The Fox is the fifteenth studio album by English musician Elton John, released in 1981. The album was produced by John, Clive Franks, and, for the first time, Chris Thomas, who would produce many more albums with John through most of the 1980s and 1990s. Five of the eleven songs on the album (noted below) were recorded during the sessions for his previous album 21 at 33. The album met with limited success upon its release, but has received some critical reappraisal in recent years.

Release

The album reached the top ten and top 40 charts in many countries, receiving a silver certification in the United Kingdom. The first single, "Nobody Wins", charted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 21, but charted best in Norway, peaking at number 10. The next single, "Chloe", charted on the Adult Contemporary chart at number 16. "Just Like Belgium" failed to chart despite being released as a single in some countries where Elton John's music had been successful. Record World said of "Chloe" that "Music-box keyboards and synthesizer jet streams guide Elton's reassuring vocal through this grandiose ballad." After 1981, only "Chloe", "Just Like Belgium", "Nobody Wins" and "Elton's Song" would be included in John's 1982 Jump Up! Tour. While "Chloe", "Just Like Belgium" and "Nobody Wins" have not been performed since that tour, "Elton's Song" was performed a few times on his 1999 An Evening with Elton John tour. John has not performed it since. However, since the album's release, Elton would perform "Carla/Etude" on his 1986 world tour with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and on subsequent solo tours, plus on a set of shows with the Royal Academy of Music Orchestra during his Elton John 2004 Tour, making it the only song on the album that was performed up to 2010 on a tour with Ray Cooper.

Track listing

Notes

Visions: The videos from The Fox

Visions, released on VHS in 1982, is a video of all ten songs recorded for The Fox album. It is notable as one of the first long-form video releases of an album. The collection was also released on RCA's CED video disc and Laserdisc, a precursor to the DVD, but has not been released since. The video for "Elton's Song", which dealt with the story of a teenage boy's admiration for another teenage boy he yearns for, but who is too shy to confront his feelings, was excluded from the UK video release because the public school it was filmed in objected to the theme of the song. All the videos were conceptualised by Keith Williams and directed by Russell Mulcahy.

Personnel

Track numbering refers to CD and digital releases of the album.

Musicians

Production

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

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