When Elton John went in for throat surgery after his "Live In Australia" album, his longtime fans really were left in the dark as to his future in the music business.

While this album really doesn't stand up to his gems of the 70s, most of the songs here really do hit hard.

Take the first release "I Don't Wanna." This song finds Elton in a similar mode to "I'm Still Standing" . . . it's a gut-wrenching, in-your-face runaway train of a song. Elton lets you know that he isn't pulling any punches, both lyrically, and with his wild abandon piano playing.

"A Word in Spanish" is a nifty sounding song that features some great guitar work, and smooth EJ vocals throughout.

This is not really for the casual Elton listener, but it is essential for the true fan.

When I bought it,i didn't like it too much, but now...I'm listening it almost every day. It's so full of energy, Elton's voice is great and 100 times better than on LEATHER JACKETS. I Don't Wanna Go On With U Like That is great uptempo song, Since God Invented Girls is one of his best ballads,Poor Cow is great and very interesting. There are only 3 easy listening songs on this album. This album was revenge to all people who are expected Elton to die from cancer...but hey, he is THE MAN WHO NEVER DIED.

I Don't Want To Go On With You Like That is one of the most under-rated songs of all time. Great video too. This is a fine cd. A Word In Spanish is great and so are many others on this cd.

"Reg Strikes Back" came out when I was living in Europe, and I tried to, then pretended to, like it. Now, while burning my collection to MP3 and chronologically rating each Song and album, I'm unable to be that gracious.

I'm a fan, and out of 23 Elton Discs prior to this one, 10 scored 4.5 or higher, and three got 5 stars. This one quite unexpectedly finished dead last (so far) well below Leather Jackets (2.65), Ice on Fire (2.36) and Victim of Love (2.29), with a miserable 0.9 rating. Here's a song-by-song explanation of why.

1) Town of Plenty - Plenty of energy, singing and production, but this shanty town is no Tumbleweed Connection - 4 stars

2) A Word in Spanish - high potential lyrics, but the melody doesn't translate into the kind of Elton song that can move you - 4 stars

3) Mona Lisa's and Mad Hatters 2 - This song, like the title of the album, highlight the marketing ploy behind this supposed comeback record - 3 stars

4) I don't wanna go on with you like that - like Town of Plenty, Elton infuses this with energy and production, and it almost takes off, but not quite - 3 stars

5) Japanese Hands - this is where the Album goes Kamikaze. Taupin's lyrics conjure scenarios to invite Elton's creativity, but Elton's delivery invokes ethnic cliche and misogyny - 2 stars

6) Goodbye Marlon Brando - Annoyingly worse than, Billy Joel's "We didn't start the Fire". It taunted me into adding the line "Goodbye Elton John" - 3 stars

7) The Camera Never Lies - I can't lie - this is a completely tuneless and soulless song - 0 stars

8) Heavy Traffic - The potential in this Taupin's Lyric is enormous; a softball to Elton that should have resulted in a "Bennie and the Jets", "All the young girls love Alice" or at least "Saturday Night's Allright for Fighting", but the words are de-fanged by badly chosen kitsch and an automated beat - 0 stars

9) Poor Cow - With Elton wallowing in the gutter, personally and professionally, he lashes out at a female mirror image. Worst Elton song ever? - 0 stars

10) Since God invented Girls - Rising from the ashes of Poor Cow, hinting at transcendence, this keeper underlines the utter waste of the rest - 5 stars

Since God invented Girls provides some hope, but Elton took 5 years or so to produce anything that would make the world believe again. Maybe that's the reason I held on to my belief that this was a good album, until now. It isn't. Not even close. And in the 10 years since I last listened to it, that's become painfully clear.

Sorry Reg!

What can I say? The ultimate song is on this cd (I don't wanna go on w/ you like that) which seems to carry the weight of heel draggers such as "Heavy Traffic" and "Japanese Hands" but all-in-all it's worth the money. Who could resist "G/B Marlon Brando"?