While I had long heard that REG STRIKES BACK was near the bottom of Elton's best, I was encouraged to buy it for "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That", which I consider to be one of his best works even from a fallow period in his career. Sure enough, Elton sounds vocally invigorated on this song, growing into the deeper-textured voice that either came as a result of the surgery or just the passing years. Also, while Elton may have been playing more keyboards than actual piano by this time, this song is enough to make one admit that the man could still play! The public seemed to agree for "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" peaked at an impressive #2, becoming his highest-charting hit in over a decade.

Commercially, that was perhaps the extent of REG STRIKES BACK's success, although one more single did manage to chart somewhat high. "A Word In Spanish" is another song that Elton's fans don't quite rank high on their lists, and granted, it's not that stellar. But for a love song at a time when Elton & Bernie were starting to see that these guaranteed them hits more than the rockers of yore, "A Word In Spanish" still retains the intelligence of their older romantic songs. The airy exoticism of "Japanese Hands" & lush Beach Boys tribute of "Since God Invented Girls" do a much better job in the ballad department.

All in all, REG STRIKES BACK is more scattered in terms of good, presentable songs, with the prevailing atmosphere one of jubilant celebration having come back from the brink (though Elton had just begun), explaining the emphasis on rhythm. "Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters [Part Two]" is a much more syncopated number than its prequel of 15 years before, but lyrically, it's a fine way of updating the tune from a man who had indeed grown a lot in the years since.

"Goodbye Marlon Brando" (an all-too-apropos title recently) is a frenzied, funny way of bidding farewell to the excessive 1980s, which Elton is maybe the first to admit at being an active participant in (just look at the album cover). Although I'm not sure you could count off all the defining characteristics of the decade in just 3 1/2 minutes.

"The Camera Never Lies" is another uptempo "anti-love" song like "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That", but with a more unsettling subtext, one hinting at voyeurism with the whole camera motif. On the other hand, "Town Of Plenty", "Heavy Traffic" & "Poor Cow" sound like they're coming from the still substance-addled minds of Elton & Bernie, maybe showing their insistence on words that simply sound good together rather than mean something.

The bonus tracks are rather nil on the reissue of REG STRIKES BACK, favoring alternate mixes than lost tracks. "Rope Around A Fool" is the real find with its bluesy atmosphere, and what sounds like a rare time in this period that Elton forsook his keyboards for a good old Steinway. On the other hand, the "piano-only" (but of the remix) version of "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" is another indication that no matter what kind of keyboard he plays, Elton is a wizard. Some people have claimed that the remix of "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" is an improvement over the original, which I think is a stretch. Rather, it's equally good & comparable, Shep Pettibone giving it a distinctly 1980s-kitsch flavor as a knowing wink to the anything-goes mood of the era. The same goes for the recasting of "Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters [Part Two]".

Maybe the 1980s was not the best time to be an Elton John fan for while commercially, he was still moving full speed ahead, creatively, it seemed that train had left the station once Bernie Taupin departed for the first time. Nevertheless, it was admirable that Elton & Bernie realized it was time to get back to business & win back their old fans with the "renewal" of REG STRIKES BACK. Looking back, it was not the ultimate "strike back" that was expected, but it still had enough reminders of the old genius days to give fans hope that a full-scale return was in the works.


Fans can never be objective...   May 5, 2006
Scott A. Eriksson (West Hollywood, CA USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

From the OBJECTIVE reviewer...this would probably be considered the bottom of the barrel when it comes to Elton LPs if it we'ren't for the fact that the re-release includes the Shep Pettibone remix of "I Don't Wanna Go On." It improves the song 100% and actually makes it a good dance tune. It's hard to find anything else worth listening to (Mona Lisa's and Mad Hatters possibly).


Looking like a true survivor   June 30, 2007
Tim Brough (Springfield, PA United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

The "Strikes Back" portion of this title was apt at the time. Elton had completed surgery on his vocal chords that - as he had been warned - could have resulted in his never being able to sing again. He'd also won a pair of important legal issues; He and Bernie Taupin had succeeded in their challenge to Dick James Music for royalty payments owed, and Elton's lawsuit against a tabloid for slander had been ruled in his favor. So it was a renewed and feisty Elton who was ready to record "Reg Strikes Back."

It shows the reinvigoration. While "Reg Strikes Back" is still very much an 80's album (heavy on synths and drum machines), the songs are uniformly strong. He even went as far as to update "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" from "Honky Chateau," and then perform the two as a medley in concert. Pete Townsend plays guitar on the peppy opener "Town Of Plenty," and the Beach Boys chime in on "When God Invented Girls." There are a couple mistakes here; "Poor Cow" is stupidly misogynistic and I never quite got the atmospheric "Japanese Hands."

With that in place, this was also the album with one of Elton's best mid-80's hits. His friendship with George Michael had clearly given his pop-sense a jolt of energy. The Wham-like "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" became his highest charting single of that decade. It was everything his 'recovery' embodied. It is an energetic, sassy and danable record, with an added irony that it was George Michael who held Elton out of the number one position.

This was the album where Elton decided to reclaim his personality, as the great Sothby's sell-off of his old gear on the cover shows. He and Bernie set out to craft songs that emphasized their resurgent popularity and succeeded here, and started the third chapter in Elton's illustrious career. The "Reg Strikes Back" bonus tracks are pretty slim pickens, consisting of one sub-par B-Side and three remixes. Get this because it is Elton's second best 80's album after "Too Low for Zero," and you'll be satisfied.


"Spanish Harlem Still Sounds Good to Me...."   July 20, 2006
John Kwok (New York, NY USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

"Reg Strikes Back" remains among my favorite CDs from Elton John's artistically fallow, but still commercially rich, 1980s period, with a number of songs from the John/Taupin songwriting team that rank with their finest from any decade in their three decade plus-long career. The album's title is a thinly veiled reference to Elton's real name (Reg Dwight), his successful recovery from surgery on his vocal chords, and his desire to return musically to some of his best songwriting during the early 1970s. But granted, "Reg Strikes Back" is an artistic achievement which seems rather inferior in quality to the albums which would follow it immediately: "Sleeping With the Past" and "The One", since there is a mixture of rather routine 1980s commerically-oriented songs along with a few genuine gems. Still, thanks to excellent production from 1980s producer Chris Thomas and his team, the sound quality remains among the best for a 1980s Elton John studio album. "Reg Strikes Back" includes most of the musicians who were members of the Elton John Band from the "Live in Australia" album and tour; most notably bassist David Paton, keyboard wizard and guitarist Fred Mandel, drummer Charlie Morgan, percussionist Ray Cooper, and of course, guitarist Davey Johnstone (It also includes as backup vocalists original Elton John Band members Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson.).

"Town of Plenty", the album's opening track, an uptempo rocker, sounds like it could be a 1980s update of "Bennie and the Jets", but lacks the latter's elegant lyrics and lush melodies. "A Word in Spanish", the second track (and second hit single) is a decent ballad featuring splendid mandolin playing from a long-time Elton John band member, guitarist Davey Johnstone. "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters Part Two" remains one of my favorite songs from this album; a vibrant, jazzy tribute to my home town with a more thoughtful, mature lyrical homage penned by Bernie Taupin (It includes the line "Spanish Harlem still sounds good to me".) that's literally light years removed from the country folk rock song "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" from "Honky Chateau". "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" is stylistically similar to "I'm Still Standing" from the album "Two Low for Zero", but here, Elton shows that he remains both a virtuoso singer and keyboard musician, pounding chords on keyboards with nearly wanton abandon; it quickly rose up the American Billboard charts to peak at number Two, becoming Elton's highest charting single in a decade. "In Japanese Hands" is one of two other songs which should have been issued as singles, replete with some of the finest Taupin lyrics and John melodies I have heard; some say that it is stylistically most reminiscent of Elton's early work, most notably on albums such as "Tumbleweed Connection" and "Madman Across the Water".

"Goodbye Marlon Brando" is a frantic Elton John critique to the fast-paced 1980s, that comes across as a second-rate version of "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That", and lacks the lofty artistic and critical success of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire". "The Camera Never Lies" is another anti-love song in a manner reminiscent of this album's greatest hit; a ballad that sounds like an ode to voyeuristic stalking. "Heavy Traffic" is a bit of cute fluff, that sounds more like the songs from some of Elton's worst 1980s albums. Ditto can be said too for "Poor Cow", which tries to come across as yet another anti-love song, sung as a fast-paced ballad. Last, but not least, "Since God Invented Girls" is the John/Taupin songwriting team's homage to Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, invoking some of the Beach Boys' melodic riffs and lush harmonies; it probably should have been released as a single, though I don't think it is nearly as memorable a song as the great Beach Boys tribute "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" from Elton's 1974 album "Caribou". This remastered version of "Reg Strikes Back", done by original Elton John producer Gus Dudgeon, also includes several dance-mix versions of two of the songs from this album, most notably, "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That".