Elton John

Greatest Hits Volume 2 (1977)

1.The Bitch is Back
2.Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
3.Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word (#)
4.Don't Go Breaking My Heart (#)
5.Someone Saved My Life Tonight
6.Philadelphia Freedom
7.Island Girl
8.Grow Some Funk of Your Own
9.Levon
10.Pinball Wizard

# These 2 songs were taken off, added to another greatest hits album, and replaced by "Tiny Dancer" and "I Feel Like A Bullet" sometime during the early 1990s.

For an artist to release a second Greatest Hits package a mere three years after the first might seem presumptuous. For Elton John in the mid-1970s, it was inevitable. By the time Greatest Hits Volume II arrived in 1977, Elton had announced his (temporary) retirement, and the record served as both a convenient stopgap and a summing-up. Remarkably, the well had not yet run dry. The compilation didn’t feel forced—it felt necessary.

First, a bit of tidy bookkeeping. The Bitch Is Back and Levon, both conspicuously absent from the first collection, were slotted in here, restoring a certain balance. From there, it was all bounty. Several tracks—Philadelphia Freedom, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Pinball Wizard, and the duet Don’t Go Breaking My Heart with Kiki Dee—had never appeared on a regular studio album, which only strengthened their inclusion. These were singles in the truest sense: radio-ready, widely beloved, and, until now, homeless.

The remaining selections filled in the recent past: Someone Saved My Life Tonight from Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Island Girl and Grow Some Funk of Your Own from Rock of the Westies, and Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word from Blue Moves. Taken together, the album reads like a map of Elton’s stylistic wanderings in the post-Yellow Brick Road years—glam, funk, soul, balladry—all present and accounted for.

It’s not just a strong companion to the first Greatest Hits—in many ways, it’s essential. These two volumes provided a near-definitive portrait of Elton’s 1970s output and were, for many listeners, the only records they needed. Or at least, the only ones they owned.

Then came the complications. By the early 1990s, legal and contractual disputes—always lurking in the background of Elton’s catalogue—necessitated changes to the lineup. Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word and Don’t Go Breaking My Heart were unceremoniously removed and rerouted to a third compilation. In their place came Tiny Dancer and I Feel Like a Bullet (in the Gun of Robert Ford)—both deserving of the spotlight and, arguably, belated corrections. If anything, the reshuffle improved the package, allowing tracks that had long hovered on the margins to finally take their rightful place.

If Volume I was the coronation, then Greatest Hits Volume II was the victory lap. That Elton had amassed another album’s worth of classics in the space of a few short years says much about the scale—and velocity—of his reign. For newcomers and completists alike, this collection remains a vital chapter in the Elton John story.

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