Elton John Shm cd Japan

"Greatest Hits" is the 11th official album release for Elton John, and the first compilation. Released in November 1974, it spans the years 1970 to 1974, compiling ten of John's singles, with one track variation for releases in North America and for Europe and Australia. It topped the album chart in both the United States and the United Kingdom, staying at #1 for ten consecutive weeks in the former nation and eleven weeks in the latter. It was the best-selling album of 1975 in the United States, and is his best-selling album to date, being his first to have received an RIAA diamond certification for US sales of more than 10 million copies – as of April 2016 the album has been certified for 17 million units in the US. It remains John's best-selling album and one of the best-selling albums of all time, with 24 million copies sold worldwide.

"Honky Château" is the 5th studio album by English musician Elton John. It was released in 1972, and was titled after the 18th century French chateau where it was recorded, Château d'Hérouville. The album reached #1 in the US, the first of seven consecutive US number one albums for Elton John. In 2012, the album was ranked #359 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It was certified Gold in July 1972 and Platinum in October 1995 by the RIAA. This was the final Elton John album on the Uni label in the US and Canada before MCA consolidated all of its various labels under the MCA brand. This and John's earlier Uni albums were later reissued on MCA Records. Two singles were released worldwide from "Honky Château", - "Rocket Man" and "Honky Cat." A third single, "Hercules," was prepared for release, but this never materialised.

"Madman Across the Water" is the 4th studio album by Elton John, released in 1971. This was the last album to feature John's regular touring band (Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson) on only a single song. Later band member, percussionist Ray Cooper, makes his first appearance with this album. As with all John songs during this period, the lyrics were penned by his writing partner, Bernie Taupin. This was the last album to be recorded at London's Trident Studios, although subsequent albums would be remixed or overdubbed at Trident. Caleb Quaye and Roger Pope would not play with John again until Rock of the Westies in 1975, following Murray and Olsson's departure from the band. "Madman Across the Water" barely reached #41 on the UK Albums Chart, spending only two weeks there. It has been the lowest-charting album of his career to date. The album fared much better in North America, peaking at #8 on the US Billboard Top Pop Albums and placing at #10 on the year-end list of 1972.

"Empty Sky" is the debut studio album by British singer-songwriter Elton John, released on 6 June 1969. It would not be released in the United States until January 1975 (on MCA), with different cover art, well after John's fame had been established internationally.

"Rock Of The Westies" is the 10th studio album by English musician Elton John, released in October 1975. As with "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy", "Rock Of The Westies" debuted on the US Billboard 200 chart at #1, the only two albums at that time to have done so. It was also successful (albeit to a lesser extent) in the artist's home territory of the UK, where it reached #5 on the UK Albums Chart. Robert Christgau ranked it as #7 on his list of the best albums of 1975. The title is a play on the phrase "West of the Rockies", the album having been recorded at Caribou Ranch in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

"Tumbleweed Connection" is the 3rd studio album by English singer-songwriter Elton John. It is a concept album based on country and western/Americana themes. All songs are written by John and Bernie Taupin, with the exception of "Love Song" by Lesley Duncan. The album was recorded at Trident Studios, London, England in March 1970 and released in October of the same year. It peaked at #2 on the UK Albums Chart and #5 on the US Billboard 200 chart. In the US, it was certified Gold in March 1971 and Platinum in August 1998 by the RIAA. In 2003, "Tumbleweed Connection" was ranked #458 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

"Elton John" is the second album by English singer-songwriter Elton John, released in April 1970. However, because it was his first album released in America, many people there assumed it was his first album, as "Empty Sky" was not released in the US until 1975. Elton John includes his breakthrough hit, "Your Song", and helped to establish his career during what was considered the "singer-songwriter" era of popular music. In the US, it was certified gold in February 1971 by the RIAA. In the same year, it was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is the seventh studio album by Elton John, first released in 1973 as a double LP. It was the second of his two studio albums released in the same year of 1973 (first one was Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player released 9 months earlier). The album has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and is widely regarded as John's best. Among the 17 tracks, the album contains the hits "Candle in the Wind", "Bennie and the Jets", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" plus live favorites "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Harmony". In 2003, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The album was ranked number 91 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and number 59 in Channel 4's 2009 list of 100 Greatest Albums. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

"The Complete Thom Bell Sessions" brings together the complete recording session by Elton John and producer Thom Bell onto one album. Released in 1989 by MCA Records, the album is composed of the material previously released in 1979 as well as the songs that were recorded at the original session but had then gone unreleased. Two of the "new" songs were co-written by John - "Nice and Slow" was co-written with Thom Bell and longtime writing partner Bernie Taupin, and "Shine on Through" with lyricist Gary Osborne. Because the recordings were shelved at the time, the latter was re-recorded and included on John's 1978 LP, "A Single Man".