Elton John - Your Song Tumbleweed - none Friends - Friends ?? I don’t remember this song Madman - Levon, Tiny Dancer Honky Château - Rocket Man, Honky Cat
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road -
Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting"
“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”
“Bennie and the Jets”
“Candle in the Wind” Lady Samantha - none Caribou - Don’t Let the Sun Go Down, Bitch is Back Greatest Hits - that’s what I wore out on 8-track, cassette and I currently have the CD
Skipping down Blue Moves -
“Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word”
“Bite Your Lip (Get Up and Dance!)”
“Crazy Water” Greatest Hits 2
Honestly, while I haven’t listened to every album (there are a lot)… I think that a lot of his/Taupin’s songs are hit or miss, and I haven’t found an album that I want to go back to as a complete album.
I’d stick with greatest hits 1, 2, and 3, and maybe a live album or two (I’m partial to Live in Australia, and it has a lot of great songs that are not on any of the greatest hits collections).
That’s kind of a no-brainer. It’s the only Elton John album I ever owned. I don’t consider myself one of his fans, but I could listen to that album anytime during my life and enjoy it.
I’d agree with that. There are an awful lot of good songs, obviously, but there’s an awful lot of ‘meh’, too. Which I guess is inevitable given how long he’s been around.
I’m guessing you don’t have a streaming subscription? You could get one just for a month and try ALLLLL of them (there are a lot!). That would be my recommendation, rather than forking out for something you might find disappointing.
I would second (third) suggestions about getting the greatest hits albums. While I own several of his albums, I’ve never found any of them to have a theme or track sequence that made them essential as “whole albums.” GBYBR probably comes closest. For some bands’ albums, I really think the sequence, structure, style, and production make them essential in the original album form. For example, I’m not at all interested in a Best of Led Zeppelin album. But this doesn’t apply to Elton John.
BTW, my own personal favorite song by EJ is “Someone Saved My Life Tonight.”
I have all his albums, and Goodbye Yellow Road is the best IMO. There days I mostly listen to his older albums, but you really can’t go wrong with any of them. You can listen to most of them for free on YouTube if you want to try before you buy.
I think ‘Island Girl’ is a peculiar song (not the music, but the subject), but when it comes on the radio, I am transported directly back to a certain time and place in my life…And same with ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ with that Kiki Dee. What was that collaboration about, anyway?
It was originally written by Elton and Bernie with Dusty Springfield in mind for the duet. I think they just wanted to make a Motown style record as a nostalgic novelty.
I never bought it but an older sibling did so it was in the house. I’ve always been a fan enough to listen on the radio but not buy the album. This would be the one that I bought out of any. And if I hadn’t dumped all my physical media long ago.
Strongly disagree that Elton John was a singles guy with weak albums. Honky Chateau, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Only the Piano Player, Tumbleweed Connection, Captain Fantastic, these are all classic albums with barely a single weak track, if any.
Elton’s early albums were absolutely Beatlesque in their quality.
I’m not a big Elton John fan but I love Honky Chateau. Rocket Man was a big AM hit in the summer of '72 – I bought the album because of that and the rest of the songs just clicked for me. The SACD sounds great and has one of my favorite 5.1 surround mixes.
The album’s namesake, Château d’Hérouville has an interesting history and more than a few great albums have been recorded there.
The irony of Elton and Dusty singing that song, if they had done it, would have been similar as Dick Sargent and Fannie Flagg as (eh, “significant others?”) on the old TV game show “Tattletales,” (which they did) and would have been lost on people at the time.
But maybe the same applies to Kiki, as she is still un-nuptialated (to the extent that is publicly known).
I take it that “… did anyone buy …?” in the thread title is asking of present company versus asking of anyone anywhere. Nevertheless, in the spirit of pedantry, it’s worth noting that all of Elton John’s first 11 studio albums** (including a six-year-delayed release of his UK debut album Empty Sky) made it to the top ten of the US Hot 200 Albums chart, with six of them hitting number one between 1972-1975. During that period, John’s albums sold well in the UK, but not quite as well as in the US (per capita).
Eventually, Elton John morphed from a strong album and singles artist to a dedicated singles artist in the US. Broadly, the reverse ended up being true in the UK – many of John’s 1980s-90s album releases in the UK hit their top 10 (several top-threes and one number one, 1989’s Sleeping With the Past).
** excepting his 1971 soundtrack to the feature film Friends.
Back in the day, I bought the first 2 greatest hits albums.
Today… I got the 1970-2002 album already mentioned. I made a playlist from that and listen to the playlist on a regular basis.
For awhile I would play other albums, but I haven’t listened for a while (since March 19th, 2025 - I was listening in order and kept track of when I listened).
Tumbleweed Connection is a fascinating outlier, a quasi-concept album built around Barnie Taupin’s love of American western mythology. It hangs together with a series of strong songs even though there’s no standout single.
Madman Across the Water has one of the great side one’s ever: Tiny Dancer, Levon, Razor Face and the title song. I don’t remember side two so I can’t recommend it as an album, but he couldn’t do anything wrong at that point so it’s probably worth a listen.
