Capitalizing on the momentum Elton regained with "Too Low for Zero" and the hit "I Guess That's Why The Call It The Blues," the reunited team Elton (Taupin, Davey Johnston, Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson) quickly released "Breaking Hearts" a little more that a year later. While it is a good album and has three great singles on it, it falls short of "Too Low For Zero" and is also dated in its sound.

Blame for that falls to producer Chris Thomas, who burdened a lot of the album with 80's buzzy synthesizers and a reluctance to let the rockers really rock. "Restless" and "Slow Down Georgie" could have been knockouts like "I'm Still Standing," but they just come off as restrained. "Who Wears These Shoes" has a great soul bass-line and a good kick, and was deservedly a hit. (It also had a great video.) The big hit was "Sad Songs Say So Much," which not only was a top ten single and MTV hit, but was quickly mutated into a jeans commercial. Both of these songs are classic Elton, the hooky choruses and trademark vocal harmonies of his glory days are intact.

The other of Elton and Bernie's greatest strengths is also here: great ballads. Their second tribute to Edith Piaf, "In Neon," is a rare top forty record in waltz time. But better still is the title track. Mostly Elton and his solo piano, it is the kind of song that can give you chills. There is also the quirky experimental song in "Passengers." A major hit outside the US, a cryptic call for peace in a reggae mode. It is the most unusual song amongst a batch of rather atypical 80's Elton, on an album that could have used a bit more fire. For the most part, it is a consistent Elton John album with the usual prerequisite great hits (especially "Sad Songs'), but still just average overall.

"Breaking Hearts" is probably noteworthy for two reasons. First, it was the first 1980s album featuring the complete reunion of the John/Taupin songwriting team; indeed, as an album, it is consistently better than the more popular - and critically acclaimed - "Two Low For Zero". And second, it is also the last Elton John album featuring his original rhythm section of bassist Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson, who were both important members of his band during the halcyon artistic period of the early to mid 1970s (After the "Breaking Hearts" tour Elton dismissed both Murray and Olsson, who would appear together only one more time backing vocals on his mid 1980s "Reg Strikes Back" album.). However, artistically, as much as I enjoy several songs from this album, I strongly believe that both Elton John and Bernie Taupin were musically treading water, creating catchy pop-oriented rockers and ballads at the expense of making more memorable music (And yet, I will note that a third reason why this album is noteworthy is because the John/Taupin songwriting team would write some of their best country-flavored rock and pop songs in their career, with their Top 5 American hit "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" a classic example, crafting songs that are far more memorable than any I've heard recently from the Brooklyn, NY fringe community of country/folk musicians led by mediocre songwriters Alex Battles and "Dock Oscar" Stern.).

My favorite songs from "Breaking Hearts" include not only "Sad Songs (Say So Much)", but also the ballads "In Neon", a beautiful, memorable tribute to Edith Piaf (The John/Taupin songwriting team's second tribute after "Cage The Songbird" from "Blue Moves") and the title song, "Breaking Hearts". I also like a lot "Burning Buildings" too, and regard as interesting failures; "Restless", "Who Wears These Shoes?" and "Did He Shoot Her?", which are both lyrically and melodically, second-rate versions of the songwriting team's great songs from the early to mid 1970s. Production-wise, producer Chris Thomas did a fine job, but I think he opted too much for synthesizers, relying upon them for songs like "Did He Shoot Her?" and even, "Sad Songs (Say So Much)".

Breaking Hearts is the second record following the full-scale reunion of Elton John And Bernie Taupin, and it is a more than satisfactory listening experience. With a sound quite different from its predecessor, Too Low For Zero, Breaking Hearts is heavier on upbeat numbers and straight-up rockers, and it doesn't have the light, almost airy feel of its predecessor. Too Low For Zero sounds almost as though it was recorded in a cloudbank; Breaking Hearts is firmly grounded upon the Earth. It comes right out of the gate with a state-of the world rocker called 'Restless,' a good example of Bernie Taupin's sharp yet somehow blase social commentary; it goes on with 'Slow Down Georgie (She's Poison)' a mid-tempo rocker about a friend who's in the grip of a man-eater (and we're not talkin' 'bout lions or tigers here). Both songs stand up well as mid-'80s pop, and they manage not to sound too dated, unlike most musical fare from 1984. 'Who Wears These Shoes?,' another mid-tempo number, this one on the reliable old topic of infidelity (Bernie has written quite a few songs on that subject over the years; makes you wonder, doesn't it?), comes next, sharing the quality of almost obscene catchiness that permeates most of this record. Whatever else one might say about it, Breaking Hearts has great hooks.
The title track follows; it's a slower, more piano-oriented song, a lament of the fact that it gets harder to love 'em and leave 'em as one gets older. Bernie Taupin certainly deserves some kind of credit for making the troubles of an utter cad sound so sympathetic. Next up we have the driving rocker 'Lil 'Frigerator,' about a cold, calculating but irresistable piece of jailbait, along the lines of Too Low For Zero's 'Whipping Boy,' but with a better hook and heavier sound. This brings what we old folks used to call 'side one' to and end.
But those days are past, no? There are no more sides; now there are only whole records and songs. Either way, the album continues with 'Passenger,' a song that Americans generally just wouldn't understand- or should I say, wouldn't have understood before airline security got beefed up to the point where waiting in long lines has become more a part of our lifestyle. It's actually a whimsical, mid-tempo tune about standing in line for the trains that make travelling around Europe so much easier than getting around this self-centred, car-obsessed country, a song that illustrates the monotony of the situation without becoming overly monotonous itself. 'In Neon' follows, a nice ballad about dreams of Hollywood success. The energy picks up again on 'Burning Buildings,' a song that represents taking the love-plunge as akin to leaping from a flaming skyscraper. A bit on the melodramatic side, but a good song nonetheless. 'Did He Shoot Her?' is the follow-up, an excellent piece of fast-paced, rhythmic rock that tells a story of getting revenge on some creep who's hurt a beloved ex. The last track here is the best-known, 'Sad Songs (Say So Much)' Like the rest of the record, it is incongruously upbeat; perhaps this is all meant ironically (either that, or it's an excuse for the over-long and kinda depressing 'Blue Moves' 8 years earlier); heaven knows Taupin loves his irony. So, to conclude, Breaking Hearts is a mid-eighties Elton John record that doesn't deserve to be consigned to the television time capsule that contains most of 1984; it is a well-crafted, consistently engaging record with enough hooks to provide spare hands for a whole fleet of pirates. It boggles my mind that the year in which it was made is now twenty-two years in the past! To put it in perspecitve: if Breaking hearts were a person, it would be graduating from college this year! And I'm sure that, if it were, it would've graduated with flying colours.

THIS IS NOT THE BEST ALBUM OF ELTON, BUT HAS SOME JEWELS IN IT LIKE THE SINGLES "IN NEON", "SAD SONGS" & WHO WEARS THESE SHOES?" PLUS THE HORRIBLE "PASSENGERS", EVERY FAN MUST HAVE IT, ALTHOUGH THIS IS NOT HIS BEST, IT'S WORTH ENOUGH YOU'LL SEE.I THOUGHT IT WAS OUT OF PRINT.

This is a very disappointing CD from a guy who has done much better work. My least favourite song on this album would have to be "Slow Down Georgie (She's Poison)" which seems to have mysoginistic overtones about a guy who is lucky to find the girl of his dreams. Elton sings "Breaking Hearts Ain't What It Used To Be " and I say Elton's albums ain't what they used to be.