Elton John began the 1970s in danger of being dropped by his record label, but within a few years was one of the most recognisable musicians on the planet.
He became famous for his extravagant costumes and stage shows but at the core of his success were a string of classic albums, crafted with his lyricist partner Bernie Taupin.
Here we count down his best albums from that remarkable decade.
Elton John's '70s albums ranked
12. Victim Of Love (1978)
Elton goes disco! But unfortunately, Victim Of Love is nowhere near as fun as that suggests.
To be fair to Elton, he gives us ample warning with the opening track, a four-to-the-floor cover of ‘Johnny B Goode’ that somehow sucks all of the joy and danger out of Chuck Berry’s rock’n’roll classic.
Elsewhere, a mix of weak material (none of the songs feature a John writing credit), tacky production and phoned-in performances make it one of his most forgettable albums – only the title track really ups the ante and by that point, it’s too little, too late.
Key track: 'Victim Of Love'
11. A Single Man (1978)
One of the benefits of owning a football club is having a ready-made choir of backing vocalists at your disposal – or at least, that’s the case if you’re Elton John recording A Single Man.
Between training sessions and cleaning their boots, the players and staff of Watford FC provided stirring vocals for the hugely enjoyable Elton-John-does-Dr-John innuendo-fest of ‘Big Dipper’ and the soulful ballad ‘Georgia’.
Elsewhere, John is finding his feet on his first album without lyricist Bernie Taupin (Gary Osborne fills in), but ‘It Ain’t Gonna Be Easy’ is a sultry rock anthem that could’ve been a hit, ‘Part-Time Love’ is a jaunty bit of knockabout fun and ‘Song For Guy’ is a genuine departure, a reflective near-instrumental set to a drum machine loop and featuring waves of synth, dedicated to Guy Burchett, a 17-year-old messenger boy who worked for John’s Rocket Records and was killed in a motorcycle crash.
Key track: 'Song For Guy'
10. Caribou (1974)
The cover of Caribou says an awful lot about the album – a grinning John poses in front of what appears to be a Bob Ross painting while wearing a drastically unbuttoned leopard-print shirt.
It’s as John is leaving the grand, concept-adjacent themes of his last album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road behind and asking who’s ready for a party.
Because for the most part, Caribou is John’s most ‘up’ album – a collection of sassy rockers ('The Bitch Is Back', ‘You’re So Static’) and downright silly moments (‘Dixie Lily’, ‘Stinker’) topped off by a couple of all-timer ballads in ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me’ and ‘Ticking’, as if he’s reminding you right at the end what he’s capable of.
Key track: 'Ticking'
9. Blue Moves (1976)
When Blue Moves sold only three million copies it was seen as a flop that derailed John’s career, but time has been kind to the 1976 double-album.
Among its 18 tracks, John, his faithful band and a host of guests including David Crosby and Graham Nash (on the delicate Edith Piaf tribute ‘Cage The Songbird’) and Beach Boy Bruce Johnstone (backing vocals throughout) tackle an eclectic set including the fusion-influenced ‘Your Starter For…’ and ‘Out Of The Blue’, the rich orchestral ballad ‘Tonight’, the Little Feat-style swamp rock of ‘Boogie Pilgrim’ and a host of elegant ballads, including the huge hit ‘Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word’ and ‘Someone’s Final Song’.
"It’s a great album, but it’s not exactly the work of two people who are cartwheeling down the street, overflowing with the joys of life," John says in his 2019 autobiography Me, suggesting the frame of its authors when it was written, but the subtle charms of Blue Moves mean it’s one for the long haul.
Key track: 'Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word'
8. Rock Of The Westies (1975)
Released at the absolute peak of John’s US success, Rock Of The Westies was John’s heaviest album of the ’70s, crammed with tough grooves such as ‘Dan Dare (Pilot Of The Future)’, ‘Grow Some Funk Of Your Own’ and ‘Street Kids’, featuring some of John’s most impassioned vocals.
There was ambition too, the rollicking funk-rock of the opening ‘Medley: Yell Help / Wednesday’ was a multi-part epic featuring LaBelle on backing vocals. Meanwhile, ‘I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford)’ showed he hadn’t totally left behind his trademark show-stopping ballads and ‘Feed Me’ was a winning piece of Steely Dan-influenced sophisto-pop. Let’s just forget ‘Island Girl’ eh?
Key track: 'Medley: Yell Help / Wednesday'
7. Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player (1973)
Sometimes overlooked thanks to it arriving between Honky Château and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, John’s sixth album has plenty of stellar moments.
Opener ‘Daniel’ sets a subtly anti-war lyric to a gorgeous melody; ‘Teacher I Need You’ gives hormone-fuelled boogie-woogie a good name; ‘Elderberry Wine’ is one of John’s best rootsy rockers; and the yearning ballad ‘Blues For Baby And Me’ deserves to be better known. Then there’s the knockabout joy of ‘Crocodile Rock’, his first US No 1 single.
Key track: 'Daniel'
6. Elton John (1970)
Following poor sales of his 1969 debut album Empty Sky, it was make-or-break time for John. Luckily, he and Taupin had a few aces up their sleeve for his second album.
Opening track ‘Your Song’ changed everything for him, becoming his first UK and US Top 10 hit – it’s still among his most beloved songs.
But elsewhere, ‘Border Song’ is soulful perfection, ‘Take Me To The Pilot’ and ‘The Cage’ are bluesy killers with grit to spare, and the bucolic beauty of ‘The Greatest Discovery’ is among his most undersung early tracks.
Key track: 'Your Song'
5. Madman Across The Water (1971)
While John’s previous album Tumbleweed Connection mythologised the America of his and Taupin’s imagination, Madman Across The Water explores what happens when you’re thrown into life on the road in the vastness of the United States.
Opening track ‘Tiny Dancer’ towers over the rest of the album, but elsewhere ‘Levon’ and ‘Razor Face' are engaging character studies, while the title track finds John and band (supplemented by Rick Wakeman on organ) veering towards prog territory while taking a dig at Richard Nixon.
Key track: 'Tiny Dancer'
4. Honky Château (1972)
As 1971 drew to a close, Elton John legally left Reg Dwight behind, changing his name to Elton Hercules John – the middle-name was a reference to the horse in Steptoe & Son, obviously.
It wasn’t the only fresh start – he and Taupin had finally used up the deep well of songs they’d stockpiled over the years.
Still, such was their confidence at the time that sessions for John’s fifth album were booked in the lavish surroundings of Château d’Hérouville, an apparently haunted 18th-century château-turned-residential-recording studio near Paris.
Producer Gus Dudgeon later claimed that the material was written in just five days and recording took just over a week. You wouldn’t know it – Honky Château captures John and his band on sizzling form on classics such as the filthy and funky ‘Honky Cat’, the stately ‘Mona Lisa And Mad Hatters’ and, of course, John’s signature tune, ‘Rocket Man’.
Not bad for a few weeks’ work.
Key track: 'Rocket Man'
3. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
At this stage of his career, John could do no wrong. Already a star, his first double-album sent him into the stratosphere, with over 30 million copies.
John called it his ‘White Album’ and though it didn’t match The Beatles’ sprawling masterpiece in terms of audacious innovation and surreal brilliance, it shared its eclectic spirit.
The stomping R&B-glam hybrid ‘Bennie And The Jets’ was a US No 1 and got him an invite onto the influential US TV show Soul Train (the first white British star to make it on there), the mournful ‘Candle In The Wind’ became a standard; ‘Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting’ was a rollicking rocker; the Wagnerian blockbuster ‘Funeral For A Friend’; and the fame-weary Broadway-ready title track.
But towards the end, the quality control wavers and ‘Jamaica Jerk-Off’ and ‘Dirty Little Girl’ are best skipped.
Key track: 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'
2. Tumbleweed Connection (1970)
The moment where John and Taupin left the bedsit behind – Tumbleweed Connection marked a drastic shift in subject matter from the bedsit ballads of Elton John to reflect the pair’s fascination with the American Old West.
The change was reflected in the sound of the album, with countrified, gutsy Americana suddenly the order of the day.
The songs and performances were good enough to pull it off, from the swaggering, swampy groove of ‘Ballad Of A Well-Known Gun’ to the jazz-tinged melancholic beauty of ‘Come Down in Time’ to the sprawling anthem of defiance ‘Burn Down The Mission’.
By the end of the year, their heroes The Band were turning up backstage and asking to hear his next album – America was his for the taking.
Key track: 'Ballad Of A Well-Known Gun'
1. Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975)
"I've always thought that Captain Fantastic was probably my finest album," John told Cameron Crowe in 2006. And who are we to argue?
John’s 1975 blockbuster was the first album ever to debut at No 1 in the US and tells the story of the pre-fame struggles of John (Captain Fantastic) and Taupin (The Brown Dirt Cowboy).
‘Bitter Tears’ transports us to the realities of working the pub circuit; the glorious symphonic soul of ‘Tell Me When The Whistle Blows’ documents Taupin’s difficulties with big city life’; the buoyant ‘Writing’ is a touching portrayal of the pair’s working relationship; while the album’s big ballads – ‘Someone Saved My Life Tonight’, ‘We All Fall In Love Sometimes’, and ‘Curtains’ are among John’s greatest moments.
Key track: 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight'
All photos Getty Images
Top image Elton John plays 'Pinball Wizard' in The Who's rock opera movie "Tommy" which was released on March 26, 1975 in the United Kingdom
