Elton John
FREE!
This Is Your Song: The Elton John Interview
Interview by Mike Quigley, Rick McGrath, Georgia Straight, The, April 1971
WE ENTER THE Holiday Inn on Howe Street through its Southern-fried colonnade and up its Harlequin Romance staircase into the Columbia Room with its Christmas ...
Review by Gene Sculatti, Creem, August 1982
REMEMBER THE 70's? Not much of a decade, you say. Yeah, well. Fella here used to be a mover and a shaker back in the ...
ARTICLES IN LIBRARY
Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, September 1970
AL KOOPER, talking about Elton John's last album: "That album's really got me screwed up. It's just the perfect album, and I carry it around ...
Elton John, Fotheringay: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Penny Valentine, Sounds, October 1970
PUTTING ELTON John second billing to Fotheringay at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday night was a taste of mistaken booking if ever there was ...
Elton John: The Great White Hope
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, October 1970
CALL ELTON John what you will. The most brilliant singer/pianist we have ever produced, one of the best artists on record or on stage you ...
Report and Interview by Robert Greenfield, Rolling Stone, November 1970
LONDON – "If this is the revolution, why are the drinks so fucking expensive," someone has written on the wall in the toilet of London's ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, November 1970
GIVEN THAT HIS voice combines the nasal sonority of James Taylor with the rasp of Van Morrison with the slurry intonation of M. Jagger with ...
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Circus, December 1970
ELTON JOHN played the Troubadour in Los Angeles and overnight became an industry superstar. Public relations people, having no personal or professional claim to the ...
Elton John: The Record Rise Of A Superstar Called Reg
Essay by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 1971
IN APRIL 1970 an album was released that was to whisk Reg Dwight of Pinner into Elton John. It was, quite simply, titled Elton John, ...
Elton John: Tumbleweed Connection
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 1971
IT IS ALL too easy to go overboard with praise about Elton John. I am guilty of doing it – frequently. But then, when faced ...
Elton John: Carnegie Hall, New York NY
Live Review by Mike Jahn, New York Times, June 1971
Solo, or With Group, Elton John Thrills Carnegie Audiences ...
Elton John: Madman Across The Water (DJM)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, October 1971
IT'S AN ODD fact that the British tend to malign their own products to the point of insanity. We managed to ignore Joe Cocker, almost ...
Bernie Taupin: The B-Side of Elton John
Interview by Steve Turner, Beat Instrumental, February 1972
The offices of DJM records in new Oxford Street give the feeling of being a shrine to the glory of Elton John. Button-size stickers are ...
Step Right Up And Feel The Man’s Muscles: Honky Chateau
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Cream, June 1972
THESE DAYS you have to get fashionable before you get successful or else you get resented, and, if you get too successful without first being ...
Profile and Interview by Steve Turner, Beat Instrumental, January 1973
Elton John is a fast worker. He just about has to be because he allows himself only ten days to write and rehearse all the ...
Elton John: Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player (DJM)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, NME, January 1973
WELL, WHADAYA know – another fine Elton John album. Despite sneers, calumny and general foulness, the former Reg just keeps on writin', playin', singin' and ...
The Fightin' Side of Elton John
Interview by Danny Holloway, NME, February 1973
ELTON JOHN SITS cornered on his sumptuous settee, talking about the comic strip character he portrays. And as if to emphasise the image, he's wearing ...
Elton John: Sundown, Edmonton, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, NME, March 1973
I WAS counting the number of fainting chicks pulled up out of the audience. After the 38th, I gave up. ...
Elton John: Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player
Review by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, April 1973
THE ONLY SUPERFICIAL sign of the album's French origin is its title, a contrary translation of Truffaut's film Tirez Sur Le Pianiste. Truffaut's pianist was ...
What do Bowie, Elton, and Mantovani have in common?
Interview by Harold Bronson, Music World, June 1973
I DON'T KNOW why so many of the stars take up residence at Hollywood's Chauteau Marmont Hotel on the Sunset Strip. Perhaps it's because of ...
Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, September 1973
Elton John: The Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles ...
Report by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, September 1973
THE DAY Starship One landed in Hollywood it effused a trace of the old redolence and affaced just a little of the Hollywood myth. The ...
Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, September 1973
AND HELLO Elton John all set to smash a path to the top of the album chart with this superb new collecion of songs. He ...
Elton John at the Hollywood Bowl - July 1973
Live Review by David Rensin, Rolling Stone, October 1973
THE HOUSE LIGHTS dimmed and a lonely spot picked out a single figure onstage. ...
Profile and Interview by Richard Cromelin, Phonograph Record, November 1973
AMERICA IS BEGINNING to recover now. The damage has been assessed, the injured have been treated, and the jangled buzzing has started to fade from ...
Elton John Steps Into Christmas
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, November 1973
ELTON JOHN is a happy man as 1973 draws to a close. He has established himself not merely as an elitist's delight and king of ...
Elton John: Belle Vue, Manchester
Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, December 1973
FOR THE first time since Bill Haley's motion picture triumph Rock Around The Clock, played at the now-demolished Queen's Cinema, Catford, in 1956, the urge ...
Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Review by Wayne Robins, Creem, January 1974
REMEMBER WHEN the Stones and Beatles were English bands? If you do then it's just barely, because both ceased being foreign bands years ago, somewhere ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, NME, January 1974
THERE WAS a curious smell in the Belle Vue Hall, Manchester. ...
Fashion: The Politics of Flash
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, NME, April 1974
NICK KENT traces the Rise and Fall of The Satin Jacket...and generally walks it like he talks it into the land of 'Rock Chic.' ...
Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, June 1974
IS IT AS GOOD as Yellow Brick Road? That will be the cry, where 'ere Elton John fans congregate and exchange notes. ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, NME, June 1974
Take a holiday, Elton. Take two. ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, NME, July 1974
OL' COCONUT Bonce is back. Elton Schmelton himself in the too, too solid flesh, still opening up interview sessions by walking into the room at ...
Review by Bud Scoppa, Phonograph Record, August 1974
For an artist with distinct limitations – vocal, compositional, and stylistic – Elton John makes awfully good records. One of the reasons is his avowed ...
Elton John: Ms. Streisand & The Pants of John
Report and Interview by Richard Cromelin, NME, November 1974
LOS ANGELES. – It was a busy week for Elton John: a couple of hours in the DJ chair at KMET radio, a tennis game ...
Elton John: Greatest Hits; Randy Newman: Good Old Boys; Pete Atkin: Secret Drinker
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, January 1975
Randy Newman’s album starts:‘Last night I saw Lester Maddox on a TV showwith some smartass New York Jewand the Jew laughed at Lester MaddoxAnd the ...
Elton John: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by John Tobler, ZigZag, January 1975
THE SUBJECT OF this piece is a man who could justly be called one of ZigZag's favourite people, Elton John. ...
Elton John: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, January 1975
MAYBE IT WAS the pre-Christmas spirit or the entire packet of chocolate I had just consumed, but a lump rase in my throat during the ...
Elton John: 'It's Not All Down To Elton...
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, January 1975
...he's just part of a band'. And that's the way Elton John's always wanted it, drummer Nigel Olsson tells CHRIS WELCH, in a rare behind-the-scenes ...
The Life And Times Of Elton John, part 1
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, NME, February 1975
Part one: how the sand kicked in his face turned to gold-dust after all ...
Elton John, part 2: They Laughed When I Stood Up To Play The Piano
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, NME, March 1975
NME: Earlier, you said that when you first met Taupin his lyrics were somewhat influenced by the Flower Power fad. It was a period when ...
Elton John part 3: Maybe It's Because I'm A Socialist…
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, NME, March 1975
TELL US, El, what is Rock all about? Having a bloody good time. When I was a kid and went to see those Larry Parnes-Billy ...
Elton John: Elton's Bitter Sweet Album
Report and Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, May 1975
Chris Charlesworth in New York previews Elton John's new album Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy – and talks to the man himself... ...
Elton John: Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, June 1975
THE TIME HAS come to acknowledge just how big Elton John has become. His preeminence has come to pass so gradually that the present magnitude ...
Elton John: I Want To Chug, Not Race
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, June 1975
IN AMSTERDAM LAST WEEK, while canals evaporated in the heat wave, eight musicians and three singers were stirring the sluggish air with an electric sound ...
A Million Dollar Friendship: An Interview with Gus Dudgeon
Interview by Jon Tiven, Circus Raves, August 1975
NARY A POTENTIOMETER breathed a word at the Caribou Ranch high in the Rocky Mountains. And the baffles relaxed as the massive array of equipment ...
Elton John: Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (MCA)
Review by Wayne Robins, Creem, August 1975
IT WASN'T UNTIL I watched a black restaurant worker make it through his shift singing ‘Bennie and the Jets’ to himself that I began to ...
Elton John: Rock Of The Westies
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, NME, October 1975
FACT: ELTON JOHN is one of the nicest people ever to touch ground while walking. ...
Elton John: Rock Of The Westies (MCA)
Review by Ben Edmonds, Phonograph Record, November 1975
It might seem ridiculous to contend that an artist was weakened by two albums which sold a higher number of copies than I can count ...
Elton John: Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy
Review by John Tobler, ZigZag, November 1975
THIS IS PROBABLY the latest review you've read of the record under scrutiny. Having read several other reviews in various weekly and monthly publications, a ...
Elton John: Rock Of The Westies
Review by John Tobler, ZigZag, February 1976
IT DOESN'T SEEM long since the last EJ album, and in fact, it isn't, which I suppose is more fuel for the fire that says ...
Elton John: Ol' Four Eyes Is Back
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, May 1976
Elton John: Grand Theatre, Leeds ...
Elton John: Here And There (DJM)
Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, May 1976
DO NOT FEAR a rip-off, for this is a worthy selection of live performances from two major concerts which will long serve as a reminder ...
Elton John, Dave Mason, John Miles: Schaeffer Stadium, Boston
Live Review by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, July 1976
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: The sheer pageantry of Elton John's Stars and Stripes bicentennial show here on Independence Day had the power alone to earn a standing ...
Elton John: He's Got The Whole World In His Hands
Report and Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, August 1976
THE WHOLE FAMILY was there. Mum, dad and three children all waited patiently by the elevators in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency hotel on ...
Elton John: Blue Moves (Rocket) ****
Review by Mick Brown, Sounds, October 1976
EVEN BEFORE I'd heard one note of Blue Moves I had divined that this album was going to be the Big One. ...
Review by Bud Scoppa, Phonograph Record, November 1976
THIS ISN'T SO much a review as it is a personally conducted poll. You see, I've been traveling around with Elton (the new album, that ...
Review by John Tobler, ZigZag, December 1976
IN A REVIEW of one of Elton's earlier albums I wrote something to the effect that those who already liked Elton would inevitably enjoy that ...
The Real Elton John Stands Up - ‘Hoorah!’
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, December 1976
ELTON JOHN is 29. So am I. We both wear glasses and they make his eyes look pink and mine look piggily smaller than they ...
Elton John: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Tony Stewart, NME, May 1977
THE SOCIAL division between rock star and audience is usually more obvious than it was at the Rainbow last Monday night. ...
Interview by Fred Dellar, Sound International, May 1978
The producer's job is possibly one of the least-understood and most under-rated in the entire recording business. One usually thinks of a producer as providing ...
Elton John: Concert in Central Park, September 1980
Live Review by Roy Trakin, Musician, January 1981
SOME PERFORMERS just don't know when to quit — and thank goodness for that. We followed tennis star Jimmy McEnroe into Central Park's Sheep Meadow ...
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Dwight
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Q, December 1986
Chris Salewicz meets the occupant of the Presidential Suite, Floor 30, Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles. "I’ve had my scrotum removed, and I'm having it ...
Elton John: You've got to laugh…
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, August 1988
There aren't many options when you're alleged to have cancer, be involved in scandalous sexual malpractices and your hotel room has been bugged by the ...
Bernie Taupin: Elton's Write Hand Man
Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, August 1989
IT IS THE summer of 1989, six months of phone calls and patience have finally paid off. Bernie Taupin, the man who has been placing ...
Elton John: Great Western Forum, Los Angeles
Live Review by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, September 1989
LIKE THE title of last year's album suggested, Reg is back. ...
Ray Cooper: Who Are Those Blokes Up There With Ray?
Profile and Interview by Robert Sandall, Q, October 1990
Wherever stellar rockular personages gather together he's there at the back, shiny of pate and blurred of hand. But who is this Bongo Basher By ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, November 1991
HITHERTO, TRIBUTE ALBUMS have tended to be the preserve of the American college circuit with R.E.M. seemingly ubiquitous as today's aspiring eccentrics queue up to ...
Interview by Robert Sandall, Q, July 1992
The 25-year You-wash-I'll-dry relationship between Elton John and lyric-writing househusband Bernie Taupin has never been happier. ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, August 1992
Elton John returns with one great song, a few deft touches and some stodge. ...
Elton John: Sound Your Funky Horn
Interview by Cliff Jones, MOJO, October 1997
Elton John blows his own horn ...
Interview by Paul Zollo, Musician, January 1998
AS ELTON John's lyricist for three decades, Bernie Taupin is one of the most famous British songwriters of all time. ...
Twentieth Century Blues: The Songs Of Noel Coward
Review by Gavin Martin, Uncut, May 1998
PAN-GENERATIONAL tribute to The Other Noel, benefiting International AIDS-prevention projects ...
Review by Nick Hasted, Uncut, October 2001
BACK TO basics, and partial return to form, on 28th studio album ...
How Sir Elton Recovered His Cool
Comment by Ian Gittins, Guardian, The, 2004
WHEN THE VERY first psychedelic rock star, William Blake, declared that the fool who persists in his folly shall become wise, he hit on a ...
Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, December 2004
IT HAS BECOME an irritatingly common marketing ploy for any new release by a music veteran to be declared a "return to form". If we ...
see also Bernie Taupin
back to LIBRARY
Best Databases: RBP is Runner-up in Best Niche category
Video: Johnny Marr talks about Rock's Backpages
download eBooks and audio interviews
RBP on Spotify: The Very Best of 40-year-old Virgin
RBP Album Club, June 13th: Miki Berenyi and Lucy O'Brien celebrate a Blondie classic
Essential Listening: Green Day grilled by Roy Trakin
RBP Album Club, July 11th: Nick Hornby and Nick Coleman celebrate Southside Johnny's debut
Essential Reading: Bud Scoppa's 1971 Byrds classic