Yep, I know...it's mostly my own fault, but when I saw Elton John's Greatest Hits had been reissued I badly wanted to upgrade my old MCA CD which had less-than-great sound quality.

I read the product description under the "Editorial Reviews" header, and it said: "Digitally remastered reissue of his 1974 'Hits' collection on a 24 karat gold CD from DCC. Featuring every one of his Top 10 singles recorded up to that point, 'Your Song', 'Rocket Man', 'Honky Cat', 'Crocodile Rock', 'Daniel', 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road', 'Bennie and the Jets', 'Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me' plus three more tracks. Standard jewel case"

AHHHH...but I missed the last sentence disclaimer: "--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title."

Well, this Polydor release/version is NOT digitally remastered...in fact, the sound quality is EXACTLY the same as the low-quality MCA CD I picked up in a pawn shop many years ago (yeah, I'm a geek...I compared the spectrographs of a couple songs from both CDs on my computer...they were identical...which comfirmed what my ears had already guessed). If you're not picky about sound quality, that won't likely be a big problem, but if you were looking for some improvement, you won't get it with this re-release.

As for the music, it's just standard, awesome Elton (before he got too crotchety). The 70's were his decade and his Greatest Hits (vol 1 and 2) are terrific displays of everything he had going while in his prime. If you can find a remastered version of this CD, get it...this music deserves much better treatment than it has on this release version.

for however brief a time elton john was the greatest and most popular musicican working and this comp spanning his first four year(his best)is 40 min of the greatest music ever assembled that i highly reccomend for the newcomer or if you just want one cd in your collection without buying the two cd collection.

note* the only glaring ommisson from this cd is "tiny dancer" so if your just going to buy this cd i'd reccomend getting that song as well,but thats just friendly advice

I wish he and taupin were still writing, singing and producing these types of songs and sound. I think it certainly was Elton at his best. I like many of his newer songs but they don't come close to the sounds and styles of the 70's hits he garnered.

Elton John is a rock legend. His music is simply incredible, and he is such an icon that he has even been knighted by the Queen of England. His first compilation, 1974's 'Greatest Hits,' is by a long shot his best.

I own a rare out-of-print version. The one I own is the original vinyl version. That one drops 'Candle Of The Wind' and has the other 10 songs. But I do know the song well, so that's not a problem (for me).

This set spans 'Elton John' to 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.' Surprisingly, 'Tumbleweed Connection' and 'Madman Across The Water,' two of his most popular records of the early 1970s, do not get any representation here, which hurts the compilation a little bit.

'Tiny Dancer,' 'Levon,' 'Burn Down The Mission' and 'Take Me To The Pilot' (from 11/17/70) all would fit nicely here.

But, what's here is excellent. 'Your Song,' 'Daniel,' 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,' 'Rocket Man,' 'Honky Cat,' and 'Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me' all appear here. And, those are my favorite Elton songs, so it works out perfectly!

If you are a fan of the legendary early sides of Elton John, than this set is a perfect set to own. You get 11 legendary tracks for a great price. And the sound quality is excellent, too!

Highly recommended for any Elton fan. ENJOY!!!

I bought this when I was 13 in 1974. Greatest Hits are what you buy when you're not sure you're going to like an artist, and back then, I wasn't so sure about this guy. He seemed like a misfit - someone like me at heart, but man, could he play the devil out of a piano! Back then, this was a good representative of what he had done thus far.

Of course, now it's the digital age, and it's ridiculous to buy a CD with only a half-hour's worth of songs on it. These days, you can pick and choose your songs with iTunes and other sources of digital music and make your own compilation that satisfy you and burn it yourself. But I remember a time when music still came out of grooves, when I realized having a record company pick my songs for me was never going to be enough, that I was going to dive into an artist's catalog with both feet, and he was either going to be good enough to sustain my interest or I would move on.

I bought the first 8 studio albums Elton John recorded after this one, and one live album, and I've still got them to this day. This collection is the one that started me on the road to Elton, but it is really not worth getting by today's standards. There are much better Elton John radio hits packages out there. The ridiculous "Rocket Man" number ones package is nearly identical to this one, with later material included.