In the first years of his recording career, Elton John's music was arty and sharp, adventurous and rather ambitious. In a year that saw the Stones' "Sticky Fingers," Led Zeppelin's Fourth  album, and other big records from T. Rex and Rod Stewart, Elton John's records were holding their own by being a little elevated, more lush, more crafted, sensitive & thougtful. "Madman Across the Water" is 2/3 as great a record as Elton's two previous studio LPs, and that's saying a lot. His voice still has the warmth of "Elton John" and "Tumbleweed Connection," and the songs were really a soundtrack of the times, alternately life-affirming, then bitter and cynical. But Elton came along at a time when rock music was getting ready to lose some of its cultural daring in favor of big sales and mass and niche marketing. Elton must have felt the pressure, or perhaps wanted to take the bait. After this record, he ditched the orchestral arrangements, pulled back from art-school-poetic lyricism and started up the road to AM radio omnipresence. "Honky Cat" was next; "Crocodile Rock" wasn't far behind. Some of us found him a lot less interesting.