I had several birthday gifts which were more welcome than the nearly-dead mouse which the cat brought in, and one of them was The Captain and The Kid, the new CD by Elton John.

I had not heard any of it all, and have still only listened to it once, but straight away it just seemed right. many of us who were fans of Elton in the 70s felt a distinct lack of enthusiasm for most of what he did after Blue Moves.  There was the odd single like Made in England or Are You Ready For Love, but it seemed that he had lost the knack of making whole albums of decent songs.

That all changed with Peachtree Road, which was a bit of a return to form, so this new CD – a sequel to Captain Fantastic – stirred up a bit of anticipation and I when I put it on the stereo it justified that anticipation.  A couple of songs were strong enough to make an immediate impression , particularly Blues Never Fade Away, an AIDS song.

Perhaps it is not a coincidence that Elton is back with the old team now: co-writing with Bernie Taupin and with Davey Johnson on guitars and Nigel Olsson on drums. A shame that Ray Cooper was not involved though – his persussion always added something to the 70s Elton John band.

The biggest difference from the original is in the production. The Gus Dudgeon-produced Captain Fantastic is possibly the best, or most effective, capture of drums on record, but then it has been done once and done so well there is no point in repeating it.  Although much more led and dominated by the piano, this still has the same sort of feel as the 70s classics.

This one is going straight onto the iRiver so I can listen to it on the train next week, and I don't care what I have to delete to make room for it. Elton ws 60 this year, but with this new album he is showing up a lot of artists who are half, or even a third, of his age. Just because he is now officially a national treasure he is not resting on his laurels but still producing music worth listening to.

One little detail in the credits made me smile. It says in the 'thanks' section "To the Scissor Sisters, The Killers, Rufus Wainright and Ray Lamontagne for inspiration".  Hmmm.  The Scissor Sisters inspired Elton John?  I still think it was the other way round.