The Chronological Elton John: “Empty Sky” (1969)

Elton John’s debut album has rich depths that suggest the brilliance to come.

For a while now, I’ve been playing with the idea of doing a chronological retrospective on the work of my all-time favorite artists, Sir Elton John. Since I first started diving into his work as a college student, I’ve found myself entranced by him, particularly by the quality of his music and the quantity of it (both of which continue to astound me; the man has released dozens of albums over the course of his long career, and while not every one of them has been a success, you have to give the man credit for continuing to make music and find new ways to stretch his creative muscles. It’s also been gratifying to see him getting the biopic treatment in Rocketman and to see his own autobiography, Me, doing so well.

I’ve also been astounded at his sheer range. In his many decades as an artist, his music has ranged from straight-up rock to country western to easy listening to (it’s rather distressing to say), disco. Given the sheer longevity of his career, it seems to me appropriate to take a look back at where it all started and move forward, tracing the ways in which his music has changed over the years, as well as the ways in which it’s stayed the same.