Elton John Album: “Greatest Hits 1976-1986”

Obviously, this is the album to get if you a single volume overview of Elton's "non Classic Years" songs. It's not as good as his previous two greatest hits albums, but it features some fine songs nonetheless. Genuine classics include I'm Still Standing, Sorry..., I Guess That's..., Sad Songs..., and some lesser known hits like Kiss The Bride and Who Wears These Shoes?. That said, the rest of the songs are average at best (and the two songs co-written by Gary Osborne are awful), to me at least. Still, if you want to get the best of EJ's late 70's-mid 80's output, this is definately the place.

After his brilliant run with MCA records, Elton John joined the early roster of mogul David Geffen, who pledged to make his Geffen Records a haven for Artist's Artists. His initial signings were John Lennon, Donna Summer and Elton. His first album for Geffen, "The Fox," had a minor top 40 single on it that isn't even included here, "Nobody Wins." Thus Elton entered a slower period that didn't really reinvigorate until the third Geffen album, "

" and "I Guess That's Why The Call It The Blues."

After the poorly recieved "

," Elton resigned with MCA and re-established his career with the "

" album, Geffen issued a third Greatest Hits collection. It seems Elton must have retained the rights to his materail since this set came out within ten years on MCA and covers hits from "

" to "Leather Jackets."

What this set does show is that, even in a somewhat shallow period of success, Elton John still could create finally tuned pop gems. From "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" to "Wrap Her Up" ("Heartache All Over The World" is one of the drops from the prior GHv3 set), this best-off really does pack on hits. It also misses a few key tracks ("Act Of War," "In Neon" and "Nobody Wins" would have been nice), yet includes one bona-fide oldie "Don't Go Breaking My Heart." You're still getting several top tens ("I Guess That's Why..." and "Sad Songs Say So Much" are now classics) to offer that proof of Elton's staying power.

The change between the two GHv3 is that this version has 13 songs (from the Geffen's 12), drops two songs ("Heartache All Over The Word" and "Too Low For Zer"), then adds "Sorry Seems...," "Who Wears These Shoes" and Don't go Breaking My Heart." The cover art on this one is a step down from the Geffen version, but the sound quality is an improvement. And I always get a smile from hearing Elton and George Michael name-check everyone from Samantha Fox to Nancy Reagen (!?!) on "Wrap Her Up."

This CD is not too bad, but leaves a lot to be desired. It is almost the same song for song as the album Elton John's greatest hits Volume three. The only difference is a small one. Two songs, which are Sorry Seemes To Be The Hardest Word, and Who Wears These Shoes. Otherwise,this cd is the same as the other cd that I mentioned before. Though I must say that on the other cd, the song Heartache All Over The World is totally awesome.

I have the original cassette of this collection with a different cover (EJ is playing piano wearing a coat w/tails & sunglasses) and included the song "Too Low for Zero"--before his new hair, new husband, etc. I don't mind him reinventing himself, but I do wish he'd left the song list alone & the original cover on it. Still a good album from that time period: "Mama Can't Buy You Love", "Little Jeannie, & "Blue Eyes" are almost never played on the radio anymore, & I miss these songs, which is a good reason to buy this CD. :)

There's no stopping Elton John,but you can't forget Bernie Taupin.His words are Brilliant."Little Jeannie" was one of the first songs without Bernie.My all time favorite cut is "Empty Garden," written about John Lennon.The line that says it all,"How one Insect could damage so much Grain." I also enjoy the George Michael duet,"Wrap her Up," and "Sad Songs." This hits package ends at the year,1987.The years to follow are even greater than this collection.