By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorHitting the charts in the wake of the Beatles' 1970 split, right when both Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix died of overdoses and Jim Morrison wasn't far behind, Elton John could only have launched his… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorA new Elton album that sounds like an old Elton album is by now ancient news: The guy has been releasing implicitly nostalgic, explicitly self-referential discs for a dozen years. And although this is yet… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorA new Elton album that sounds like an old Elton album is by now ancient news: The guy has been releasing implicitly nostalgic, explicitly self-referential discs for a dozen years. And although this is yet… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorOn March 25, 1997, Elton turned 50. That summer, his friends Gianni Versace and Princess Diana both died. Released simultaneously with The Big Picture, Taupin's Di-inspired, George Martin-produced rewrite of "Candle in the Wind" became… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorCould anything be more horrible than 1979's disco-by-numbers Victim of Love? An album bereft of hits or any redeeming features, 1986's Leather Jackets answers that question in the affirmative. At least that dud had distinctive… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorProducer Gus Dudgeon returns for Elton's 1985 flippant yet bland Ice on Fire, but only guitarist Davey Johnstone from the old band remains. The sound is indeed icy, no doubt a result of the era's… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorDespite the closing "Sad Songs (Say So Much)," another Elton classic during a decade skimpy with them, 1984's Breaking Hearts loses ground gained with the previous year's Too Low for Zero. The rockers ape ZZ… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorThere's a simple reason why much of 1981's dire Elton disc sounds just like 21 at 33, only worse: Half of it is that album's outtakes. Hot from his work with the Pretenders, Chris Thomas… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorA little L.A. disco lingers from 1979's no-no Victim of Love on 1980's 21 at 33, but this time, the results are more yacht club that dance club. The album's hit and by far the… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorThe problem isn't that Elton went disco — he'd been dabbling in it since "Philadelphia Freedom." The problem is his tangible lack of commitment to it. John doesn't write, play or produce anything on this… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorLeon Russell watched Elton John make his US debut from the front of West Hollywood's famed Troubadour nightclub in the summer of 1970. Seeing his idol a few feet away blew Elton's mind, but not… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorWhereas 1975's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy recounted Elton John and Bernie Taupin's early pre-fame years together in late-'60s England, this 2006 sequel begins with their first US tour in 1970 and goes… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorThe only Elton album that's solely self-produced, 2004's Peachtree Road is strikingly casual. Named after the street on which the singer owns an Atlanta home, it's considerably less heavy than its predecessor, 2001's Songs from… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorHaving realized at the dawning of the 21st century that he'd become famous for just about everything but his recent resolutely genteel pop, film and theater music, the mega-star has an epiphany: Why not make… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorIn 1994, Elton released his ridiculously popular soundtrack to The Lion King, which, in the US, eventually outsold all but his first greatest hits album. That spectacular success affirmed the piano man's status as the… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorIn 1990, "Sacrifice" from 1989's Sleeping with the Past somehow became more popular in the UK than any of Elton's feted '70s hits. This breakup ballad set a dusky tone for his '90s output starting… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorAfter 1986's Leather Jackets, the only way was up. The singer got throat surgery, and although his high notes are gone, so is some of the drug damage: 1988's Reg Strikes Back finds Elton once… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorDecidedly out of fashion for the previous punk-centric period, Elton in 1983 — a year defined by British New Wave and the resurgence of African-American pop — once again feels far more contemporary; a status… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorAs suggested by its title, Elton's final album of the '80s — his last before rehab — is rooted in his record collection: He and Bernie Taupin set out to create an album based on… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorNow producing a full Elton album, producer Chris Thomas manages to extract some passion from the singer with a sound not unlike Thomas's recent work with Pete Townshend, who guests on the particularly strum-my "Ball… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorRecorded in 1977, released as a three-song EP in 1979, and reissued as six-track album a decade later, Elton John's Philadelphia soul sessions are both not enough of a good thing and too much. Thom… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorAfter years of releasing new albums nearly every six months, Elton let two years pass between 1976's Blue Moves and his first disc without Bernie, producer Gus Dudgeon and most of his core players. Gone… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorReleased in the UK in mid 1969 and then finally issued in the US in early 1975 at the peak of his popularity, Elton's debut album suggests future pitfalls more than it points to impending… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorHaving promoted multiple albums nearly each year since his 1970 breakthrough via ever-bigger tours, Elton was by mid-decade starting to seriously bug out. During "Elton Week" in Los Angeles 1975, he swallowed 60 Valium and… more »