Your song (Elton John) (LP 2881 - 2890)

Elton John  Elton John (Vinyl, DJM Records, 1970) *** 

Elton John  Tumbleweed Connection (Vinyl and CD, DJM Records, 1970) *****

Elton John  11-17-70 (CD, Rocket Records, 1971) ****  

Elton John  Madman Across The Water (CD, DJM Records, 1971) *****  

Elton John  Honky Chateau (CD, DJM Records, 1972) *****  

Elton John  Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player (CD, DJM Records, 1973) ****  

Elton John  Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (CD, DJM Records, 1973) *** 

Elton John  Caribou (CD, DJM Records, 1974) *****

Elton John  Songs From The West Coast (CD, Rocket Records, 2001) ****

Elton John/ Leon Russell  The Union (CD, Mercury Records, 2010) ****

Genre: Pop 

Places I remember: Amoeba Music (San Francisco)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Country Comfort (Tumbleweed Connection)

Gear costume: Honky Cat (Honky Chateau), Ticking (Caribou)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4

Active compensatory factors: I am by no means a completist, but I do have a large number of his classic seventies albums, plus I've read his autobiography (excellent) and Bernie Taupin's (terrible) so this will be a reasonable list.

Having said that, I've always been a little late to the party with most of his stuff, except for Tumbleweed Connection which I bought many decades ago, but we'll get to that.

First album I have of his, Elton John, was actually his second. And I only got this a few years ago while browsing the racks at Amoeba Music while visiting San Francisco.

It's okay - it does have some classics on it - Your Song, The Border Song, Take Me To The Pilot, but a lot of it sounds over-cooked and straining to be 'important'. Basically, I'm not a fan of Paul Buckmaster's overblown string arrangements, and there are too many meh songs on the album for me.

His third though, now we're talkin'!! Tumbleweed Connection is his first genius record. Bernie goes full western mythology mode and having a full album of it gives the coherence and depth that Elton John lacked.

Elton's music is the perfect counterpoint to the lyrics throughout the album. It all works magnificently. Plus, Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson appear for the first time together on this album. The classic seventies years were off and running, and it was only 1970!!

The live album 11-17-70 (mine is the American version - in the UK it was 17-11-70) is pretty damn good too. Elton, Nigel and Dee are the band and they make a mighty cohesive noise throughout. Highlights are the Tumbleweed Connection tracks and the Stones and Beatles covers - Honky Tonk Women and Get Back.

Madman Across The Water continued the surge forward. It's another spectacular set of songs. It has the hits Levon, Tiny Dancer, but the rest of the songs are great as well. The versatility is back but this time without the overcooked orchestrations by Buckmaster. 

It's mainly session musicians on these songs and there is zero problem with that; the classic Elton John Band (Johnston, Murray, Olsson) would all feature on the next album.

Which would be Honky Chateau - another progression and another landmark seventies' album. There is a lighter, fun, and yes - mellow vibe/ approach to much of the material on this album (even I think I'm Going To Kill Myself is a kind of parody - I mean - you can tap dance to it so...). 

For me, it could be his best album (Caribou is coming and that is stiff competition for Honky Chateau). He would never sound like this again though - mellow, fun, carefree.

It helps that Honky Cat is the first song. It's playful, funky as all get out and a stunning song in all ways. Rocket Man, and Mona Lisas... were the other standout singles but the rest of the material on the album is also of very very high calibre.

The purple patch continued with two albums in 1973 - Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player and the double album - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. The hits just kept on coming!

Don't...Piano Player is a more uneven album - hot songs like the first three (Daniel, Teacher I Need You, Elderberry Wine) plus Crocodile Rock and High Flying Bird are balanced by some lesser efforts. 

And I've never been a fan of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Sure there are some excellent moments - Love Lies Bleeding and Gray Seal are great songs but if I never hear Candle in the Wind and Bennie again, I will not shed a tear. 

Then there are the stinkers over the four sides (Jamaica Jerk-off is definitely one) that reduce the album in my eyes. I'm in a minority, I realise that. I think it's the over-exposure that got to me. A song like Danny Bailey has a lingering appeal because it wasn't thrashed on the radio.

Although critics didn't particularly rate Caribou, I think it's a masterpiece. Along with Tumbleweed Connection, it's the Elton John album I've owned for the longest time, so it's one I'm very familiar with. For some reason, although I wasn't an Elton John fan at the time, the songs really appealed to me. And have stuck with me over the years. 

I lost track of him for many years (all of the eighties and nineties) before buying a copy of Songs From The West Coast released in 2001. The clever videos to I Want Love and This Train Don't Stop Here Anymore are responsible for me noticing this album.

Those two are the standout ones but the album as a whole has some good moments. Was it a coincidence that this was the album that saw the return of both Nigel Olsson and Bernie Taupin? I think not. It was certainly seen as a return to form at the time.

The final album in this collection is a collaboration between Elton and his hero - Leon Russell. The Union was the result. Elton's regular band members don't appear. Instead, the album features appearances by Booker T. Jones (on Hammond B-3), Neil Young (vocals), Robert Randolph (pedal steel), and Brian Wilson (vocal harmonies).

It takes a while to embrace the album - the songs are slowly growing on me, but Leon (who sadly passed away in 2016) is wonderful of course (much more to come from him when we get to the Rs). Actually, Elton sounds on form too - maybe inspired by playing with Leon.

Where do they all belong? I may pick up a couple of later career albums like Peachtree Road if I come across them.