Bennie and the Jets -This album (Greatest Hits) represents one of my absolute earliest musical memories. It was to this album that my cousins and I used to dance around the backyard singing along to Crocodile Rock, et al. while our parents sat drinking beer, barbequing and generally wasting time, probably happy to have us out of their hair for a few minutes.
The record, as any purported Greatest Hits collection should be, is packed from top to bottom (pun?) with awesome material. And, yes, I know Bennie and the Jets it was originally released on the Yellow Brick Road album, but I guess my Uncle didn't have that one.
When I was young, the whole flamboyant look thing was kind of captivating to me. I mean, what was this guy doing with the huge glasses and the duck suits, etc., I thought. But later I came to realize just how much substance was in Bernie Taupin's lyrics (well, not necessarily this one), and how incredible the musicianship is on some of these tracks. Clearly, Elton didn't need this extra added showmanship, but who can argue with the resulting career result?
Sadly, one of my cousins passed away in 1999 (32 is far too young), but I can say from the bottom of my heart that I have never heard a cut off of this album since then without taking a second to remember her.
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