The Album Swap is a regular column in which a staff writer swaps a favorite album with that of a teacher or staff member at Nazareth. This week’s Album Swap features reviews from Staff Writer Anne Swade, and Guidance Counselor Brendan Green.

Mr. Brendan Green on why he chose “Madman Across the Water”

Few artists have sold more albums worldwide than Elton John. This was the album that really made people pay attention to him. The 4 albums that followed “Madman” all debuted at number one on the charts.

When I was growing up, people bought entire albums, not just singles, so it was important that the artist put together a solid body of work, not just one or two catchy songs. “Madman” only contains two hits, “Tiny Dancer” and “Levon.” However, some of the other songs on the album stand out to me as better works, the title track and “Razor Face” amongst them. I thought it would be good to give Anne a full album to listen to instead of listening to nothing but greatest hits.

Anne’s Review of “Madman Across the Water”

Along with Mr. Green, I had known a few Elton John songs here and there such as “Tiny Dancer” and “Your Song,” but I had never heard any of his deeper album songs. My parents and their friends love Elton John and know all of his music, so I was excited to get a taste of the music they listened to.

One thing that I both liked and disliked about the album was the length. The were about 9 songs on the album, but they were much longer than an average current song would be. I liked how there weren’t as many songs on the album, and it was a bit shorter. The only negative side to this was that I think I would’ve enjoyed the album more if it had a bigger variety of songs. However, Elton John has written and recorded multiple other albums that I look forward to listening to so that I can get a better taste of his music.

Some of my favorite songs on the album included “Razor Face” and “Tiny Dancer.” Even though “Tiny Dancer” was a single and most people knew about it, I still think it carried a nice melody. I especially enjoyed the piano he had in most of his songs. I think that the piano really emphasizes Elton John’s taste and genre. In my opinion, I took that this album was more soft rock because of the amount of piano. With the piano, though, I thought it was a little bit overdone, and he could’ve included a few more different sounding songs along with “Indian Sunset.” Although “Indian Sunset” did include the piano, I thought it had a different flavor to it.

Overall, I give Elton John’s Madman Across the Water a 7/10. I liked the piano, but I thought he could have incorporated a few different sounds. I look forward to listening to more of his albums since I enjoyed this one so much!

Anne on why she chose “Hozier”

When I was deciding which album to swap with Mr. Green, I initially had two albums in mind: Sam Smith’s “In the Lonely Hour” and Hozier’s Hozier. I eventually decided to chose Hozier because of his continually comparison to Elton John. I wanted to try to pick out the generational similarities and differences. I also wanted Mr. Green to get to listen to music that was similar to the music he listened to when growing up, but just with a more modern twist.

Mr. Green’s review of “Hozier”

My first impression when I heard I would be listening to Hozier was probably the same as everyone’s; “Oh, I know “Take Me to Church” so I assumed that the rest of the album would sound just like that, but it really does not. The album was full of very different types of music. Some bluesy, some sounding more like rock. There were a few songs that stood out to me after listening. First and foremost, the first song on the album is “Take Me to Church”, however the song right after it is called “Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene” which has a sound similar to “Church”. I wonder why they put these two songs at one and two, because they do not in any way showcase Hozier’s versatility.

If I were to recommend songs on this album, they would definitely be “Jackie and Wilson” which is a very bluesy/R&B type of song (also aptly named as Jackie Wilson was an R&B singer in the 60’s). I really enjoyed “In a Week” which had two things that stood out; first, the song sounds very much like a 70’s rock song, maybe Led Zeppelin, maybe David Bowie, but an old fashioned sound to it. The other thing that I noticed was that the guest singer on the song was name Karen Cowley but she sounds very much like some of the more popular female singer/songwriters of today (Sara Bareilles, Ingrid Michelson, etc.)

“Sedated” had a real great sound to it. It reminded me very much of some of the early 90’a music I grew up listening to.

The only negatives about this album, in my opinion would be these: First, the order of the song makes no sense to me. Early on and in the middle, the songs are all very similar. This does not showcase Hozier’s ability in different genres. Secondly, I can’t understand a word he’s saying. I would like to know the lyrics. I think they are such a huge part of any song.

Overall, I would give Hozier an 8/10. I enjoyed the album, and I am glad that Anne chose it! Here is hoping she enjoys Elton as much as I do.