Elton John is the second[a] studio album by British singer-songwriterElton John. It was released on 10 April 1970 throughDJM Records. Including John's breakthrough single "Your Song", the album helped establish his career during the rise of the singer-songwriter era of popular music.
This was the first of a string of John albums produced byGus Dudgeon. As Dudgeon recalled in aMix magazine interview, the album was not actually intended to launch John as an artist, but rather as a collection of polished demos for other artists to consider recording his and co-writerBernie Taupin's songs.[3] Two songs from the album did find their way into the repertoire of other artists in 1970: "Your Song" was recorded byThree Dog Night as an album track on their LPIt Ain't Easy, whileAretha Franklin released a cover of "Border Song" as a single that reached number 37 in the USpop charts and number 5 on theR&B chart, later included on her 1972 albumYoung, Gifted and Black.
The song "No Shoe Strings on Louise" was intended (as homage or parody) to sound like aRolling Stones song.[4][5]
John Mendelsohn in a contemporary (1970) review forRolling Stone felt that the album was over-produced and over-orchestrated, comparing it unfavourably with the less mannered and orchestratedEmpty Sky; though he felt that John had "so immense a talent" that "he'll delight you senseless despite it all".[8]Robert Christgau in his weekly "Consumer Guide" column forThe Village Voice also felt the album was overdone ("overweening", "histrionic overload", "semi-classical ponderousness"), but that it had "a surprising complement of memorable tracks", including "Your Song" which, despite its "affected offhandedness", he considered "an instant standard".[9]
^J (18 April 2015)."Won't you please excuse my frankness but it's not my cup of tea: Elton John –Elton John (1970)". www.resurrectionsongs.com. Archived fromthe original on 3 October 2016. Retrieved3 October 2016.The side is rounded off with the 'Rolling Stones country' tinged 'No Shoe Strings on Louise' (even Elton's phrasing is similar to Jagger's at times – "All those city women want to make us poor men and this land's got the worse for the worrying")...
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