Leather Jackets is the twentieth studio album by British musician Elton John. It was released on 27 October 1986 through Geffen Records in the US and The Rocket Record Company in all other territories. The album is the last of John's to be produced by Gus Dudgeon and includes both newly recorded material and outtakes from John's previous album Ice on Fire (1985).
Recording of the album coincided with a period of personal turmoil for John, including a worsening addiction to cocaine and vocal struggles caused by polyps on John's vocal cords, which would be removed through surgery in 1987, deepening John's voice in the process.
Upon release, Leather Jackets was a critical and commercial failure. The album stalled at number 91 in the US, making it the lowest-charting studio album of John's career, and was his first since Tumbleweed Connection (1970) to not contain a top 40 hit.[a] Reviews have been largely negative, and John himself has called the album the worst of his career. Two years later, John reacted to the album's failure with Reg Strikes Back (1988), a self-proclaimed "comeback" album which was much more successful.
Background
In 2001, Elton John regarded the track "Heartache All Over the World" from the album as the worst song he had ever recorded, calling it "pretty insubstantial";[2] in 2006, he would declare Leather Jackets his least favourite of all his albums, saying "Gus Dudgeon did his best but you can't work with a loony."[3][4] He would also call its biker-inspired cover "very butch but a total disaster. I was not a well budgie, I was married and it was just one bag of coke after another."[5] In spite of this, lyricist Bernie Taupin believes 1997's The Big Picture deserves the honour of John's worst album.[3]
In 2000, Gus Dudgeon said: "There was a chance he could polish himself off. He'd go out and do some coke and it'd be all over his mouth, his nose would be running and I'd go: 'Oh God, this is just awful'."[6] John has also stated in his 2019 autobiography Me that "it was about as close to an unmitigated disaster than anything I've ever released" and "overall, Leather Jackets had four legs, a tail, and barked if a postman came to the door".
"Heartache All Over the World" was the only single from the album to achieve chart success in the US, though it failed to crack the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100. "Slow Rivers" was a collaboration with Cliff Richard that was released as a single in the UK. Cher collaborated with "Lady Choc Ice" (actually John himself) to write "Don't Trust That Woman".[7]Roger Taylor and John Deacon of Queen played drums and bass guitar respectively on the track "Angeline"; songwriting credit was shared with backing singer Alan Carvell, who composed the "oh-oh-oh's" that can be heard at the beginning and end of the track.[8]
John played "Paris" during his 1986 Ice on Fire Tour. He included "Heartache All Over the World" and "Slow Rivers" on his 1986 Australian Tour De Force tour with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, which would eventually yield John's 1987 live album Live in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. "Heartache" was included in the band portion of the show (John opted not to play piano for that number) while "Slow Rivers" was played during the second half of the show with the orchestra. Due to contractual constraints, "Slow Rivers" was not included on Live in Australia, despite the fact that it was from the orchestral portion of the show, which was the basis for the album.
"Paris" became a minor FM hit for some jazz radio stations that programmed the track and it reached the Belgium charts, peaking at number 37.[9]
To date, Leather Jackets is John's only studio album from the pre-1993 period that has yet to be reissued in remastered form; it last appeared on compact disc in the early 1990s. However, in 2008, it became available for digital download. Two songs from the album, "Hoop of Fire" and "I Fall Apart" were both issued on the Elton: Jewel Box compilation in 2020. As of 2023, Leather Jackets has been remastered on vinyl and is sold on the Elton John website.
The album received negative reviews. Matt Springer of Ultimate Classic Rock placed the album at number 31 in his ranking of all of John's studio albums, criticizing it as "the worst of the '80s – awful songs with equally awful production."[14]
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Lindsay Planer found the material "half-hearted", performances "less than inspired" and John's voice to be "beginning to show signs of extreme fatigue and strain." They did however find "bright moments" on the album including "Heartache All Over the World" and John's collaborations with Cliff Richard and Cher.[15]
Recording
The majority of the tracks from the album were recorded during the Ice on Fire sessions in 1985.[citation needed] It was John's last album in which he played a grand piano before switching to the Roland RD-1000 digital piano for his next two studio albums.
Sides one and two were combined as tracks 1–11 on CD reissues.
Notes
On the original LP pressing, the Greatest Hits Vol. 3 compilation, and some single releases, the length of "Heartache All Over the World" is 4:01 (incorrectly listed as "3:52" on the album sleeve), while on CD editions, including the 1992 American CD re-release, the version of "Heartache" includes a brief additional a cappella segment during the final chorus, resulting in a length of 4:17.[16][17]
Angeline is 3:24 in length on the LP version, but extended to 3:55 on the CD release.
Personnel
Track numbering refers to CD and digital releases of the album.
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