CD Odyssey Disc 373: Elton John

I've had a crazy day at work, but that didn't stop me from setting five mundane non-work tasks to accomplish. My inspiration was from a song on the Streets' album, "A Grand Don't Come For Free" (reviewed back at Disc 87). That guy had to: 1) return a DVD 2) get some cash out of the ATM 3) call his Mom to cancel coming over for tea and 4) deposit some savings.

My five tasks were 1) pick up my Mom's ring at the jeweller's 2) buy a lottery ticket 3) pick up some T-shirts I ordered at the post office 4) go to the gym and workout and 5) do my blog entry.

I'm proud to say that I've accomplished the first four, and as you read this I'm working on the fifth. Huzzah!

Disc 373 is...Greatest Hits

Artist: Elton John

Year of Release: 1974

What’s Up With The Cover?: It is Elton John doing his usual "I'm goofy yet fabulous" look. I admire Elton for pushing the style envelope, but to me it has always seemed more goofy than fabulous.

How I Came To Know It: Everyone knows Elton John, but this disc belongs to Sheila, who has since been buying his classic early albums instead (more on that in a minute).

How It Stacks Up: 'best ofs' don't stack up, as long readers of A Creative Maelstrom will know. They have an unfair advantage.

Rating: 'best ofs' also don't get a rating. Yeah, they have songs, but 'best ofs' aren't real records.

I've never been a big fan of greatest hits packages, despite the fact that this is my 24th review of one. They give only a fleeting impression of an artist, and that impression is almost always skewed toward their hits. In the cases of popular music, if you buy a bunch of 'best of' albums, you'd probably be just as well served listening to the radio.

Of course, if you only have a fleeting interest in the artist, then a fleeting impression is all you need. Of the 'best ofs' that I've already reviewed, Boney M, Grim Reaper and Kool and the Gang would all fit into this category.

However, a few years ago Sheila started to buy the remastered CDs of Elton John's early albums. I was never much of an Elton John fan. My experience with him was principally his goofy eighties songs and videos, and I viewed this use of my dwindling CD real estate with skepticism.

That skepticism was ill-founded. Elton John had some amazing records, particularly from 1969-1974, which is the period this Greatest Hits package covers. So now I'm going to talk about that package, correct? Sort of.

The Greatest Hits album survives on our shelf only because of the eleven songs, we're still missing five on our other albums, including the classics "Your Song" and "Rocket Man," the latter of which may be my favourite Elton John song of all time.

Six of the songs on this record can be found on two albums we already own, "Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player" and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road." These are amazing albums (I already reviewed the first one back at Disc 221) and you would be better off just getting them instead. You'll then find a whole host of other great songs that weren't deemed worthy of a greatest hits package, including "Blues For My Baby and Me," "High Flying Bird" and "This Song Has No Title."

In fact, the other two Elton John albums we have, "Madman Across The Water" and "Tumbleweed Connection," aren't even represented on this Greatest Hits album, which is equally ridiculous. No "Tiny Dancer," no "Indian Sunset" no "My Father's Gun" no "Talking Old Soldiers," and no "Burn Down the Mission."

That's the problem with compilation records; they leave far more out than they put in. This particular Greatest Hits record is from Elton John's greatest creative period, so it is full of good music, but it somehow manages to catch a few duds anyway. I could live without "Honky Cat" and "Crocodile Rock" quite happily, for example. Yeah, I just called "Crocodile Rock" a dud - but hey, it's my blog. Let's move on.

Buying Elton John's "Greatest Hits" means you may never buy the classic albums that it skims over, and that's a pity. Later you might be tempted to get his second or third volume of hits, which are from inferior periods in his career, when you could just be mining the gold from his great studio albums. If you're just a casual Elton John fan, then this may serve you well, but before you choose that road, try at least one of his studio records from 1970-1974 and let him convince you otherwise.

Best tracks: Um...no. I'll save that for when I review Elton John's many and excellent albums. That said, this album won't be going anywhere until classics like Rocket Man and Your Song are safely recorded on another record.