I know that Elton John is the 21st centuries favourite pantomime dame and these days doesn’t even bother going through the motions. But in the early seventies he was in many ways as essential a part of my musical education as T.Rex, The Stones or even Bowie.
One of my secret wishes is that I’d had a big sister. I can’t help feeling that life may have been a bit easier. Maybe then I wouldn’t have had to wait over 25 years to understand that most women are infinitely stronger, more interesting and most definitely on it more than us weedy men. My mate Nicky Hall was lucky, he did have a big sister and she was well into Elton John. He used to lend me her albums until I scratched Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and she put a stop to it. I didn’t care much, Caribou was crap anyway. However, the rest of those early records were fantastic, certainly for a 12/13 year old keen to hear everything and anything. And I still have a soft spot for Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only A Piano Player, a record my old Nan gave me for my 13th birthday.
01 Border Song / Single A Side March 1970
02 Take Me To The Pilot / Elton John April 1970
03 Ballad Of A Well Known Gun / Tumbleweed Connection October 1970
04 Burn Down The Mission / Tumbleweed Connection October 1970
05 Tiny Dancer / Madman Across The Water November 1971
06 Levon / Madman Across The Water November 1971
07 Madman Across The Water / Madman Across The Water November 1971
08 Amy / Honky Chateau May 1972
09 Mona Lisa’s And Mad Hatters / Honky Chateau May 1972
10 Hercules / Honky Chateau May 1972
11 Teacher I Need You / Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only A Piano Player January 1973
12 Blues For My Baby And Me / Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only A Piano Player January 1973
13 Grey Seal / Goodbye Yellow Brick Road October 1973
14 All The Girls Love Alice / Goodbye Yellow Brick Road October 1973
15 Harmony / Goodbye Yellow Brick Road October 1973
16 Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy / Captain Fantastic May 1975
