
I worked my way backward from there till I had pretty much all of them except Friends and 17-11-70. I think the first Elton album I ever bought was Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, but I think maybe A Single Man was the first one I ever bought as a new release. For me, some of the early singles match the quality of the early albums, especially It's Me That You Need, Bad Side of the Moon, and, yes, I've Been Loving You (sounds like a hit, even though it wasn't).Ĭount me among the late-comers to the party also. Still, I'm not complaining, since this collects so many singles and B-sides that had yet to be released as bonus tracks (this came out in 92). The only thing I might change about that one is not including Friends in its entirety. I'm surprised there wasn't a bit more discussion about Rare Masters. Some people hate the strings on Madman, but I think they work really well. Taupin's obsession with the old west dominates Tumbleweed and Madman. Your Song is to EJ what Yesterday is to McCartney. Nevertheless, it has lots of good songs and a few great ones too. Some people are going to hate this, but I've always found his self-titled album to be less than the sum of its parts. Empty Sky sounds like a tentative beginning but it's not without its charm. The albums may have lacked in humor, but they made up for it with great songs. Not saying this is a bad thing, but it does make me view these albums a little differently than everything from Honky Chateau up to Rock of the Westies. One thing that's interesting about the stage of his career that's been covered so far is how he was presenting himself as a "serious" artist in the singer-songwriter vein. I totally agree with the earlier poster that Elton's classic period started in the late 60s and continued on to 1976.

Please forgive me for going backward a bit.

I'm a bit late to this party, but I wanted to add my two cents.
