Elton John (album)

Elton John
Studio album by Elton John
Publication (s)	April 10, 1970
Label (s)	DJM Records
Format (s)	CD, hybrid SACD, LP, MC
Genre (s)	Pop rock
Title (number)	10
running time	39:25
production	Gus Dudgeon
Studio (s)	Trident Studios, London (England)
chronology Empty Sky (1969) Elton John Tumbleweed Connection (1970)

Elton John is the second studio album by the British musician Elton John and was released on April 10, 1970 in Great Britain and on July 22, 1970 in the USA. It is considered John's first successful studio album and made him a star almost overnight.

Emergence

Elton's first LP Empty Sky was a big flop with only 4,000 units sold. John's publisher Dick James , however, made this further album possible for him, which helped him achieve a breakthrough. Although Elton John is John's second album, it was often considered his debut because the actual US debut wasn't released until 1975.

The recordings took place during several sessions in January 1970 at Trident Studios in London . Originally, the album coordinator Steve Brown wanted to win over the Beatles producer George Martin for the recordings, but this failed because Martin made the condition that he was also responsible as arranger, while Brown had already decided on Paul Buckmaster . Buckmaster had previously arranged David Bowie's Space Oddity , and its producer Gus Dudgeon was also hired to take care of Elton John .

During the production of the album, the songs Thank You Mama , All the Way Down to El Paso, and I'm Going Home were also recorded but not used for the album.

Track list

1970 album

1. Your Song (Elton John, Bernie Taupin) - 4:02
2. I Need You to Turn To (Elton John, Bernie Taupin) - 2:35
3. Take Me to the Pilot (Elton John, Bernie Taupin) - 3:48
4. No Shoe Strings on Louise (Elton John, Bernie Taupin) - 3:31
5. First Episode at Hienton (Elton John, Bernie Taupin) - 4:48
6. Sixty Years On (Elton John, Bernie Taupin) - 4:35
7. Border Song (Elton John, Bernie Taupin) - 3:22
8. The Greatest Discovery (Elton John, Bernie Taupin) - 4:12
9. The Cage (Elton John, Bernie Taupin) - 3:28
10. The King Must Die (Elton John, Bernie Taupin) - 5:04

CD re-release in 1995

1. Your Song - 4:02
2. I Need You to Turn To - 2:35
3. Take Me to the Pilot - 3:48
4. No Shoe Strings on Louise - 3:31
5. First Episode at Hienton - 4:48
6. Sixty Years On - 4:35
7. Border Song - 3:22
8. The Greatest Discovery - 4:12
9. The Cage - 3:28
10. The King Must Die - 5:04
11. Bad Side of the Moon - 3:15
12. Gray Seal (Original Version) - 3:35
13. Rock n 'Roll Madonna - 4:17

Deluxe Edition 2008

CD 1:

1. Your Song - 4:02
2. I Need You to Turn To - 2:35
3. Take Me to the Pilot - 3:48
4. No Shoe Strings on Louise - 3:31
5. First Episode at Hienton - 4:48
6. Sixty Years On - 4:35
7. Border Song - 3:22
8. The Greatest Discovery - 4:12
9. The Cage - 3:28
10. The King Must Die - 5:04

CD 2:

1. Your Song (Piano demo) - 3:35
2. I Need You to Turn To (Piano demo) - 2:12
3. Take Me to the Pilot (Piano demo) - 2:36
4. No Shoe Strings on Louise (Piano demo) - 3:33
5. Sixty Years On (Piano demo) - 4:21
6. The Greatest Discovery (Piano demo) - 3:58
7. The Cage (Piano demo) - 3:21
8. The King Must Die (Piano demo) - 5:24
9. Rock n 'Roll Madonna (Piano demo) - 3:11
10. Thank You Mama - 3:20
11. All the Way Down to El Paso - 2:49
12. I'm Going Home - 3:05
13. Gray Seal (Piano demo) - 3:19
14. Rock n 'Roll Madonna (Alternate take) - 2:55
15. Bad Side of the Moon - 3:13
16. Gray Seal (Original Version) - 3:36
17. Rock n 'Roll Madonna - 4:17
18. Border Song (BBC Session) - 3:21
19. Your Song (BBC Session) - 4:01
20. Take Me to the Pilot (BBC session) - 3:33

On the album released in Portugal , a horn is used in the introduction to The Greatest Discovery instead of the cello used in all other versions . When MCA Records released the album on audio cassette in the 1980s, the order of I Need You to Turn To and The Cage was reversed. In 2004 Elton John was released as a remastered Super Audio CD with the three bonus tracks from the 1995 CD re-release.

reception

Commercial win

The first single Border Song , released in March 1970 , only reached number 92 in the US Top 100 and stayed there for a total of five weeks. On August 25, 1970 Neil Diamond announced the US concert debut of John with his newly formed band at "The Troubadour" in Los Angeles . As a result of this acclaimed performance, the album reached number 4 on the Billboard 200 . Elton John reached number 11 in the British album charts and stayed in the charts for 14 weeks.

The second single Take Me to Your Pilot , which was released from the album, was John's first single with the B-side "Your Song", which reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 8 . "Your Song" was released as a separate single in the UK on January 7, 1971, reached number 7 in the UK Top 40 and stayed in the charts for 12 weeks. By the year 2000, so many of John's singles were in the Billboard Top 40 that in 1992 he broke Elvis Presley's record for most consecutive years with his own singles in the American charts.

Elton John was one of the four albums that John had in the American album charts in 1971, which he had succeeded as the first artist since the Beatles . To date, around 7 million records of the album have been sold worldwide, 500,000 of them in the USA alone. On February 17, 1971, the album reached gold status in the United States.

Reviews

The Melody Maker called Elton John as " a truly great record " (German: "a truly great record.") The Billboard magazine praised the album as " one of the best LPs of the week, Both creatively and Commercially " (German: "One of the top LPs of the week, both creative and commercial.") Bill Shapiro attested the album in 1991 with its use of compact piano, enthusiastic vocals and the contrast between ardent ballads and full-on rockers " a formula whose time had come " (German: "a formula whose time had come").

William Ruhlmann described the album in 1995 in The All-Music Guide to Rock as " uncharacteristic of his other work " (German: "uncharacteristic of his other work") because it contains many strings by Buck Masters arrangements, of which he does not overwhelm let. Because the deluxe edition, published in 2008, clearly shows the differences between early demo recordings and fully produced album versions, Franz Schöler in the German Rolling Stone assumed a tendency towards “grandiose kitsch” precisely for these arrangements. The Beatles as well as Simon and Garfunkel and Jerry Lee Lewis were named as musical reference points not only because of their contact with Martin .

Awards

In 1970 Elton John was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, but could not win the award. In 2003 the album was listed at position 468 on the list of the 500 greatest albums of all time by the American Rolling Stone .

Web links

• Elton John at Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Paul Maclauchlan: 1970 ( Memento of the original dated November 3, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in Cornflakes & Classics A musical history of Elton John ( Memento of the original from October 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)  
2. ↑ Elton John on allmusic.com (English)
3. ↑ ^{a b} David Fricke: Elton John (Deluxe Edition) on rollingstone.com (English)
4. ↑ Elton John - Tabular curriculum vitae ( Memento of the original from January 17, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on elton.de 
5. ↑ ^{a b} Franz Schöler: Elton John "Elton John (Deluxe Edition)" ( Memento of the original from September 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on rollingstone.de 
6. ↑ Elton John - Elton John at discogs.com (English)
7. ↑ Deluxe editions of two classic albums ( Memento of the original from June 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on eltonjohn.com (English)  
8. ↑ Elton John: Elton John on sa-cd.net (English)
9. ↑ ^{a b} Elton John biography ( memento of the original from October 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on bbwbi.de  
10. ↑ ^{a b c} 468) Elton John ( Memento from March 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) on rollingstone.com (English)
11. ↑ Paul Maclauchlan: 1971 ( Memento of the original from December 18, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in Cornflakes & Classics A musical history of Elton John ( Memento of the original from October 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)  
12. ↑ John, Sir Elton (b.1947) ( Memento of the original dated December 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on glbtq.com (English)  
13. ↑ Elton John on rockhall.com (English)
14. ↑ Elton John's Gold & Platinum Albums (English)
15. ↑ Nigel Godall: Elton John: A Visual Documentary , London 1993, p. 13. (English)
16. ↑ ^{a b} Elton John on superseventies.com (English)
17. ↑ Bill Shapiro: Rock & Roll Review: A Guide to Good Rock on CD , 1991 (English)
18. ↑ Elton John (1970) on warr.org (English)
19. ↑ Grammys' Best Albums, 1970-1979 on grammy.com (English)