I'm not a real fan, but through George Michael I learned to cherish some EJ from time to time.

My favorite album has to be Blue Moves.

It only brought some major hit (Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word), but I adore Camaeleon and IDOL!!!

Goodbye Yellow brick road is good as well, though Jamaica Jerk Off is obscene.

graecophilos said:

This is really tough, i would have to break it down to decade for him since there are 40+ studio albums at this point.

60's: "Elton John" (technically this fell right at 1969 going into 1970) one of the greatest second albums EVER!

70's: "goodbye yellow brick road" with "tumbleweed connection" very close second
80's: "too low for zero" this is a tough decade because there wasnt an overall blow away album, but alot of good stuff on all the records, only one horrific album which is "Lether Jackets" good god elton!

90's: "made in England" though slightly overproduced, alot of gems on this record

00's: "songs from the west coast" one of the best albums of his career and a top 20 best album of the decade.

1971'

One of his least mentioned 70s releases (Glad you did)...



...Blue Moves (1976)





...Your Starter For It & Tonight




...One Horse Town




...Idol




...Where's The Shoorah?




...Someone's Final Song




...Bite Your Lip (Get Up And Dance)




tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431
[Edited 11/6/09 19:22pm]

70's - - honky chateau, but love all his 70s albums up to blue moves.

80's - - too low for zero is an underrated album. i also really like sleeping with the past.

recent work - - songs from the west coast and The Captain & The Kid were both excellent.

[Edited 11/6/09 21:42pm]



[Edited 11/6/09 21:43pm]

Ohhh this is so hard.

He was absolutely fabulous when I went to see him perform during his Rocket Man Tour.

Man alive! I never I thought I would see people discussing obscure Elton John albums on this site.

Greatness.

Although some of his stuff really has dated poorly, Elton was my first absolute love in music from childhood and is 100% the reason why I have an addiction to purchasing CDs to this date. I loved how all his early albums (and I do mean vinyl) had the gatefolds with the lyrics and drawings/pictures in a booklet inside the album. It is specifcally because of this that I can't simply download songs. Downloading songs without the art works etc is just lifeless to me and takes away from the full experience of enjoying an album.

I've got all of his records with the excpetion of Victim of Love, which I refuse to buy on principle.

Alright enough windbagging, my absolute favorite is Captain Fantastic. To this day it remains one of my all time favorite albums by anyone. This is probably followed by Tumbleweed, Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player, Blue Moves and Songs From the West Coast.

I agree that Too Low For Zero is his best album from the 80s. The last song on that album, One More Arrow is absolutely gorgeous.

And yes, Leather Jackets is REALLY close to Victim of Love on how embarrasingly bad it is. I think it might have had one or two songs on it that were O.K. The rest were tragically bad.

On Blue Moves, Chameleon and Idol are two of my favorites for sure. Both are perfectly executed. If I had to pick a favorite from that album it would have to be Cage the Songbird. It's brought me to tears on occasion.

agree with you on capt fantastic , not a massiveve elton fan but this is a great album , i think someone saved my life tonight is my favourite of his songs.

victorludorum said:

SSMLT is the obvious hit single.

George Michael did that song live with Elton John in 1994, it was amazing

Honky Chateau, Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across The Water, Sleeping With The Past, Songs From The West Coast

Fenwick said:

I think what alot of people dont realize is that first and foremost Elton has alot of great albums, people tend to just gravitate towards his enormously popular singles, but his album cuts are even better. Glad someone posted all those "blue Moves" cuts, that is just an example of how deep his albums are. And yes they still are, i feel he has been on a solid roll with albums the last decade or so.

And like you said Leather Jackets is pretty bad, kind of like that DUETS cd he did, but at least that was a gimmick not to be taken as an actual album. But in defense of "leather jackets" it was a "kiss off" album from elton to MCA, he was leaving the label and just gave them that as he walked out the door. When your second single is a duet with Cliff Richard, you know you are in trouble.

i actually like Leather Jackets in a trashy 80's pop kinda way.

I also liked Reg Strikes Back.

NoVideo said:

Leather had a few songs i liked, I liked Reg alot more, Ice on Fire was pretty strong too i felt.

I thought El would get skewered around here.

Elton is one of those artists that I have to really get into. I love his music but I only have a few select albums.

I was always partial to Reg Strikes Back and Sleeping With The Past. I sorta stopped at Lion King altho I did get Made In England and a couple after that. Then he fell in love and got all soppy. Kinda like Prince.

Virtually all of his pre 75 stuff is top shelf, but my absolute favourite is Elton John, my version has the extended track listing as follows.
1. Your Song
2. I need you to turn to
3. Take me to the Pilot
4. No shoe strings on Louise
5. First Episode at Hienton
6. Sixty years on
7. Border Song
8. The Greatest Discovery
9. The Cage
10. The King must die
Extra Tracks
11. Rock and Roll Madonna
12. Grey Seal
13. Bad side of the moon

Its a consistent album free of the indulgence that peppered some of his later albums. I see a lot of similarities between him and Prince, Prolific and flamboyant and very talented. This album was ay ahead of its time, and very focussed, non of this tripped out hippy crap going around at the time. And yes I agree its more a 60s than 70s album, as it was recorded in Jul-Nov 69 and released January 1970.

George Michael sang EJ's song better than Elton.

Huggiebear said:

Great album... i think i'll pull it out and give it a spin.

NoVideo said:

Probably one of the greatest albums of all time, and easily one of the best "sophmore" records ever.

playing I Need You To Turn To right now. So gorgeous.

People who think of Elton as a sorta vapid, flamboyant pop singer with no artistic substance are missing some incredible records, IMHO. He's incredible

NoVideo said:

Exactly, hes like every other enduring and massively talented artist, some amazing records and some experiments, like someone else we all know.