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Elton John’s fifth studio album ‘Honky Château’ gets a 50th anniversary reissue, pressed exclusively to pink and yellow splatter effect LP, limited to 500 copies and hand-numbered to order.
The only version of the record that follows the art direction of last year’s reissue of ‘Madman Across The Water’, all tracks remastered from the original analogue tapes by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering, Portland, Maine, with vinyl cutting by Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios, London.
By 1972, Elton John was already a star, although most casual listeners still identified him as part of the singer / songwriter explosion, thanks to the success of Your Song and Levon. Honky Château changed all that, beginning with the success of Honky Cat, a rousing New Orleans-ish R & B powerhouse that kicks off this terrific collection of songs.
This was the album that first revealed John as a pure-pop craftsman, and he's all over the musical map on this set, moving from country-ish rock to blues-based rockers. But the best things here still might be two gorgeous ballads: Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters (displaying the young vocalist at his best) and the hit single Rocket Man (which had many rock fans debating which was the better space odyssey of the day - this or Bowie's). And lyricist Bernie Taupin was revealing a new, slightly darker side here with tunes like I Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself.
Please note that Blood Records is a pre-ordering platform and this record is due for release on March 24th 2023. All images for illustrative purposes.
