Elton John Book:

Love Songs Reviews:
Finally, a single-disc career retrospective
2008-03-09 - I am partial to Elton John's early years. I am going back to 'Madman Across The Water,' 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,' 'Tumbleweed Connection,' etc. But I bought this set one day, and I sure am happy I did!

The remastering is great. In translation, the sound quality is excellent. And, you get 15 great songs from the rock legend. But, I'm not crazy about several songs on the record ('We Could Make History' and 'Circle Of Life' to name a few), which is why I give this four stars.

If you're a huge Elton John fan and you've loved him all of his career and you had to buy just one CD, I'd buy this one. And, you get some great live tracks. 'Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me' is a great live duet with pop icon George Michael, and 'Candle In The Wind,' taken from the 'Live In Australia' record, is amazing as well.

This is highly recommended for the casual or new Elton John fan. ENJOY!!!

Amazing Mellow Elton John
2005-10-20 - If you enjoy Elton John and like his mellow music best, you've found your CD. Most of the hits on this solidly pop CD were top 40 hits, many of them top 10 and a few were #1's. Because Elton John has had mellow songs from the beginning of his career, this music covers the time frame from the beginning of his popularity in the US (1969) to 1996. The music is all excellent, even the two sometimes-reviled hits from "The Lion King".

Two of the songs on this CD are new, "You Can Make History (Young Again)" and "No Valentines". Both are good songs that show how easily Elton John can churn out listenable music.

I strongly believe that Elton John has the ability to write elevator music for hours a day if that was his interest. Fortunately the orchestration and skill that he puts into his mellow music frequently elevates it to the level of excellent, and thus suitable to be top 40 music. Elton has more talent on his off days than most current musicians on their best days, and this CD shows much of that talent.

Five of the 15 songs are from the "classic years": "Daniel", "Someone Saved My Life Tonight", "Your Song", "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", and "Candle in the Wind". Of these, two are remakes: "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" is a live duet with George Michael that was a hit for both in the early 90s, and a live version of "Candle in the Wind" recorded at a concert in Australia in the late 80s. Both are very good versions of the originals, which says a lot because I normally am not a fan of live music recorded for CD.

The eight songs remaining after the two new songs cover the period from 1976 to 1995. Of these, five ("The One", "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", "Believe", "Blessed", and "Circle of Life") were released from 1992 to 1995. The remaining three ("Sacrifice", "Blue Eyes" and "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word") were released during the years that Elton John battled drug and alcohol addictions, and was not at his talented peak. Achieving so many creative peaks in the 90s after the relative drought from 1976 to 1991 once again shows the amount of incredible talent this one man has.

Nearly all of these songs are pop classics to some degree. If you are an Elton John fan and have a lot of his music, you may pass this CD by. However, I have many of his CDs and I purchased it because of the collection of mellow music which often fits my mood. If you are new to Elton John and like quiet, mellow music, then you should absolutely buy this CD; it is a great introduction to Elton John. After you have this CD, then go back and look for his music from the early to mid-70s, and most of his CDs released since 1992. You will be amazed and pleased at the ability of a man whose career spanned 36 years at the time this was written.

Note that there is a remastered version of this CD available, so while this one may be a better deal because they are likely used, the remastered versions are new.



great collection
2001-12-31 - This is a great compilation of Elton John essential love songs, but it is missing a few of the good ones from the 80s. I had the fortune of listening to the European import version before I heard this one. The US release is missing "Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues," and this is regretful. This CD is also missing "Nikita."

I love this CD, but it could have been perfect with the inclusion of those two. However, I'm glad I have it, and I love to listen to it! If you like Elton, you're not going to be disappointed!

Its A Great Collection
2001-07-30 - I must start off by saying that i love this album its beautiful, really. My favorite track being "blessed" it is one of my favorite songs not just by elton but of all time. But all the pieces on this album are wonderful. im very sad though that two of my favorites arent on here(tiny dancer and something about the way you look tonight), but even minus those two this album is fabulous. Here are highlights from "Love Songs"(*=bad - *****=great)

"can you feel the love tonight" "circle of life" *****- i love these song, i dont like the lion king however which is why im glad that these two songs from it are on this album, because i happen to love them, however i dont picutre circle of life as a love song, but it doesnt matter im glad its here

"the one" ***** i love this too, its so romatic and i love the beginning with the birds in the background(i always picture them as doves, for some reason) its gives you such a warm feeling whenever you here this song

"sacrifice" *** never one of my favorites it always seems as if he's singing too high for himself, its not as fluid as some of his other works

"daniel" *** this is also a good song, i love the beginning with the guitar playing, i think its great hows he's incorporated an almost spanish feel to this track

"someone saved my life tonight" *** i feel almost as eltons too far away on this track, i dont care for the background vocals, elton would have been fine with out them here but its ok none the less

"your song" ***** i love this definetly one of the best on this album, very classic very elton sounding

"dont let the sun go down on me" *** i dont like the fact that this is done live, and i dont like george michael on here(i like him just this is not a good match) eltons wonderful on the piano(as usual)

"believe" ***** another beautiful ballad for elton, i love this song one of my all time favorites, a highlight of this entire cd

"blue eyes" **** lovely! another of my favorites his voice is quite haunting on this track, a different perspective, very nice

"sorry seemed..." **** a great ballad, you can feel how much a part of himself he puts into his music, superb!

"blessed" ********** 10 STARS i love this song!!!! there are no words to tell you how much i love this song. it means so much to me, and this is one of the reason i bought this album(and for all the other songs of course) listen to this once and you will love it

"candle in the wind" ***** though you probably know this song is about marilyn monroe, who is my favorite actress(love her) many still think it was written for princess diana i prefer the non-live version but this is my second favorite track on this cd very classic

"you can make history" ***** a beautiful song very nice my 3rd favorite song on the cd

"no valentine" **** at first i just didnt like this song, but its growing on me very nice still

this is a great cd, especially if you are new to elton john its a great collection, buy it you'll love it!

Love?
2001-05-07 - Don't get me wrong here, I'm not a hater of all love songs, I can even go for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" once in a while, but I was just curious, does an album that is titled "Love Songs" mean that any song the artist did with the word love can be included??? It certainly seems that way here..While "Believe" is a fine song, is it really a love song? It certainly isn't something I would pop in the stereo for a romantic evening. I guess I just question where the line is drawn in determining what a love song is. Also, if songs like "Believe", "Blessed" and "Daniel" can make their way on here, why not "The Last Song", or "Empty Garden"? Where are the most obvious love songs "Little Jeannie", and "Nikita", especially "Little Jeannie", most unfortunately left in the dark, since it's top five status in 1980. "You Can Make History(Young Again)" is a nice song, but this seems to be where Elton began doing songs that were truly lacking in the passion department. The other new song, "No Valentines" isn't that bad, but if you read through the lyrics, like I have, you will find that a whole verse is missing from the song, a verse that I feel would have added a lot more..too bad. If you are truly a fan of the softer side of Elton, this probably does work as a good collection, since it does collect the biggest soft hits, from the late 80's, early 90's, on one disc, so it kind of works as a fourth greatest hits, minus anything slightly upbeat that was popular or got airplay(I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That, Healing Hands, Club At The End Of The Street, Simple Life), plus the exclusion of the poignant "The Last Song".