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The high point: “Amoreena,” which was never a hit but reached cinema immortality in the opening scene of the Al Pacino movie Dog Day Afternoon, setting the hungover Seventies vibe. Peter?” and “Country Comfort,” which Rod Stewart had already defined that year on Gasoline Alley. (You know things are crazy when Elton’s stealing fashion moves from Garth Hudson.) The rootsy concept comes to life in “Where to Now St. Elton even wears a string tie in the inner sleeve. They tried to make their own version of Music From Big Pink with Tumbleweed Connection, a Wild West fantasy that only could have been dreamed up by two London boys who’d never set foot on American soil. This bitch was most certainly back.Įlton and Bernie were obsessed with The Band – that was practically a requirement for English rock stars in 1970. It was worth waiting for – he and Taupin regained their hunger as a songwriting team, with weathered tales like “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” He entered a new phase – no longer worrying about hit singles, he only bothers releasing albums when he cares about the tunes, which is why his recent work has been so strong. So it was a shock to hear him get back to where he once belonged on Songs from the West Coast – for the first time in 25 years, he decided to make a bona fide Elton John album. When he first played it for King, he said, “Hear the beat? That’s when you get mad on the court.” Since they both eventually came out of the closet, “Philadelphia Freedom” came to seem like a poignantly coded ode to the hopes and dreams of 1970s gay kids – and a Number One smash.Įlton spent the Nineties as a cherished show-biz institution, always game for a Disney soundtrack or fashion gala – but paying less and less attention to his actual music. There’s also “Philadelphia Freedom,” written for tennis champ Billie Jean King and named after her team.
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It has his gaudiest singles: “The Bitch Is Back,” “Island Girl,” “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” and his wacko remake of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” featuring the world’s cokiest xylophone solo. This one was an iconic Seventies artifact, right down to the cover photo of Elton playing a late-night game of cricket. This was no random cash-in product – Elton was always a true-blue pop fan before he was anything else, so he treated his hits collections as a crucial part of his statement.
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He goes full glam for the Side Three trilogy about dangerous women: “Dirty Little Girl,” “Sweet Painted Lady” and “All The Young Girls Love Alice.” He goes hard in the 11-minute progfest “Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” and the leather-boy rumble “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting.” And he reaches his gender-bending zenith with “Bennie and the Jets,” the b-b-b-brilliant stomp that got him on Soul Train. Hence Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton’s most grandiose and ridiculous manifesto, indulging all his kinkiest stylistic whims and decadent fantasies, recorded in a French castle. It’s a miracle he had time to write at all – yet he and Taupin were cranking out gems so fast, they needed a double-album shrine to hold them. Honky Château was where this guy truly turned into the Elton the world has treasured ever since.Ĭaptain Fantastic was on a historic roll – his life blew up into a glitter cyclone of spangled glasses, sex, drugs, electric boots and mohair suits. The result: “Rocket Man,” the space ballad beloved by everyone, except maybe David Bowie. Elton picked one – “Oh, I quite like this” – sat at the piano and wrote a tune in 10 minutes, ready to record by the time the band finished eating. For anyone else, this could have been a greatest-hits album – the New Orleans boogie of “Honky Cat,” the country-rock strut of “Hercules,” the slow-burn grooves of “Mellow” or “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters.” One morning during the sessions, Taupin came down to the breakfast table with a stack of lyrics he’d dashed off overnight. He banged out the songs in a week, with his lyrical wingman Bernie Taupin.
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So here’s a map to his yellow brick road, from the classics to the underrated deep cuts.Įlton John had already scored a few hits as a mild-mannered piano man, but Honky Château was the breakthrough where he learned to rock.
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He’s also made flops so obscure nobody has ever played them twice, including Elton himself. He’s made albums that hold up as timeless masterworks. Someone in your town is karaoke-ing “Bennie and the Jets” right now. He’s ruled the radio since the 1970s, crooning sensitive ballads, filthy glam-rockers and everything in between. Elton John has spent 50 glorious years building one of the strangest songbooks in music – there isn’t a pop trend this genius hasn’t pillaged at least once.