大象传媒

Classic early albums from 1970 and 1977 from superstars Elton John and Billy Joel. Archive clips come from Elton and Billy, Sting, Bernie Taupin and Billy's producer the late Phil Ramone.

Phil remembers auditioning for The Stranger, not knowing that he was being considered alongside Sir George Martin, and saying he wanted to harness Billy's stage energy and just have fun in the studio.

Billy remembers the characters in Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, his muse on She's Always A Woman and his initial negative feelings about Just The Way You Are.

Tumbleweed Connection was written at the same time as the eponymous Elton John album and Elton talks about deciding where tracks would go with producer Gus Dudgeon. He thinks people preferred Tumbleweed because it was looser. As David Hepworth points out it's probably the finest Wild West concept album, written by two cowboys, from Pinner and Sleaford, who had, at the time, yet to even visit the United States.

Johnnie and David also discuss Elton's career changing performance at Hollywood venue The Troubadour and the subsequent newspaper review, with comments from the Los Angeles Times critic Robert Hilburn and Troubadour owner Doug Weston.