It's impossible to fit all of Elton John's hits from 1970-2002 into a two-disc compilation, even with the addition of a third bonus disc. During the seventies, the songwriting team of Elton John and Bernie Taupin had the Midas touch. Wisely, the first disc of this collection covers their heyday from 1970-1976. The song selection is superb, balancing hit singles with essential album tracks. "Your Song" was Elton's first hit and the obvious choice for starting this collection. "Tiny Dancer" peaked at number 41 and, amazingly, "Candle In The Wind" wasn't even released as a single. Being among two of Elton's best and most recognizable songs, they rightly appear on the first disc. "Island Girl" is a lightweight song that is not well remembered, but was included because it hit number one on the charts! On the other hand, Elton's excellent version of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" hit number one, but must have been excluded because it was a cover version of a Beatles' song.

Like the import CD "The Very Best Of Elton John," the second disc starts off with Elton's number one song with Kiki Dee, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart." Whereas that previous collection only went up to 1990, this disc goes up to 2001. It's great to have "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" and "Circle Of Life" from the Lion King, as well as "Written In The Stars" from Aida, on an Elton John compilation. However, I would have included them on the bonus disc to make room for other worthy songs from his regular albums, such as "Nobody Wins," "Blue Eyes," "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)" and "Healing Hands," to name a few. The second disc closes out on a strong note with the two best songs from Elton's last album, namely the Lennonesque "I Want Love" and the autobiographical "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore."

The limited edition, bonus disc is another reason for buying this collection. It has Elton's live version of "Candle In The Wind," which peaked at number 6, and his duet with George Michael on "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me," which hit number one. "Live Like Horses" is an interesting curiosity, being a duet with Luciano Pavarotti. The last song on the bonus disc was recorded in 2002. It is Elton's duet with Alessandro Safina on "Your Song." Thus, Elton's greatest hits comes full circle, including an incredible selection of fantastic songs in-between the two versions of "Your Song."

With all due respect to Michael Jackson, I always believed that Elton John is more deserving of the title "King of Pop." Both performers have endured their share of artistic and personal ups and downs, but while Jacko has recently morphed into self-parody, Sir Elton still churns out freshly-crafted pop (as evidenced on his excellent "Songs from the West Coast"). I'm excited as the next Elton fan that we now have a double-disc greatest hits album spanning his entire career, but let's be honest: it's not as comprehensive as it could have been. There are enough omissions on this recording to warrant a third disc: "Blue Eyes," "Empty Garden," "A Word in Spanish," "In Neon," "Kiss the Bride," and so forth. Also, the disc completely ignores the albums "Victim of Love" and "Leather Jackets," which is a smart move since both records were easily among his least inspired. But moving on, the material that DOES surface on this collection is, for the most part, mind-blowingly good. Disc 1, which covers the 1970s, is utter perfection, a snapshot of classic, vintage Elton in peak form. "Your Song," "Daniel," "Tiny Dancer," "Somebody Saved My Life Tonight," and "Rocket Man" form ample evidence that Elton and lyricist Bernie Taupin were among the best songwriting teams of the 1970s. Disc 2 (which covers 1980-2002) has some good stuff, but it's easily the lesser disc which has some decent tunes as well as a handful of not-so-great ones. "I'm Still Standing" is still a winning tale of perseverence, while "Sad Songs," "I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues," and "Little Jeannie" also stand out, too. However, I wasn't a big fan of his work for "The Lion King," and personally wasn't fond of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" and "Circle of Life." However, this disc closes on a great note with "I Want Love" and "This Train Don't Stop Here Anymore," which are from 2001's "Songs from the West Coast." The limited edition has 4 tracks; the best of which is the live version of "Candle in the Wind" (NOT the tribute to Princess Diana) and his duet with George Michael "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." Overall, I'm impressed with this hits collection, which comes with some really cool liner notes and nice photographs from his early years. For a one stop guide to Elton's work, "Greatest Hits 1970-2002" is the way to go, warts and all.

Another greatest hits compilation from Elton John, After Greatest Hits, Volume II, Volume III, The Very Best of (Import),1976-1986, Love Songs and One Night Only (The Greatest Hits)-the horrible live album, here comes Greatest Hits 1970-2002. Granted Sir Elton has had a long career filled with ups and downs with a lot of wonderful songs, so let's hear a few other hits. I'm am a huge Elton John fan, having every commerical release and was excited about this purchase as well. The songs on the disc sound wonderful but there are so many hits lacking which is why I gave it only 3 stars. How about a 3rd disc with many other top 20 songs that he had. Where is Blue Eyes, Healing Hands, Empty Garden, Part Time Love and nobody in the US is going to believe that Written in the Stars with LeAnn Rimes was a bigger hit than Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds which doesn't appear here. I think rabid Elton John fans would have loved more material, especially from the down side of his 70's career and 80's comeback. So the songs weren't up to snuff but wouldn't it great to hear even some guilty pleasures for old times sake like Ego, Bite Your Lip, Victim Of Love (well maybe not),Nobody Wins, Chloe, Kiss The Bride, Who Wears These Shoes, Wrap Her Up, A Word In Spanish, Club At The End of The Street, The Last Song and the extremely wonderful and Adult Contempory #1 Simple Life. Look I mentioned 17 songs in this review, easily another full disc of music. Guess we fans will have to burn our own greatest hits from Elton John to get what we really want especially from later in his career.

While Michael Jackson rather embarrasingly coined himself the "King of Pop", said self-serving creation would better serve Sir Elton John if there truly were such a "title". Although this collection does not get a perfect score from me, it is a very good representation of the masses of hits that Elton John had from 1970-2002. And I am sure that there are more to come.

This 2 CD set is well priced and there is a plethora of goodies to be found in the inserts. Some artists find it impossible to fit their hits into one CD, much less two. Elton could have easily gone for three CDs. Most of the great songs are here and they sound great. In a nutshell, this release is the one to buy if you are a casual Elton John fan.

Notwithstanding the fact the I believe that this is a great release, like many fans when it comes to artists they have followed, they find the faults even as they enjoy what is on the menu. For example, where is:

1) "Funeral For A Friend"/Love Lies Bleeding";

The list can go on and some may correctly point out that this is a 2 CD set and it should be representative of Elton's career as per the title. However, I could have done without the two selections from "Songs From The West Coast" as they sound out of place to me and although I think that the duet with Leann Rimes is nice, to ignore the aforementioned and many others makes me give this 4 stars instead of 5. Elton John the artist gets a 5, especially if you'd had the chance to see him in concert at almost anytime during his career.

Side bar: Although this does not affect my rating the set also includes an extra compact disc that does nothing for me so I just dicarded it. I wish that instead of "Candle In The Wind (Live)" and "Don't Let The Sun Go Down on Me" (With George Michael) and others, this extra CD would have gone into the catalogue to find loved songs that may not have been conventional hits. But this is a non-issue. Enjoy the set!

I really want to like this cd but the sound is awful.

Afwul? Surely you jest? its clear and loud. clear is ok. LOUD is not. Music is not supposed to to charactized by it's loudness regardless of the type of music being played.

I mean how much bloody compressor did they use on this thing. Everything sounds LOUD. And it's the same loudness the whole song through. Ughhh. The results of this compressor magic are no soundstage, no dyanmics, and no enjoyment.

The only thing this sounds "good" on are bargain basement electronics and speakers. I pray to baby jesus that they don't start de-naturalizing the majority of albums this way. Shudder.

Maybe I'm being picky. But try listening to this thing on good equipment and see what i mean.