Elton John (album)

Elton John
Studio album by Elton John
Released	10 April 1970
Recorded	January 1970; Trident Studios (London, England)
Genre	Soft rock symphonic rock
Length	39:27
Label	DJM (UK) Uni (US)
Producer	Gus Dudgeon
Elton John chronology
Empty Sky (1969) Elton John (1970) Tumbleweed Connection (1970)
Singles from Elton John
"Border Song" Released: April 1970 "Take Me to the Pilot" Released: 26 October 1970 "Your Song" Released: October 1970

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	(B)[2]
Rolling Stone	(not rated)[3]

Elton John is the second album by English singer-songwriter Elton John, released in April 1970. However, because it was his first album released in America, many people there assumed it was his first album, as Empty Sky was not released in the US until 1975. Elton John includes his breakthrough hit, "Your Song", and helped to establish his career during what was considered the "singer-songwriter" era of popular music. In the US, it was certified gold in February 1971 by the RIAA. In the same year, it was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

In 2003, the album was ranked No. 468 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. This was the first of many Elton John albums produced by Gus Dudgeon. On 27 November 2012, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as an album cited as exhibiting "qualitative or historical significance".^[4]

The song "No Shoe Strings on Louise" was intended (as homage or parody) to sound like a Mick Jagger song.^[5][6]

Track listing

All songs written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

Side one

1. "Your Song" – 4:02
2. "I Need You to Turn To" – 2:35
3. "Take Me to the Pilot" – 3:47
4. "No Shoe Strings on Louise" – 3:31
5. "First Episode at Hienton" – 4:48

Side two

1. "Sixty Years On" – 4:35
2. "Border Song" – 3:22
3. "The Greatest Discovery" – 4:12
4. "The Cage" – 3:28
5. "The King Must Die" – 5:23

Bonus tracks (1995 Mercury and 1996 Rocket reissue)

1. "Bad Side of the Moon" – 3:15
2. "Grey Seal" (Original version) – 3:35
3. "Rock and Roll Madonna" – 4:17

Bonus tracks (2008 deluxe edition)

Disc one - original album

Disc two

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 and Roll Madonna" (Piano demo) – 3:11
10. "Thank You Mama" (Piano demo) – 3:20
11. "All the Way Down to El Paso" (Piano demo) – 2:49
12. "I'm Going Home" (Piano demo) – 3:05
13. "Grey Seal" (Piano demo) – 3:19
14. "Rock And Roll Madonna" (Alternate take) – 2:55
15. "Bad Side of the Moon" – 3:13
16. "Grey Seal" (Original version) – 3:36
17. "Rock and 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 French horn is used in the introduction to "The Greatest Discovery" instead of a cello as is found on all other versions. An extended version of the introduction to "Sixty Years On" is available on the 1990 box set To Be Continued.

The original German release from 1970 (Hansa 80807) opens with the song "Rock and Roll Madonna", and the song "I Need You to Turn To" does not appear on the LP. The rest of the tracks and the running order remain the same as the worldwide release.

The album was remastered as a multichannel Super Audio CD in 2004.

B-sides

Song	Format
"Bad Side of the Moon"	"Border Song" 7" (US)
"Into the Old Man's Shoes"	"Your Song" 7" (UK)

Personnel

• Elton John – piano, vocals (all tracks), harpsichord (track 2)
• Frank Clark – acoustic bass (track 10), acoustic guitar (1)
• Colin Green – additional guitars (track 1, 7), Spanish guitar (6)
• Roland Harker – guitar (track 2)
• Clive Hicks – acoustic guitar (track 9), rhythm guitar (4), twelve-string guitar (1), guitars (7, 8, 10)
• Alan Parker – rhythm guitar (track 3)
• Caleb Quaye – lead guitar (tracks 3-5), additional guitars (9)
• Les Hurdle – bass guitar (track 10)
• Dave Richmond – bass guitar (tracks 1, 7, 8)
• Alan Weighall – bass guitar (tracks 3, 4, 9)
• Brian Dee – organ (tracks 6, 7)
• Diana Lewis – Moog synthesizer (tracks 5, 9)
• Paul Buckmaster – cello solo (track 8)
• Skaila Kanga – harp (tracks 2, 8)
• David Katz – violin
• Terry Cox – drums (tracks 8, 10)
• Dennis Lopez – percussion (tracks 3, 4)
• Barry Morgan – drums (tracks 1, 3, 4, 7, 9)
• Tex Navarra – percussion (track 9)
• Madeline Bell – backing vocals (tracks 3, 4, 7, 9)
• Tony Burrows – backing vocals (tracks 3, 4, 7, 9)
• Roger Cook – backing vocals (tracks 3, 4, 7, 9)
• Lesley Duncan – backing vocals (tracks 3, 4, 7, 9)
• Kay Garner – backing vocals (tracks 3, 4, 7, 9)
• Tony Hazzard – backing vocals (tracks 3, 4, 7, 9)
• Barbara Moore – backing vocals, choir leader (track 7)

Production

• Producer: Gus Dudgeon
• Engineer: Robin Geoffrey Cable
• Editing: Gus Skinas
• Remastering: Tony Cousins
• Digital transfers: Ricky Graham
• Surround sound: Greg Penny
• Lyricist: Bernie Taupin
• Arranger: Paul Buckmaster
• Orchestra contractor: David Katz
• Art direction: David Larkham
• Liner notes: Gus Dudgeon, John Tobler

Accolades

Grammy Awards

Year	Nominee/work	Award	Result
1971	Elton John	Album of the Year[7]	Nominated
		Best Pop Vocal Performance – Male[8]	Nominated

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1971) Position Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart[9] 4 Canadian RPM Albums Chart[10] 4 Dutch Mega Albums Chart[11] 2 Japanese Oricon LPs Chart[12] 40 UK Albums Chart[13] 5 US Billboard 200[14] 4

Year-end charts Chart (1971) Position Australian Albums Chart[9] 24 Dutch Albums Chart[15] 17 U.S. Billboard Pop Albums 30 Certifications } Region Certification United States (RIAA)[16] Gold

References

1. Stephen Thomas Erlewine "Elton John". Allmusic.
2. "CG: elton john". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
3. Archived 2 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
4. "Grammy Hall of Fame Award. Grammy.org. Retrieved 21 December 2012
5. J (April 18, 2015). "Won't you please excuse my frankness but it's not my cup of tea: Elton John – Elton John (1970)". www.resurrectionsongs.com. Retrieved October 3, 2016. The side is rounded off with the 'Rolling Stones country' tinged 'No Shoe Strings on Louise' (even Elton's phrasing is similar to Jagger's at times – "All those city women want to make us poor men and this land's got the worse for the worrying")...
6. Bernardin, Claude (1995). Rocket Man: Elton John From A - Z. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood/Praeger. p. 186. ISBN 0-275-95698-9. He tried to impersonate Mick Jagger. The song is about loose women.
7. "GRAMMYs' Best Albums 1970–1979". grammy.org. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
8. "Grammy Awards: Best Pop Vocal Performance - Male". rockonthenet.com. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
9. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
10. "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 14, No. 26". RPM. 13 February 1971. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
11. "dutchcharts.nl Elton John – Elton John" (ASP). Hung Medien (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
12. Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
13. "Elton John > Artists > Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
14. "Allmusic: Elton John : Charts & Awards : Billboard Albums". allmusic.com. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
15. "Dutch charts jaaroverzichten 1971" (ASP) (in Dutch). Retrieved 2 April 2014.
16. "American album certifications – Elton John – Elton John". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH