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All rights reserved.Greatest Hits - John, Elton (CD 1990)
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| Track Listing 1. Your Song 2. Daniel 3. Honky Cat 4. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 5. Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting 6. Rocket Man 7. Bennie and the Jets 8. Candle in the Wind 9. Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me 10. Border Song 11. Crocodile Rock
Album Notes Personnel includes: Elton John (vocals, piano, electric piano, organ, Mellotron); Davey Johnstone (acoustic & electric guitars, banjo, background vocals); Frank Clark (acoustic guitar); Clive Hicks (guitar, 12-string guitar); Colin Green (guitar); Jean-Louis Chautemps, Alain Hatot (saxophone); Ivan Jullien (trumpet); Jacques Bolognesi (trombone); Brian Dee (organ); Ken Scott, David Hentschel (ARP synthesizer); Dee Murray (bass, background vocals); Dave Richmond (bass); Nigel Olsson (drums, maracas, background vocals); Barry Morgan (drums); Ray Cooper (tambourine, bells); Carl Wilson, Toni Tenille, Bruce Johnston (background vocals). Engineers include: Robin Geoffrey Cable, Ken Scott, David Hentschel. Recorded at Trident Studios, London, England; Strawberry Studios, France; Caribou Ranch, Colorado between 1970 and 1974. Personnel includes: Elton John (vocals, piano, electric piano, organ, Mellotron); Frank Clark (acoustic guitar); Davey Johnstone (acoustic & electric guitars, banjo, background vocals); Clive Hicks (guitar, 12-string guitar); Colin Green (guitar); Jean-Louis Chautemps, Alain Hatot (saxophone); Ivan Jullien (trumpet); Jacques Bolognesi (trombone); Brian Dee (organ); Ken Scott, David Hentschel (ARP synthesizer); Dave Richmond (bass); Dee Murray (bass, background vocals); Nigel Olsson (drums, maracas, background vocals); Barry Morgan (drums); Ray Cooper (tambourine, bells); Carl Wilson, Bruce Johnston, Toni Tenille (background vocals). Engineers: Robin Geoffrey Cable (tracks 1, 9); Ken Scott (tracks 2-3, 6, 10); David Hentschel (tracks 4-5, 7, 11); Clive Franks (track 8). Recorded at Trident Studios, London, England; Strawberry Studios, France; Caribou Ranch, Colorado between 1970 and 1974. All songs written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. This Gold Disc includes one track, "Candle In The Wind," that isn't on the standard CD release. After Elton released 9 records in a four year span and undertook massive tours as well, GREATEST HITS was the second album he put out in 1974. The unprecedented success John had with lyricist Bernie Taupin resulted in a compilation of ten songs of which nine easily landed in Billboard's Top 20 at one point. John's enormous talents enabled him to shift gears from tender balladry ("Your Song") to raucous rock'n'roll ("Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting"), all the while pumping each song with abundant enthusiasm. Such was the widespread appeal of these compositions that when "Bennie And The Jets" was initially released, many black radio stations added it to their playlists, assuming that the singer was black. Seeing as the former Reginald Dwight had long been enamored of rhythm & blues, this was an easily made mistake. If "Crocodile Rock" gave EJ an outlet for expressing his love of early rock music, then "Border Song" allowed him to display gospel's influence on his music-making, right down to the choir he chose to back him on this song. After Elton released 9 records in a four year span and undertook massive tours as well, GREATEST HITS was the second album he put out in 1974. The unprecedented success John had with lyricist Bernie Taupin resulted in a compilation of ten songs of which nine easily landed in Billboard's Top 20 at one point. John's enormous talents enabled him to shift gears from tender balladry ("Your Song") to raucous rock'n'roll ("Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting"), all the while pumping each song with abundant enthusiasm. Such was the widespread appeal of these compositions that when "Bennie And The Jets" was initially released, many black radio stations added it to their playlists, assuming that the singer was black. Seeing as the former Reginald Dwight had long been enamored of rhythm & blues, this was an easily made mistake. If "Crocodile Rock" gave EJ an outlet for expressing his love of early rock music, then "Border Song" allowed him to display gospel's influence on his music-making, right down to the choir he chose to back him on this song. Editorial Reviews Rolling Stone (12/11/2003) | Find errors in the product description? Submit a catalog update request now. | ||||||||||||||||
  Exception to the RuleReview created: 08/29/01 by: dopple -- a member of Epinions  Pros: Very strong set of Elton's best material Cons: Can't believe they left off "Tiny Dancer" & "Levon" (though they weren't HUGE hits). Exception to what rule, you ask? My rule that Greatest Hits albums are unnecessary (and even demeaning) for great musicians. Making such a compilation for artists like Led Zeppelin or the Pixies is a rock'n'roll sacrilege. And even Elton's early albums were fairly consistant, sometimes conceptual. But he lends himself to compilation extremely well, and these songs are just as effective here as in their original settings. Perhaps they are just that good - but they almost seem to belong together. It's also in part thanks to his never relying on formula, so unlike some band's hit albums it never gets repetitive or tiring. But he also never really branched out in different directions, so all of this sounds like it could be on an album together - a very good one. It's a cohesive collection that may be the one definitive Elton John record. The songs are great. "Crocodile Rock", "Bennie and the Jets", "Honk~y Cat" & "Saturday Nights Alright For Fighting" are just beautiful rock classics. "Rocketman" is perhaps one of Elton's finest melodies, with lyrics that are both cryptic but somewhat touching. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" is slow but very catchy. And as sappy as "Your Song" and "Daniel" are, they are pretty good soft ballads. The CD release features a new addition too - "Candle in the Wind", which recently enjoyed an even bigger bout with the charts in it's rerelease as a single to commemorate the life of Princess Di. Although it was a notable song from that era, it does slightly bog down the album from it's original form - the last thing it needed was another slow ballad. But it does put another big title on an already impressive track listing. If you only get one Elton John album, this is it. All of his strongpoints are on display here. Review ID: 10000000000222811 Epinions.com ratings are not included in the item's average rating. Links in this review may have been removed. |
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