1000 Day Album Challenge (#47) Elton John: Honky Château (1972) [16.02.24]
I miss the Earth so much, I miss my wife / it's lonely out in space / on such a timeless flight…
starting from ten or eleven, Elton John was my first favorite artist. Caribou (1974) or Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) would have been my first purchase by EJ. by the time Blue Moves (1976) came out I think I owned his seven studio albums from Honky Château on. I probably owned his Greatest Hits (1974) too for Your Song and Border Song. even though I never came close, Elton John was the first artist to bring out my completist impulse.
Honky Château features two classics - Honky Cat and Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long, Long Time) which I’m sure were among my favorites at the time. even now that my tastes are quite different than pre-pubescent me I think I would be disappointed in any Best Songs of the Seventies list that didn’t include Rocket Man and Bennie and the Jets.
now when I return Honky Château it is more about the lesser known songs. for example, Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, which always makes me think of Almost Famous even though it’s not as burned into my subconscious as the Tiny Dancer scene. I’d probably consider this a second tier EJ classic.
I’m also a fan of and always look forward to hearing I Think I'm Going to Kill Myself, Slave, and Hercules. Hercules in particular does it for me. I have added it to quite a few playlists over the years. I’m a bit surprised it wasn’t released as a single. I think it would have been a hit, but who knows? sometimes a song that strikes me as having that universal shared feel of a “hit” is really just a projection on my part.
even at the peak of my interest in punk, new wave, and all kinds of way outside the mainstream music I never lost my taste for a good solid tune that has that sorta universal appeal. I think all those hours I listened to seventies Elton had an impact.