Elton John

Greatest Hits

1.Your Song
2.Daniel
3.Honky Cat
4.Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
5.Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
6.Rocket Man
7.Bennie and the Jets
8.Candle in the Wind *
9.Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
10.Border Song
11.Crocodile Rock

* bonus CD track

Issued during a period when Elton John’s star seemed incapable of anything but rising, Greatest Hits was less an album than a necessary act of archiving. The compilation distilled five years of near-ceaseless chart dominance into a succinct but potent set. Despite the limitation of a ten-track LP format (later amended with Candle in the Wind on CD), the selections managed to capture the breadth of Elton’s early trajectory—from torch ballads to glam-infused rockers.

The roll call is impressive. Your Song and Border Song from the Elton John LP gave us the early intimations of genius. Honky Château contributes the gently funky Honky Cat and the immortal Rocket Man, whose cosmic melancholy remains undimmed. From Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player we get the buoyant Crocodile Rock—more novelty than nuance—and the tender Daniel, whose layered emotion belied its pop structure.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is represented in triplicate—title track, Bennie and the Jets, and Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting—a testament to its scope and ubiquity. And rounding out the list is Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me from Caribou, a vocal performance so drenched in theatrical grandeur it could only have come from this era. There is, of course, an Atlantic divide to consider. Some inclusions were chosen as much for their American impact as their UK legacy. The fact that several major UK hits didn’t make the cut (at least until (Volume II) points less to oversight than to the surplus of riches Elton and lyricist Bernie Taupin had produced.

While later compilations would be more comprehensive, few possess the distilled impact of this original release. Commercially, it remains one of the best-selling albums of all time—a pop monolith that, even decades later, shows no sign of fading from view. Not just a collection of hits: a snapshot of a moment when Elton John could do no wrong.

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