Product Description

DON'T SHOOT ME I'M ONLY THE PIANO PLAYER was the first of two 1973 albums that sealed Elton John's superstardom. It included his first U.S. #1 single, the nostalgic "Crocodile Rock", along with one of his most enduring ballads, "Daniel", aveiled salute to a Vietnam vet. By now, John was at ease inalmost any musical setting. While lyricist Bernie Taupin continued to feed him the usual mix of road songs, homages to the American West, and offbeat love ballads, John was flyingahead with an ambitious, try-anything agenda that effectively blurred the lines between AM pop and FM rock.
"Crocodile Rock"'s whimsicality, with its vintage Farfisa organ, and"Daniel", a seductive studio concoction of keyboards and acoustic guitar, leaned toward the former. "Elderberry Wine" approached the latter, with its hard guitar sound and blues-rock horn-riffing, as did "Have Mercy On The Criminal", whosecentral riff echoes "Layla". "I'm Gonna Be A Teenage Idol",a tribute to Marc Bolan of T-Rex, lies tantalisingly acrossthe centre of the pop-rock line, sounding like a cabaret version of glitter-rock. By now, Elton John's place in historywas assured; months later, his domination of his era would come to full fruition with the release of GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD.

Track Listing

1. Daniel
2. Teacher I Need You
3. Elderberry Wine
4. Blues For My Baby And Me
5. Midnight Creeper
6. Have Mercy On The Criminal
7. I'm Going To Be A Teenage Idol
8. Texan Love Song
9. Crocodile Rock
10. High Flying Bird
11. Screw You (Young Man's Blues)
12. Jack Rabbit
13. Whenever You're Ready (We'll Go Steady Again)
14. Skyline Pigeon

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10423 in Music
• Released on: 1995-05-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Running time: 55 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
One of the best entries from Elton John and Bernie Taupin's remarkably successful mid-1970s run, this album still holds up well over a quarter of a century after its release. Even casual fans will recognise "Daniel", "Elderberry Wine", and "Crocodile Rock", but "Teacher I Need You", "Have Mercy on the Criminal" and "I'm Going to Be a Teenage Idol" are equally good. Elton's backing band at the time (guitarist Davey Johnstone, bassist Dee Murray, and drummer Nigel Olsson) was easily his best, and producer Gus Dudgeon and orchestral arranger Paul Buckmaster bathed the tracks in a warm and enticing glow. The only complaint is that, due to its size, the CD reissue doesn't remotely do justice to the colourful packaging of the original album. --Dan Epstein

Customer Reviews

Not Elton's best
As a lover of guitar rock, I never thought much of Elton's up-tempo numbers apart from the timeless classic "Crocodile rock" (included here) and the faster tracks on this album don't do anything to alter that opinion. EJ was always better on the slower numbers and the standout tracks (apart from "Rock") are "Daniel", "High flying bird" (Lovely harmonies) and my personal fave, "Texan love song"(great lyrics from Bernie Taupin). "Blues for baby and me" suffers from repetition of a too-long chorus while "Pity the poor criminal" is overblown and melodramatic. Not Elton's best.

An early Elton John classic!
After nearly forty years it is more than reasonable to declare this album of Elton John's an all-time rock/pop classic. Not only does it contain songs that have virtually entered into our genetic sub consciousnesses, such as "Daniel" and "Crocodile Rock", but the album's other songs are all wonderfully melodic and catchy. Every one a winner!

The sound on the remastered CD is excellent, making it worthwhile for avid fans to buy again.

I'm not so keen on the bonus tracks - "Skyline Pigeon" aside they lack the brilliance of the original album and I don't usually listen to them.

Very good
This 1972/73 album captures Elton John at the beginning of his untouchable period as the biggest star on the planet, which he would hold onto for a couple of years. Strangely though its never been one of my all-time favourite Elton albums. Overall its a very good album but not great like Tumbleweed Connection, GYBR, Honky Chateau or Captain Fantastic.

The good songs are fabulous, Daniel, Have Mercy on the Criminal, Midnight Creeper and Elderberry Wine are all excellent. The last two in particular show the rocking side of Elton John, which is frequently forgotten because of his great ballad writing. However some of the others are less memorable and the main problem is that Daniel is the only classic Elton John song on the album. I don't count Crocodile Rock as this is just a pastiche and even Elton himself doesn't really like it.

Don't get me wrong if you're a fan it should be in your collection, but for the the casual purchaser, I'd buy the other albums listed above first and a decent compilation ahead of this one.