Elton John "Greatest Hits 1970-2002"

Greatest Hits 1970–2002 is a career-spanning collection of Elton John's biggest hits up to 2002. It was released in an alternate 3-CD version (as opposed to the usual 2-CD) and slightly different versions in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The album debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at number 12 on 30 November 2002. It spent 67 weeks on the chart. It was certified gold and platinum in December 2002, 2× platinum in March 2003, 3× platinum in August 2004 and 4x and 5x platinum in February 2011 and 6× platinum in April 2016 by the RIAA.

It was the first Elton John compilation released since the time that PolyGram, which had controlled the pre-1976 Elton John catalogue, was sold to Universal Music Group, which controlled the post-1976 recordings. Prior to 1992, rights to John's music had been complicated as they shifted between various companies. UMG now owns worldwide distribution rights to all of John's music, while sharing overall ownership with John himself.

The CD omits the #1 Adult Contemporary hit "Mama Can't Buy You Love" from The Thom Bell Sessions (top 10 in 1979).

In 2004 the album was re-released and featured the 2003 UK number 1 hit "Are You Ready for Love" as the final track on the second disc, replacing "Song for Guy".

The album is now out of print, and was replaced by the 2017 compilation album Diamonds.

Track listing

All songs written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin unless otherwise noted.

European release

Disc 1

1. "Your Song" Elton John, 1970 4:03
2. "Tiny Dancer" Madman Across the Water, 1971 6:16
3. "Honky Cat" Honky Château, 1972 5:13
4. "Rocket Man" Honky Château 4:42
5. "Crocodile Rock" Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player, 1973 3:55
6. "Daniel" Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player 3:54
7. "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, 1973 4:54
8. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 3:14
9. "Candle in the Wind" Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 3:50
10. "Bennie and the Jets" Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 5:23
11. "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" Caribou, 1974 5:37
12. "The Bitch Is Back" Caribou 3:45
13. "Philadelphia Freedom" (Edited version) Non-album single, 1975 5:20
14. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, 1975 6:45
15. "Island Girl" Rock of the Westies, 1975 3:43
16. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" (with Kiki Dee) Non-album single, 1976 4:35
17. "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" Blue Moves, 1976 3:52

Disc 2

1. "Blue Eyes" (Elton John, Gary Osborne) Jump Up!, 1982 3:29
2. "I'm Still Standing" Too Low for Zero, 1983 3:03
3. "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" (Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Davey Johnstone) Too Low for Zero 4:44
4. "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" Breaking Hearts, 1984 4:50
5. "Nikita" Ice on Fire, 1985 5:45
6. "Sacrifice" Sleeping with the Past, 1989 5:06
7. "The One" The One, 1992 5:53
8. "Kiss the Bride" Too Low for Zero 4:23
9. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" (music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice) The Lion King soundtrack, 1994 4:02
10. "Circle of Life" (music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice)  The Lion King soundtrack 4:52
11. "Believe" Made in England, 1995 4:47
12. "Made in England" Made in England 4:50
13. "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" The Big Picture, 1997 5:09
14. "Written in the Stars" (featuring LeAnn Rimes, written by Rice) Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida, 1999 4:17
15. "I Want Love" Songs from the West Coast, 2001 4:36
16. "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore" Songs from the West Coast 4:39
17. "Song for Guy" A Single Man, 1978 6:46

Elton John "Songs From The West Coast"

Songs from the West Coast is the twenty-sixth studio album by British singer-songwriter Elton John, released worldwide on 1 October 2001. Many critics have said that this album brought John back to his piano-based musical roots.

For this album, John once again collaborated with long-time lyricist Bernie Taupin, marking the first time the pair had written together in person. Patrick Leonard produced the album and played keyboards on several songs, as was the case for The Road to El Dorado soundtrack, released the year before. Drummer Nigel Olsson returned to the Elton John Band full-time and Tata Vega makes an early appearance as a backup vocalist, joining the band later. Stevie Wonder, who previously worked with John for the songs "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" and "That's What Friends Are For", played harmonica and clavinet on "Dark Diamond". Guy Babylon, Bob Birch and John Mahon, three of John's band members at the time, do not appear on this album.

It was the first non-soundtrack studio album from John to be released after PolyGram and Universal Music Group merged, consolidating distribution rights to his entire catalogue.

Rufus Wainwright sings backing vocals on the track "American Triangle", which is about Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was brutally murdered in 1998. The album was dedicated to Shepard and Oliver Johnstone, band member Davey Johnstone's late son.

John has said that the inspiration for many of the songs on this album came from when he listened to Heartbreaker by Ryan Adams.

In an interview with Jon Wiederhorn in 2001, John revealed that the album was recorded using analogue tape, as he believes "the voice and instruments sound warmer".

In 2002, the album was repackaged as a special edition containing a bonus disc with remixes, B-sides and non-album singles from the time of its release.

The restaurant shown on the album's cover is Rae's Restaurant, which is frequently used as a location for many Los Angeles-based film shoots, including 1993's True Romance and 2005's Lords of Dogtown. John's partner David Furnish and his Director of Operations Bob Halley appear on the album cover: Furnish as a cowboy at the bar and Halley as the man getting handcuffed.

Track listing

All songs written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

1. "The Emperor's New Clothes" – 4:28
2. "Dark Diamond" – 4:26
3. "Look Ma, No Hands" – 4:22
4. "American Triangle" – 4:49
5. "Original Sin" – 4:49
6. "Birds" – 3:51
7. "I Want Love" – 4:35
8. "The Wasteland" – 4:21
9. "Ballad of the Boy in the Red Shoes" – 4:52
10. "Love Her Like Me" – 3:58
11. "Mansfield" – 4:56
12. "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore" – 4:39

Produced by Patrick Leonard

Mixed by Bill Bottrell with Alan Sanderson assisting.

Mixed at Cello Studios (Hollywood, CA).

Mastered by Stephen Marcussen

Engineered by David Channing, Joe Chiccarelli, Brian Scheuble and Ralph Sutton.

Assistant engineers: Andy Green, Jennifer Hilliard, Steve Jones, Katrina Leigh, Johnathan Merritt, Alan Sanderson, Todd Shoemaker, Tom Stanley and Darrell Thorp.

Photography by Sam Taylor-Wood

Elton John "Goodbye Yellowbrick Road"

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is the seventh studio album by Elton John, first released in 1973 as a double LP. It was the second of his two studio albums released in the same year of 1973 (first one was Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player released 9 months earlier). The album has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and is widely regarded as John's best. Among the 17 tracks, the album contains the hits "Candle in the Wind", "Bennie and the Jets", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" plus live favorites "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Harmony".

It was recorded at the Studio d'enregistrement Michel Magne at the Château d'Hérouville in France after problems recording at the intended location in Jamaica. The move provided John and his band with a great deal of creative inspiration, and an abundance of quality material was produced, leading to the decision to release the work as a double album (LP).

In 2003, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The album was ranked number 91 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and number 59 in Channel 4's 2009 list of 100 Greatest Albums. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Under the working titles of Vodka and Tonics and Silent Movies, Talking Pictures, Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics in two and a half weeks, with John composing most of the music in three days while staying at the Pink Flamingo Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica. He had wanted to go to Jamaica he has said, in part, because the Rolling Stones had just recorded Goats Head Soup there. Production on the album was started in Jamaica in January 1973, though after difficulties with the sound system and the studio piano, coupled with disturbance due to the Joe Frazier and George Foreman boxing match taking place in Kingston, and violent political tension due to the poor economic situation, the band decided to move before any productive work was done. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was recorded in two weeks at the Studio d'enregistrement Michel Magne, at the Château d'Hérouville near Pontoise, in France, where John had previously recorded Honky Château and Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player. While a version of Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting was recorded in Jamaica, that recording was discarded, and the released version of the song came from the sessions at the château.

According to the album's producer, Gus Dudgeon, the album was not planned as a two-record collection. In total, John and Taupin composed 22 tracks for the album, of which 18 (counting "Funeral for a Friend" and "Love Lies Bleeding" as two distinct tracks) were used, enough that it was released as a double album, John's first (three more such albums followed up to 2011). Through the medium of cinematic metaphor, the album builds on nostalgia for a childhood and culture left in the past. Tracks include "Bennie and the Jets", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", the 11-minute "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding", and the Marilyn Monroe tribute "Candle in the Wind". "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" was inspired by memories of a Market Rasen pub Taupin frequented when younger. "Grey Seal", previously the B-side of the 1970 single "Rock and Roll Madonna", was re-recorded for the album.

"Harmony", the album's final track, was considered as a fourth single, but was not issued at the time because the chart longevity of the album and its singles brought it too close to the upcoming releases of Caribou and its proposed accompanying singles. It was, however, used as the B-side of the American release of the "Bennie and the Jets" single, and was popular on FM playlists of the day, especially WBZ-FM in Boston, whose top 40 chart allowed for the inclusion of LP cuts and B-sides as voted for by listeners. "Harmony" spent three weeks at no. 1 on WBZ-FM's chart in June 1974 and ranked no. 6 for the year, with "Bennie and the Jets" at no. 1 and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" behind "Harmony" at no. 7. "Harmony" was released as a single in Britain in 1980 and failed to chart. In 2014, to mark the album's 40th anniversary, "Harmony" had an official music video released.

The album was released on 5 October 1973 as a double LP, with cover art by illustrator Ian Beck depicting John stepping into a poster.

The original 1973 LP, when released on CD, was released on two discs, while the 1992 and 1995 CD remasters put the album on one disc as it was slightly less than 80 minutes.

The 30th anniversary edition followed the original format, splitting the album across two discs to allow the inclusion of the bonus tracks, while a DVD on the making of the album was also included. The album has also been released by Mobile Fidelity as a single disc 24 karat gold CD. The album (including all four bonus tracks) was released on SACD (2003), DVD-Audio (2004), and Blu-ray Audio (2014). These high resolution releases included the original stereo mixes, as well as 5.1 remixes produced and engineered by Greg Penny.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is widely regarded as John's best album, and is one of his most popular; it is his best-selling studio album. Three singles were released in the US: "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Bennie and the Jets" and "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting". In the UK, "Candle in the Wind" was released as a single instead of "Bennie and the Jets," which was used as the b-side.

In the US it was certified gold in October 1973, 5× platinum in March 1993, and eventually 8× platinum in February 2014 by the RIAA.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

Side one

1. "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" 11:09
2. "Candle in the Wind" 3:50
3. "Bennie and the Jets" 5:23

Side two

1. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" 3:13
2. "This Song Has No Title" 2:23
3. "Grey Seal" 4:00
4. "Jamaica Jerk-Off" 3:39
5. "I've Seen That Movie Too" 5:59

Side three

1. "Sweet Painted Lady" 3:54
2. "The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909–34)" 4:23
3. "Dirty Little Girl" 5:00
4. "All the Girls Love Alice" 5:09

Side four

1. "Your Sister Can't Twist (But She Can Rock 'n Roll)" 2:42
2. "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" 4:57
3. "Roy Rogers" 4:07
4. "Social Disease" 3:42
5. "Harmony" 2:46