Elton John
"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" (Vinyl)

Yes, Sir Elton John has put out greatest hits albums.  Two volumes, actually.  But it has been said that all you really need is this album and you're covered for the majority of Sir John's memorable output.

Released in 1973, it was hardly his first (it was his seventh, actually) but it's regarded as the best of his chronology. It includes his monster hits "Bennie & the Jets," "Candle in the Wind," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting."

Lyricist Bernie Taupin wrote all of the lyrics for the songs on this album and then handed them over to Elton where he and his band were staying; at a 18th century French mansion, hanging out and recording whatever Taupin would drop off in the morning.

Elton John's melodic sense is incomparable, I suppose that's why forty years after its release the music from this album is still so magnetic and memorable.