Elton John

Greatest Hits 1970-2002

Disc One
1.Your Song
2.Levon
3.Tiny Dancer
4.Rocket Man
5.Honky Cat
6.Crocodile Rock
7.Daniel
8.Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting
9.Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
10.Candle In The Wind
11.Bennie And The Jets
12.Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
13.The Bitch Is Back
14.Philadelphia Freedom
15.Someone Saved My Life Tonight
16.Island Girl
17.Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word

Disc Two
1.Don't Go Breaking My Heart
2.Little Jeannie
3.I'm Still Standing
4.I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues
5.Sad Songs (Say So Much)
6.I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That
7.Nikita
8.Sacrifice
9.The One
10.Can You Feel The Love Tonight
11.Circle Of Life
12.Believe
13.Blessed
14.Something About The Way You Look Tonight
15.Written In The Stars
16.I Want Love
17.This Train Don't Stop There Anymore

Bonus Disc
1.Candle In The Wind (Live)
2.Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me (with George Michael)
3.Live Like Horses (with Luciano Pavarotti)
4.Your Song (with Alessandro Safini)

By the early 2000s, record labels had developed a new favorite pastime: mining the back catalog. Faced with declining album sales and a rapidly shifting musical landscape, the safer bet was to repackage familiar hits rather than gamble on new material. For legacy artists, this often meant a never-ending cycle of compilations, retrospectives, and so-called definitive collections. And so, only six years after the uneven Love Songs package, Elton John found himself once again anthologized—this time in the form of Greatest Hits 1970–2002.

To its credit, this is a strong, well-curated overview of a career now stretching into its fourth decade. For the casual listener or newcomer, it’s hard to argue with the material selected: from Your Song to I Want Love, this two-disc set captures many of the key moments, movements, and milestones that defined Elton’s arc as both a pop juggernaut and enduring songwriter. In terms of sheer listenability, this might very well be the most accessible Elton John collection ever assembled.

But from the perspective of a long-time fan, the picture gets murkier.

What’s included makes sense—for the most part. The majority of tracks from Greatest Hits Volume I and Volume II appear, with expected omissions (Border Song, for instance, never really charted, and covers like Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and Pinball Wizard are absent, perhaps due to licensing, or more likely, space). Volume III, which always felt a bit thinner in terms of hits and legacy, is largely skipped over. Instead, the set jumps from the mid-’80s straight to highlights from the more recent resurgence, represented by The One, Made in England, and Songs from the West Coast.

And that’s where the real compromise begins. The need to fit 32 years of music into two discs forces some difficult decisions—many of which don’t sit entirely well. Several noteworthy singles from Elton’s later period are simply missing, leaving a significant part of his creative revival underrepresented. It's less a sweeping career retrospective than a broad-strokes sketch.

Then there’s the bonus disc. Tacked on to some editions as a third CD, it features four alternate versions of already-included tracks—duets, live takes, and re-recordings. While Live Like Horses is a welcome inclusion in its solo form, the other selections feel superfluous. Three of the four songs appear elsewhere on the compilation in superior, original renditions. One can’t help but wonder why this space wasn’t used more wisely—to include actual hits that were left off the main set, or to delve deeper into the post-Volume III material with greater care.

Of course, any attempt to assemble a comprehensive "best of" for someone with a career as prolific and complex as Elton John’s is bound to raise eyebrows. Still, the marketing of this as the definitive collection implies a level of completeness it doesn’t quite deliver. It’s not quite a box set, not quite a fan-targeted rarity release, and not quite the seamless continuation of the greatest hits volumes that came before.

What Greatest Hits 1970–2002 does offer is a polished, commercial snapshot—a curated celebration of Elton’s legacy for the new millennium. For many, that’s enough. But for those who’ve followed the long and winding road from Empty Sky to Songs From The West Coast, it’s hard not to feel that the road map could have been just a bit more complete.