I have a surprisingly large number of Elton John albums in my collection. Unfortunately, nearly all of them fall between the years 1978-1985, a treacherous period for most classic rock artists, and the beginning of the end for Elton in particular. There's no real science in what determines whether an album from this period is a keeper or not, so in the end, I have to go with my gut. In the case of 21 at 33, my gut says blue bin.
It's definitely a major comeback from his legendarily awful disco experiment Victim of Love (which I also own and blue-binned long ago, but not before one listen to satisfy my morbid curiosity), as he (mostly) leaves the disco behind and returns to pop/rock balladeering. The first side, though it has some lingering disco beats, comes out generally okay, as "Chasing the Crown" and "Two Rooms at the End of the World" are much better efforts in the Victim of Love style, probably because they aren't actual disco songs, but disco-tinged rock songs. "Sartorial Eloquence" is a generic ballad, but catchy enough. The highlight of the first side, though (and the entire record) is single "Little Jeannie," which although it has a somewhat corny vibraphone arrangement, has more hooks than the rest of the album put together and the closest thing to prime Elton we have here.
Then we have the second side, which though it covers a decent stylistic range, fails to develop any personality and guarantees this record's entry in the blue bin. And really, apart from "Little Jeannie," the songs on the first side were only minor highlights at best. So I can't say I'm too broken up about giving away this one. But hey, it's a lot better than Victim of Love!
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