Ranking the 5 Best Album-Openers by Elton John

Elton John has released 32 albums in his career. Even though he’s stopped touring, the hope is he keeps giving us new music, maybe even some new LPs. Let’s face it, though: The guy has certainly given us our money’s worth and then some.

John has made it a habit to start off his albums with a bang. Here are our choices for the five finest album-openers in his illustrious career.

5. “Daniel” from Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player (1973)

“Daniel” doesn’t exactly start off John’s 1973 album Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player in ripsnorting fashion. It’s a mellow song, probably what we would call easy listening these days. John plays electric piano and Mellotron on the track while Ken Scott helps out on synthesizer—and the whole thing doesn’t sound loud enough to crack an egg. Nonetheless, there’s something quite captivating about “Daniel,” in part because much of the story is left on the cutting-room floor, leading us to wonder about this mysterious, sympathetic character.

4. “Your Song” from Elton John (1970)

This is the song that started it all, and by that, we don’t simply mean John’s self-titled 1970 album. Even though they already had an album under their belts by that point, it also started the John/Bernie Taupin connection in earnest. Taupin’s lyrics are sweet, but just idiosyncratic enough to keep from being cloying. The narrator is actually a bit of a fumbler when it comes to his words, which just makes the way he rises to the occasion when it counts even more heartwarming. Meanwhile, the swooping piano lick John created to start the song cinches the deal before the tale even begins.

3. “The Bitch is Back” from Caribou (1974)

You see it so many times: A band or artist delivers a weighty masterwork, and then their next album sort of limps out of the gate. Not Elton: He followed up Goodbye Yellow Brick Road with the surprisingly supple Caribou. And he starts that record with an electrifying, cheeky statement of purpose in “The Bitch is Back.” Taupin’s then-wife would use the title as a phrase to denigrate John’s erratic behavior, but the two men wisely locked on to it as a defiant mantra. Davey Johnstone’s guitar fireworks and Lenny Pickett’s elastic saxophone carry the musical load.

2. “Tiny Dancer” from Madman Across the Water (1971)

We’re not going to fight with you: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is John’s finest album. But let’s just say that Madman Across the Water is a very close No. 2 on that list. What’s odd is there were no big hits that came from the album at the time, although this track and “Levon” became classic rock stalwarts down the road. “Tiny Dancer” was based on Taupin’s fascination with American groupies, and his sincere gratitude for the comfort they bring is touching. John constructs a tune that just keeps rising to the rafters, while Paul Buckmaster’s string section sweeps listeners along on a majestic ride.

1. “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)

Considering the enormity of the artistic statement that John delivered with the double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, it makes sense he would start the thing off with two songs crammed into one. And what a fascinating juxtaposition it is. “Funeral for a Friend” couldn’t have been titled any better, especially if that friend happens to be some sort of monarch, so regal is the instrumental that John constructs. “Love Lies Bleeding” ingeniously shifts gears, letting John vent about a failed relationship while his band cranks up the intensity around his powerhouse vocals.

Photo by Rob Verhorst/Redferns