Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 rounds up the handful of singles that weren't included on Elton John's first Greatest Hits collection ("Levon," "Tiny Dancer") and adds the highlights from Caribou, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, and Rock of the Westies ("The Bitch Is Back," "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," "Island Girl," "Grow Some Funk of Your Own," "I Feel Like a Bullet [In the Gun of Robert Ford]"), plus two non-LP hit singles ("Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "Philadelphia Freedom") and John's version of "Pinball Wizard," taken from the soundtrack to Tommy…

While there are a few harder to find tracks for the more earnest enthusiast and collector, the centerpiece of this EP is undoubtedly the "Acoustic Mix" of "Candle in the Wind." This "unplugged" version features only an acoustic guitar from Davey Johnstone and John's lead vocals, as well as rich backing harmonies from Johnstone, Dee Murray, and Nigel Olsson…

Rarely has a greatest-hits collection been as effective as Elton John's first compilation of Greatest Hits. Released at the end of 1974, after Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Caribou had effectively established him as a superstar, Greatest Hits is exactly what it says it is – it features every one of his Top Ten singles ("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 the number 12 "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" and radio and concert favorite "Border Song." Despite the exclusion of a couple of lesser hits from this era, most notably "Levon" and "Tiny Dancer," Greatest Hits is a nearly flawless collection, offering a perfect introduction to Elton John and providing casual fans with almost all the hits they need.

When first issued in 1980, Lady Samantha was initially only available in the U.K. as either an eight track or cassette. For enthusiasts of Elton John's early and often edgy pop/rock, the odds and sods compilation became known as a haven for the vast majority of John's pre-Caribou (1974) non-LP sides. Although many of these tunes were initially relegated to mere B-side status, they retain the consistently high caliber inherent in early John (piano/vocals) and Bernie Taupin (lyrics) collaborations…

As digital technology began to prevail in the recording industry in the early '80s, Elton John's original record producer, Gus Dudgeon, was among the first to actively embrace the seemingly infinite possibilities in the medium. Although the promise of perfect sound may have been a bit of an exaggeration, the notable improvements to the subtleties as well as the expanded frequency response of recordings remastered in the digital domain were most certainly not. Dudgeon's original idea for this 11-track compilation was to not only present some of John's best-known works in this new realm, but also a few of the deeper album cuts that would most aptly demonstrate the awesome dimensions inherent in digital audio reproduction…

Elton John has been one of the dominant forces in rock and popular music, especially during the 1970s. He has sold over 200 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time…

The 1990 collection The Very Best of Elton John (available in the U.K. and Australia) is an excellent 30-track summary of his peak years, running from "Your Song" to "You Gotta Love Someone." In a sense, it's the concise counterpart to the box set To Be Continued, released that same year but spanning four discs and filled with rarities…

Hard to believe, but there's never been a good single-disc overview of Elton John's biggest hits available in America until 2007's 17-track Rocket Man: Number Ones. (The British release added one track and was titled Rocket Man: The Definitive Hits.) He's had plenty of collections, including a good single-disc European set that circulated in the late '90s, but Rocket Man is the first to really offer a solid career-spanning overview as a single-disc set…

Arriving ten years after the single-disc Rocket Man: The Definitive Hits (known as Rocket Man: Number Ones in North America) and 15 years after the double-disc Greatest Hits 1970-2002, Diamonds ups the game by offering two variations on Elton John's greatest hits: a double-CD version and a limited-edition triple-disc box set…

The quality of his records may fluctuate over the decades, but there has never been any doubt that Elton John retains a keen ear for fashionable pop. So it is no surprise that he handed over tapes from his purple patch of the early '70s – roughly Elton John through Blue Moves – to the Australian dance duo Pnau, giving them full reign to sample, interpolate, splice and dice familiar tunes into new dance tracks…

On the inaugural episode of Elvis Costello’s talk show Spectacle in 2008, Elton John – who just happened to be a producer on the show – rhapsodized at length about Leon Russell, hauling out a note-perfect impression of Russell’s piano style and Oklahoma drawl. It was enough of a tease to whet the appetite for more but nothing suggested something like The Union, a full-fledged duet album with Russell designed to raise the profile of the rock & roll maverick…

Elton John celebrated his 60th birthday and made his record-setting 60th appearance at Madison Square Garden on March 25, 2007, with a special concert lasting three hours and 18 minutes on this two-DVD set, and featuring 33 songs…