Elton John

To Be Continued... (1990)

Disc One (1965-1972):
1.Come Back Baby
2.Lady Samantha
3.It's Me That You Need
4.Your Song (Demo)
5.Rock and Roll Madonna
6.Bad Side of the Moon
7.Your Song
8.Take Me to the Pilot
9.Border Song
10.Sixty Years On
11.Country Comfort
12.Grey Seal
13.Friends
14.Levon
15.Tiny Dancer
16.Honky Cat
17.Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters

Disc Two (1972-1974):
1.Rocket Man
2.Daniel
3.Crocodile Rock
4.Bennie and the Jets
5.Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
6.All the Girls Love Alice
7.Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
8.Whenever You're Ready (We'll Go Steady Again)
9.Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
10.Jack Rabbit
11.Harmony
12.Young Man's Blues
13.Step Into Christmas
14.The Bitch is Back
15.Pinball Wizard
16.Someone Saved My Life Tonight

Disc Three (1974-1982):
1.Philadelphia Freedom
2.One Day at a Time
3.Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
4.I Saw Her Standing There
5.Island Girl
6.Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word
7.Don't Go Breaking My Heart
8.I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford)(live)
9.Ego
10.Song For Guy
11.Mama Can't Buy You Love
12.Cartier
13.Little Jeannie
14.Donner Pour Donner
15.Fanfare
16.Chloe
17.The Retreat
18.Blue Eyes

Disc Four (1982-1990):
1.Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)
2.I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues
3.I'm Still Standing
4.Sad Songs (Say So Much)
5.Act of War
6.Nikita
7.Candle in the Wind (live)
8.Carla Etude (live)
9.Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me (live)
10.I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That
11.Give Peace a Chance
12.Sacrifice
13.Made For Me
14.You Gotta Love Someone
15.I Swear I Heard the Night Talkin'
16.Easier to Walk Away

Released in 1990, To Be Continued... was Elton John’s first—and to date box set: four discs covering the first quarter-century of a recording career both tumultuous and triumphant. As with most retrospectives of its kind, the collection walks a line between celebration and archaeology, mixing chart-toppers, obscurities, unreleased material, live recordings, B-sides, and curiosities into a sprawling audio scrapbook. The result isn’t definitive—but it is certainly revealing.

Disc One opens with Elton’s earliest years, offering a chronological build-up that begins in the mid-’60s with his tenure in Bluesology. The inclusion of Come Back Baby, a track penned and performed entirely by the young Reg Dwight, is more of historical interest than musical merit—charmingly overcooked and ripe with youthful pretension. Still, it’s a valuable footnote. Far more affecting is the raw demo of Your Song, stripped of Paul Buckmaster’s orchestrations and studio polish. Heard in its skeletal form, the song’s delicate power is even more apparent—proof, if any were needed, of the enduring strength of Elton’s melodic intuition and Bernie Taupin’s early lyrical instinct.

Disc Two wisely devotes itself almost entirely to the years 1972–1974—Elton’s commercial and artistic golden age. With no need to overthink the selections, most of the major hits are here. Yet even amid such familiar fare, the disc manages to surprise. A few choice outtakes from the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road sessions make an appearance, as do several worthy B-sides that never quite made the main stage but remain fan favourites (Screw You (Young Man’s Blues) being one). The disc’s tight focus is its strength—unlike other segments of the box, it resists the temptation to overreach.

Disc Three (1974–1982) spans the post-peak years—an era when Elton’s output grew more erratic but rarely uninteresting. The major hits are accounted for, along with several deeper cuts that showcase both the ambition and the excess of this period. A few selections may raise eyebrows—none more than the baffling inclusion of a 60-second radio advert for Cartier jewellery, featuring Elton in full commercial mode. It’s more camp than classic, and one can only assume its presence is meant to illustrate just how far-reaching Elton's influence—and interests—had become by the late '70s.

Disc Four brings things into the then-present, closing the set with both reflection and a hint of rejuvenation. Most notable are the four newly recorded tracks produced by Don Was: You Gotta Love Someone, Made for Me, Easier to Walk Away, and I Swear I Heard the Night Talkin’. Smooth, soulful, and surprisingly fresh, these tracks offered proof that Elton’s songwriting engine was still very much in working order. That he never collaborated with Don Was again remains one of the minor mysteries in his catalogue.

The only notable misstep is the inclusion of a chaotic group rendition of Give Peace a Chance—a meandering, giggle-filled, chemically enhanced jam session that does more to commemorate the perils of collaboration than the spirit of Lennon. Fortunately, it’s the exception rather than the rule.

The set is packaged with an expansive booklet, rich in photos, musician credits, and contextual notes. There are thoughtful interviews and a serviceable career overview—enough to satisfy both newcomers and longtime fans. While no box set can be truly exhaustive, To Be Continued... is as close as Elton had come at that point to authoring his own legacy.

As the title winks, this wasn’t a final chapter but a pause in the ongoing narrative. And indeed, Elton would go on to experience one of the most unexpected and impressive late-career resurgences in pop history. But for the listener in 1990, To Be Continued... offered both a retrospective and a reminder: the story wasn’t finished—not by a long shot.

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