[ricola_pak]

I play piano and have been listening to lots of Ben Folds' music, and although his piano rock is a lot more wild, he does say it was Elton John's music that partly influenced him.

Any Elton's fans on here?

Any recommendations for which of his album I should start with (he has quite a few) if I wanted the faster and more intense songs?

 

[elrod-tom]

Hmm....I'd suggest Goodbye Yellow Brick Road for starters. You will find a mix of songs, but there are still a number of faster paced ones (e.g. "Saturday Night's Allright for Fighting"). It's also generally considered to be his best album FWIW.

 

[Todd R]

Any of Elton's early stuff was great.
Yellow Brick Road
Madman Across the Water
Self Titled
Captain Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy was my first album from him when I was a kid, so I like that one too.

 

[tom hankins]

The earlier the better.
Madman across the water
Tumbleweed connection
These would be good starter albums.

 

[stevesurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by elrod-tom Hmm....I'd suggest Goodbye Yellow Brick Road for starters. You will find a mix of songs, but there are still a number of faster paced ones (e.g. "Saturday Night's Allright for Fighting"). It's also generally considered to be his best album FWIW.

I agree with all the recommendations; in fact, you'll have a good deal of fun if you also buy "GBYBR" and "Don't shoot me" in Vinyl and compare the album covers. There's a good deal of SACD titles with EJ, but you have to listen to some of his earlier albums all the way through to get the stories him and Bernie would tell; don't just buy Greatest Hits CDs.

 

[nelamvr6]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevesurf I agree with all the recommendations; in fact, you'll have a good deal of fun if you also buy "GBYBR" and "Don't shoot me" in Vinyl and compare the album covers. There's a good deal of SACD titles with EJ, but you have to listen to some of his earlier albums all the way through to get the stories him and Bernie would tell; don't just buy Greatest Hits CDs.

The SACD's of EJ are pretty good, and they can be had for $5.99 delivered from yourmusic.com.

 

[Doc Sarvis]

Early Elton John is wonderful - everything from Blue Moves backward is great. There are two phases: 1. Before he became an international megastar (roughly pre-GYBR); and afterwards (GYBR to Blue Moves). Some of the phase 2 recordings (especially Caribou) are weaker to me - he was cranking them out very quickly in that era - but still generally good.

My personal favorites are as follows:

Madman Across the Water
Tumbleweed Connection
Captain Fantastic (the best he ever did IMO)
Rock of the Westies

I can't recommend anything after Blue Moves at all, unfortunately.


Try the SACDs on yourmusic while they are still around.

P.S. Elton is coming out with a sequel to Captain Fantastic in a few weeks, with lyrics by Bernie Taupin (his collaborator on every good album). Despite my statement above, I'll be picking it up.