Elton John - Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975) CD

This album contains my favorite song - Someone Saved My Life Tonight. A beautiful, passionate song that really moves me. Worth the price of the album by itself. Loved when I heard it on the radio as a kid and still kills me when I listen to it in my 50s.

Elton John - Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player (1973) CD

Here is a distinct memory I have from the early days. My family had just moved from Phoenix, AZ to a suburb of Washington, D.C. I was in the 4th grade and I was getting use to a new school, new kids, new everything. It was a rainy day and we couldn't go out for recess so we stayed inside and one of the young teachers decided to play the radio or records (45s) and Crocodile Rock by Elton John was played. I loved the song! I do remember that I was familiar with the song before that moment but this may have been the first time that the song really registered for me for some reason. Hell, if I was in the 4th grade it would have been around 1973-1974. Maybe my first real introduction to Elton John that I can remember.

The school was Adelphi Elementary School in Adelphi, Maryland and my home room teacher was Ms Friedman. Ms. Friedman was a beautiful woman, with straight long-hair and glasses. It was the first school I had ever been in that actually had carpet! Memories. This album also has Daniel - which is also top-notch. By the way, Ms. Friedman sort of had that Danielle Heim look, that I just adore.

Elton John - Honky Chateau (1972) CD

More Elton from the early 70s. This album has Honky Cat and Rocket Man. Classic songs from Elton and the non-hits are also interesting to listen to for the first time. I am enjoying my tour through Elton's catalog,

Elton John - Madman across the Water (1971) CD

Elton was a significant subject in my pop music education since he was such staple of 70s radio. Radio was king back in the 70s. People would fight over what station was cool to listen to or what station played the best bands. I was an FM listener but my younger sister was more of a AM listener. Either way, Elton John was always present. It didn't matter if you liked AM or FM, Elton John was always represented. This is was not true of all artists.

Up until this last week, however,  I had never owned any Elton John releases since I heard most of Elton's hits on the radio 5x a day (or it seemed). I thought, "why buy the records when the songs are played all the time?" Well, most of you know the answer to that question. By not buying the records I missed out on all the great songs that were not "hits". Trust me, I missed on a lot because this record is full of great tracks.

What is surprising about collecting the CDs now is discovering just how early in the decade some of these hits came. For instance, both Tiny Dancer and Levon are on this album from 1971. I was about 8 years old when these came out! Yet, for some reason I thought that all of Elton's songs came from the "mid 70s". 

I am not going to bother to post links to Elton John songs since you have probably heard these a million times. I am enjoying this record a lot. This stuff never gets old or outdated.