{"product_id":"elton-johns-blue-moves-9781501355424","title":"Elton John's Blue Moves","description":"\u003cp\u003eBy 1976, Elton John was the best-selling recording artist and the highest-grossing touring act in the world. With seven #1 albums in a row and a reputation as a riveting piano-pounding performer, the former Reggie Dwight had gone with dazzling speed from the London suburbs to the pinnacles of rock stardom, his songs never leaving the charts, his sold-out shows packed with adoring fans. Then he released \u003ci\u003eBlue Moves\u003c\/i\u003e, and it all came crashing down. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWas the commercially disappointing and poorly reviewed double album to blame? Can one album shoot down a star? No, argues Matthew Restall; \u003ci\u003eBlue Moves\u003c\/i\u003e is a four-sided masterpiece, as fantastic as \u003ci\u003eCaptain Fantastic\u003c\/i\u003e, as colorful as \u003ci\u003eGoodbye Yellow Brick Road\u003c\/i\u003e, a showcase for the three elements--piano-playing troubadour, full orchestra, rock band--with which Elton John and his collaborators redirected the evolution of popular music. Instead, both album and career were derailed by a perfect storm of circumstances: Elton's decisions to stop touring and start his own label; the turbulent shiftings of popular culture in the punk era; the minefield of attitudes toward celebrity and sexuality. The closer we get to \u003ci\u003eBlue Moves\u003c\/i\u003e, the better we understand the world into which it was born--and vice versa. Might that be true of all albums?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMatthew Restall \u003c\/b\u003eis Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of History, Anthropology, and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Penn State University, USA. He has written a number of history books, with titles like \u003ci\u003eSeven Myths of the Spanish Conquest\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eWhen Montezuma Met Cort?s, \u003c\/i\u003e but he secretly always wanted to write about music. Now the secret is out. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife (not a huge Elton John fan), his many daughters (four), and his many records (more than four).\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Academic","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50922462282002,"sku":"9781501355424","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_78bcce26-37dc-43ff-ae12-d6d4cdc3681b.jpg?v=1738930262","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/elton-johns-blue-moves-9781501355424","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}