Elton John [The Very Best Of Elton John]So many Artists are hardly worth one disc of their best of / greatest hits, only a few Artists can justify a two disc package, certainly Elton John is one of them, over the years this set has seen some serious play in my disc player, i've had it since the early Nineties, and it's a valuable set in my collection.
Elton John is now 64, this compilation was put together in 1990, wow 20 years ago, it represents a roughly 20 year career from 1969-1988, but i still believe it really represents most of the definitive Elton John, the cover shows a shot of Elton with some very serious lighting from above [photo by Greg Gorman], i like it, all couched in blue, with glowing white on his jacket.
Well there are so many good songs on these discs, but he hasn't been consistent over his whole career, i liked him in the early to mid Seventies, and then again a decade later in the early to mid Eighties, and on this listen i liked tracks 6, 8, 24, 26 & 28, and here's a short synopsis of each,
6 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, probably the first Elton John song i remember with fondness, it has those reverberant vocals, which give a nice atmosphere, strange lyrics by Taupin, vaguely referring to the Wizard of Oz i suppose, certainly a piano driven ballad, the chorus is superb, with wonderful instrumentation.
8 Candle In The Wind, of course lamenting the death of Marilyn Monroe [and later Diana Spencer], another tremendous ballad, again the piano is to the fore, Elton was inspired to add a third verse, it adds gravity to the whole song, a real favourite among many people.
24 Sad Songs, not one of Elton John's songs that would immediately be considered his very best, but i've always liked this song for its tremendous ongoing surge, it really gives me a great buzz, i like the way he sings the line 'the kick inside is in the line...', with inside and line fantastically emphasized, and also the repetition of 'sad songs they say...', creates a nice little buzz, and right after Elton sings with gusto 'so turn them on, oh turn them on', adding the so and oh to brilliant effect, as the lyrics suggest, sad songs actually can make you feel better!.
26 Nikita, a more electronic hit, but it works so well, it would work as a slow quieter ballad, but here Elton John gives it a strong beat, with a synthesizer instrumental solo before the final chorus, which Elton John sings with a nice emphasized variation, a really lovely song.
28 Sacrifice, a lovely little quiet cymbal roll to start the song, with Elton singing so purely, and those synthesizer electric 'bells' in the chorus, the second verse has those added rhythm guitar strummings [though possibly played by a synthesizer], and the mini instrumental bridge [3:18-3:35] where everything comes together with perfection, it really is a wonderful song, and deservedly his first solo number one.
6 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, probably the first Elton John song i remember with fondness, it has those reverberant vocals, which give a nice atmosphere, strange lyrics by Taupin, vaguely referring to the Wizard of Oz i suppose, certainly a piano driven ballad, the chorus is superb, with wonderful instrumentation.
8 Candle In The Wind, of course lamenting the death of Marilyn Monroe [and later Diana Spencer], another tremendous ballad, again the piano is to the fore, Elton was inspired to add a third verse, it adds gravity to the whole song, a real favourite among many people.
24 Sad Songs, not one of Elton John's songs that would immediately be considered his very best, but i've always liked this song for its tremendous ongoing surge, it really gives me a great buzz, i like the way he sings the line 'the kick inside is in the line...', with inside and line fantastically emphasized, and also the repetition of 'sad songs they say...', creates a nice little buzz, and right after Elton sings with gusto 'so turn them on, oh turn them on', adding the so and oh to brilliant effect, as the lyrics suggest, sad songs actually can make you feel better!.
26 Nikita, a more electronic hit, but it works so well, it would work as a slow quieter ballad, but here Elton John gives it a strong beat, with a synthesizer instrumental solo before the final chorus, which Elton John sings with a nice emphasized variation, a really lovely song.
28 Sacrifice, a lovely little quiet cymbal roll to start the song, with Elton singing so purely, and those synthesizer electric 'bells' in the chorus, the second verse has those added rhythm guitar strummings [though possibly played by a synthesizer], and the mini instrumental bridge [3:18-3:35] where everything comes together with perfection, it really is a wonderful song, and deservedly his first solo number one.
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