Some other criticism seems awfully unfair. I think it wrong to dis this later work because his earlier recordings are so damned strong. However, this album stands along with his earlier anthologies.

"Empty Garden" is, in my opinion, as great a song as he has ever put down. Ditto for "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" They make me want to sing along loudly (and lamentably, very badly). "Nikita"? "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word"? I would put these up against any of his earlier work. Not necessarily better, not worse. Strong evocative lyrics and vocals. Surely worth the purchase price, and essential to any E.J. collection.

This CD is not too bad, but leaves a lot to be desired. It is almost the same song for song as the album Elton John's greatest hits Volume three. The only difference is a small one. Two songs, which are Sorry Seemes To Be The Hardest Word, and Who Wears These Shoes. Otherwise,this cd is the same as the other cd that I mentioned before. Though I must say that on the other cd, the song Heartache All Over The World is totally awesome.

Obviously, this is the album to get if you a single volume overview of Elton's "non Classic Years" songs. It's not as good as his previous two greatest hits albums, but it features some fine songs nonetheless. Genuine classics include I'm Still Standing, Sorry..., I Guess That's..., Sad Songs..., and some lesser known hits like Kiss The Bride and Who Wears These Shoes?. That said, the rest of the songs are average at best (and the two songs co-written by Gary Osborne are awful), to me at least. Still, if you want to get the best of EJ's late 70's-mid 80's output, this is definately the place.

Sometimes when I look at some of the heroic icons within Pop music, I really don't seem to see that same luster that they really used to have. That can go with most of the acts from the 70's that might seem like they are oldies now, but their music continues to live on in dramatic fashion. With Elton John, he continues to prove that no matter how old you are, your music will always bring a soundtrack to people and their lives. There are just so many flavors that really made Elton a legend, but it wasn't until the 80's, personally because I was born in '81, that I enjoyed Elton's music.

The Greatest Hits 1976-1986, is a concept of 13 of Elton biggest tunes within the 10 year span this collection has. There are just so many good tunes to the collection, it almost seems like a guilty pleasure. The music blends quite nicely from Rock and Pop to the mix, including Don't Go Breaking My Heart with Kiki Dee, I'm Still Standing, and Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word. Although the record was remastered in 2001, it really seems like a joke when it comes to remastering records. They just aren't always remade just like they say. The music still seems to be shown in great fashion. Also added on to the mix are great songs like Empty Garden, Sad Songs (Say So Much), and Kiss The Bride.

Still, I was a little bit dissapointed that the record wasn't remastered nicely, but the music is just great. I also was upset that a couple of other songs didn't get on this record including That's What Friends Are For, Elton's collaboration with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder, and even Tonight and In Neon. Still, for those die hard Elton John fans, this collection might be for you.

Not a bad album. I have so many Elton albums and consider myself a fan, so I was quite suprised to hear some songs on here that I had never heard of. And they were hits? How come I never heard them before? The songs I mean are "Little Jeannie", "Empty Garden", "Kiss the Bride", "Who wears these shoes" and "Wrap her up". God knows where I was when they hit the radios. They were either just minor hits or I wasn't paying attention. Anyway, for the most part, they are good songs nonetheless. But I never hear them on the radio like I do the other songs.