Elton John's best albums. More precisely, it seems to be viewed as something of a transitional record for Elton following his notorious and commercially disastrous disco album "Victim of Love".

That said, "21 at 33" is an incredibly impressive achievement. Despite the personal problems Elton was going through during this period, including his increasing drug dependency, absolutely none of the songs here fail to display Elton's superior knack for songcraft. In other words, there's simply not a weak song on the disc. And the production, by Elton and Clive Franks, is mostly very tasteful, and the performances are spirited.

Granted, Elton's reliance on other people to write the lyrics for his songs does give him a certain advantage in that he can focus solely on writing the music, and he can also use the lyrics he's been provided with as a vantage point for the type of song he's going to concoct. Bernie Taupin, following his songwriting absence on the previous two albums, returned here, co-writing three of the songs. Gary Osborne was also continuing to co-write songs with Elton, and there are additionally two co-writes from Tom Robinson, and one co-write from Judie Tzuke. The liner notes inform us that all of the songs here were written at the Cote d'Azur in Grasse, France in August of 1979, which inescapably brings to mind the thought that Elton can turn out great song after great song in his sleep--even if these tunes were all written quickly, they all seem carefully thought out musically, and none of them feel merely like album filler.

"Chasing The Crown" is a great, energetic album opener that rocks out quite nicely with super-cool guitar and piano licks. "Little Jeannie" is a supremely melodic ballad with a soaring chorus and an irresistible fade that's based on the instrumental intro. "Sartorial Eloquence" starts off with a lovely sequence of piano chords and again is splendidly melodic with an irresistibly catchy chorus. "Two Rooms At The End Of The World" is a toe-tappingly catchy horn-laden pop-rocker with neatly placed harmony vocals. The neatly-unpredictable "White Lady White Powder" is an extremely well-crafted and catchy uptempo pop-rocker. The 6/8 time "Dear God" is a gently-swaying, arrestingly tuneful ballad. "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again" is also a solid ballad with a nice sighing quality to it. "Take Me Back" is a fun, musically upbeat song that shows just how comfortable Elton is a country-western setting. The album ends with the absolutely infectious grooving soft-rocker "Give Me The Love": unbelievably catchy vocal melody; irresistible syncopation; great horn and string arrangements; a really fun, spirited Elton vocal delivery; and great Elton piano fills.

"21 at 33" is an album that you can absolutely play straight through. On the other hand, you might have a hard time doing that due to a temptation to play certain tracks two or three times in a row. With a nice variety to the songs, and so much catchiness, this is a really great and underrated album from Elton, and I really can't fathom how any fan wouldn't love it.

(P.S. Further demonstrating what a roll Elton was on at this time, there are at least a couple songs from the "21 at 33" sessions that didn't make the album. One is the fine ballad "Conquer the Sun" which appeared as a b-side for the "Little Jeannie" single. Another is the irresistibly funky "Lonely Boy" which appeared as a b-side to the single for "Who Wears These Shoes?" in 1984. It would have made this album even sweeter had these two songs been added here as bonus tracks--fans won't regret tracking them down.)

That title for this review plays off the cover artwork for this 1980 release. With his recording career in a unexpected and doubtful place, Elton John re-emerged once again with a collection of songs that let's his fans know that he can deliver when he needs to. After the stark and moody "A Single Man" and the disco disaster of "Victim of Love", "21 at 33" rightfully puts Elton back in the pop-rock category. It may not hold together all the way through but at least his diversions are minimal and do not way down the entire effort.

Starting with the highly charged rocker, "Chasing The Crown", you know right away he mean business. Effective backing vocals and a great guitar by Richie Zito start the album off with a bang. "Little Jeannie" follows and is simply one of those enduring and memorable ballads Elton has built a successful career upon. It has one of his most unique lyrical hooks ("I want you to be my acrobat"), courtesy of Gary Osbourne, in years. Further, this may be the best John/Taupin song without a Taupin lyric. The way the melody flows and marriage of the lyric to the melody are very reminiscent of anything Elton and Taupin did back in '73.

And speaking of Taupin, this was his much herald return to an Elton John album since 1976's "Blue Moves". Here, he contributes three lyrics: the mentioned above "Chasing the Crown", a cocaine laced "White Lady/White Powder" and "Two Rooms At The End Of The World", which tells the tale of their reunion. Elton, with tongue clearly in cheek, give "White Lady" a melody that is so full of cheery piano fills and backing vocals, that it almost appears to be a parody when contrasted with the lyric about cocaine addiciton. And on "Two Rooms", an overproduced uptempo song that has too strong of a horn arrangement, misses some of the drama and insight into Taupin's story about how they write songs. "Two Rooms" isn't bad, it's just very busy with horns, piano solos, and many backing vocals that keep the listener very busy.

Elsewhere, lyrics are shared with Gary Osbourne, with the exception of "Little Jeannie," turns in more mundane, b-side worthy material (the ill-advised "Dear God", which follows the cocaine song - go figure, and "Take Me Back", a routine country song that feels way out of place among the others). These songs sound like leftovers from "A Single Man". But Tom Robinson provides Elton with lyrics for two pretty ballads:"Sartorial Eloquence" and "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again". This is a relationship that seemed to work nicely and a shame they didn't explore more opportunities in the future (though Robinson did make one last appearance on the next release, "The Fox").

Rounding out the last of the lyrical contributors is "Give Me The Love," which is written by Elton and Judie Ztuke. A jazzy, disco style upbeat number that certainly sounded very 1980 and contemporary when it came out. Not a bad song but again, a little out of place.

Elton produced this release with sound engineer Clive Franks and the results are overwhelming at times. However, this remastered version is very well done and the sound is crisp, clear and solid. It also helped that Elton brought back some of the original band members (drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray) for a few songs - notably the huge hit "Little Jeannie."

"21 At 33" is not his best album but certainly a signal that Elton John was getting serious about his music again. And at that time in his career, it proved he had a ace or two up his sleeve.

Best Tracks: Chasing The Crown, Little Jeannie, Sartorial Eloquence.

Elton John, fresh off 1979's active year, with a top 10 hit (the Thom Bell written and produced "Mama Can't Buy You Love"), being one of the first ever rock artists to tour the Soviet Union (the Berlin Wall was still up) and blast through the speakers of discos across the country with the "Victim Of Love" album, opened the new 80's decade with his last album for MCA, "21 At 33". As most people know, the title refers to the number of albums released (21) and his age at the time (33).

With the first single "Little Jeannie" becoming one of his biggest hits of the decade, the album got off to a great start, backed with a solid tour as well. What one notices right from the start on this record is how clean sounding the production and the arrangements are. The bell-tree in "Little Jeannie" is crisp and crystal clear. The horn arrangement in the autobiographical "Two Rooms At The End Of The World" (Elton in London and Bernie in Los Angeles) is pointed and the staccatos have punch to them.

The second single, "Sartorial Eloquence" was a decent, building-ballad (although I've never understood why MCA released it as the key line from the song "Don't You Wanna Play This Game No More"). EJ & Taupin even (blushingly) take on (of all things) cocaine in "White Powder White Lady". All with the Eagles provided ample backing vocals (and perhaps, noses???). But the next two tracks could have been stronger. "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again", written with England Gay New-Waver Tom Robinson, was OK, but "Take Me Back", a country-esque number complete with "fiddle" was in retrospect too obvious of a "filler".

Much more interesting was the album's closing number "Give Me The Love" written with label-mate Judy Tzuke (think elements of Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush), who had a gorgeous hit the previous year with "Stay With Me Till Dawn". The song takes on a fluid, crisp jazz quality, one which was a head-turner for the hard-core Elton fan. It was so well written and executed, that I couldn't help but wonder if Elton was listening to Boz Scagg's "Middle Man" album while writing the music. It's always been my belief that Elton should do more exploration into Jazz, as well as compose and release an album of instrumentals. "Give Me The Love" seems to support both.

As with the other newly-released, import remasterings, they could have included some really great bonus tracks like "Conquor The Sun" (B-side to "Little Jeannie"), and "Cartier", "White Man Danger" (which should have been on the album instead of "Take Me Back"), as well as other european B-sides like "Love So Cold" and "Tactics". They really blew it...especially with most of the "Classic Year" remasterings containing bonus tracks.

Overall, "21 At 33" gets 3-Stars. It was a sprightly, Summery album, which would have gotton 4-stars if there would not have been the "filler" track mentioned above, as well as providing the bonus tracks mentioned. It should be noted that the remastering is superb and definetely enhances the clean, crisp arrangements.