Rock of the Westies is the tenth studio album by English musician Elton John, released in October 1975. As with Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Rock of the Westies debuted on the US Billboard 200 chart at No. 1, the only two albums at that time to have done so. It was also successful in the artist's home territory of the UK, where it reached No. 5 on the UK Albums Chart. Robert Christgau ranked it as No. 7 on his list of the best albums of 1975. The title is a spoonerism play on the phrase "West of the Rockies", the album having been recorded at Caribou Ranch in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
History
Rock of the Westies contained the US No. 1 single, "Island Girl", which was released prior to the album. John noted at the time in a radio interview that he had wanted to release "Dan Dare " as the album's first single instead of "Island Girl", because he thought it had more commercial appeal. He was over-ruled, and "Dan Dare" was never released as a single, whilst "Island Girl" became a hit. The make-up of John's band was different on Rock of the Westies, being without his long-time drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray, both of whom John fired during April 1975. Added in their place were drummer Roger Pope, an old friend who had played on Empty Sky, Tumbleweed Connection and Madman Across the Water, and American bassist Kenny Passarelli, who had previously played with Stephen Stills and was an original member in Joe Walsh's band Barnstorm. Pope had also played in Kiki Dee's touring band. Grammy, Emmy, and Academy Award-nominated James Newton-Howard, at the time a virtual unknown, was also brought in as keyboardist, giving him his first major publicity. Also included was Caleb Quaye, another old friend from his early DJM session days. Like Pope, Quaye had also played on Empty Sky & Tumbleweed Connection & also John's intervening eponymous release. Retained from the previous line-up were Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper. A slower, less up-tempo version of "Hard Luck Story" had already been recorded by Kiki Dee, and released as a single one year prior to its recording for Rock of the Westies. Along with "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", it is credited to Ann Orson/Carte Blanche a punning moniker John devised when composing a song on his own. The name Ann Orson is also used as the name of a backing vocalist. Labelle performed backing vocals on the opening track, "Medley: Yell Help/Wednesday Night/Ugly". In the US, it was certified gold in October 1975 and platinum in March 1993 by the RIAA. Outside the US and Canada, this was the last original studio release from John on DJM Records, before forming his own label, The Rocket Record Company. The song "Street Kids" was featured in the 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV.
Track listing
All songs written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, except where noted. “Ann Orson/Carte Blanche” is a pseudonym used by John and Taupin.
