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 Gonna 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 [Piano Version][*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5114 in Music
• Released on: 1996-02-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Album Description
Japanese-only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD) paper sleeve pressing of this classic album from the British singer/songwriter and entertainer, originally released in 1973. SHM-CDs can be played on any audio player and delivers unbelievably high-quality sound. You won't believe it's the same CD! Includes four bonus tracks. Universal. 2008.

Amazon.com essential recording
One of the best entries from Elton John and Bernie Taupin's remarkably successful mid-'70s run, this album still holds up well over a quarter of a century after its release. Even casual fans will recognize "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 colorful packaging of the original album. --Dan Epstein

Customer Reviews

Elton Goes Pop
The bad news for Elton's hard rock fans in 1973 was that the guy who made "Madman Across The Water" less than two years before had left the building. In his place was a pop craftsman with a keen interest in making music for the masses.

The good news, of course, was Elton's arrival as a full-fledged pop star came with some terrific music, still very enjoyable more than a quarter century later. Actually, his pop leanings were in evidence in 1972 with the release of "Honky Chateau," but this time the gloves are off, and his aim is clearly Casey Kasem country. The result was his first two top-five singles in the U.S., the chart-topping "Crocodile Rock" and #2 hit, "Daniel." "Don't Shoot Me" reached the top of the charts, too, just as "Honky Chateau" did.

If you like "Honky Chateau," chances are good you will like "Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player," which in many ways feels like a sequel. The title, for instance, sounds like something the singer in "Honky Cat" might have said if offered an extra chorus. "Crocodile Rock" deals with a faithless girlfriend named Susie, while someone with the same name and inclinations also appears in a song named after her on "Honky Chateau."

The two hits on "Don't Shoot Me," painful as it is to say, aren't as enduring as the hits on "Honky Chateau." Frankly, both "Daniel" and "Crocodile Rock" suffer from radio overplay in a way "Honky Cat" and "Rocket Man" don't. That's not to say they aren't great songs, just less enduring. Elton works in some interesting keyboard tones with "Daniel" and plays to the '50s nostalgia craze (quoting Pat Boone, ye gads!) with "Croc Rock," a song I grooved to as a youngster when it first came out and dearly love today. Yet when it comes on my stereo, my focus sometimes wanders a bit.

What makes "Don't Shoot Me" a vital chunk of Eltonia is the rest of the album. People deride pop music, and often for the right reasons, but this is pop of an especially high order. "Teacher I Need You," "Elderberry Wine," and "Blues For My Baby And Me" all sound like how-to clinics on making enduring post-Beatles pop, clever and engaging and affecting, each in a different way. If they played these tunes on the radio as much as "Crocodile," I'd probably tire of them, too, but they don't and I'm grateful for that when I get to groove to them today.

The rest of the album showcases Elton's diversity. "I'm Gonna Be A Teenage Idol" has fun with the notion Elton was becoming just that, working off a charming melodic underpinning and a solid rhythmic undertow which Elton was indeed becoming a star by using to great effect while other singer-songwriters of his day faded off into obscurity with their bell-bottom Birkenstock blues about the polluted environment or not having a date for the prom. "High Flying Bird" shows Elton's winning sentimental side, while "Have Mercy On The Criminal" revisits "Madman" waters with a better result than most of the songs off that earlier album.

Many people rag on "Texas Love Song," but to me it shows lyricist Bernie Taupin was aware of his overromanticizing the South and Western regions of the U.S. and wanted to acknowledge what one of the more narrow-minded denizens of those parts might think of him if they ever met. Sure, the protagonist comes off like Michael Rooker in "Mississippi Burning," but where does it say pop music narrators all have to be nice and sweet? It's a challenging song lyrically, while the music is suitably low-key and rather more authentic-feeling than most of Elton's (otherwise brilliant) country-rock excursions.

Especially cool is the inclusion in the remastered CD of four bonus B-sides, three of which ("Screw You," "Jack Rabbit," and "Whenever You're Ready (We'll Go Steady Again)" being every bit as good as the "Don't Shoot Me" album cuts, and forcing me to give this a solid five-star rating despite not being crazy about "Midnight Creeper." Really, if you like anything Elton ever recorded for public consumption, you will like this solid gem of a record even better on CD.

One of Elton John's Definitive Albums
"Don't Shoot Me..." is where Elton John finally hit his stride as a 1970's pop sensation, after his gradual evolution from a folk rock singing pianist. Along with "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", it's probably the best album he recorded at the "Chateau", Strawberry Studios in France. Bernie Taupin's fine lyrics celebrate 1950's and Western American innocence on songs as diverse as "Teacher I Need You", "Blues For Baby And Me", "High Flying Bird", and Elton's first number one hit, "Crocodile Rock". Producer Gus Dudgeon and his team have remastered an album that sounds cleaner and crisper than my old LP. As for Elton John's singing, he shows some of his finest range during his early "Greatest Hits" period. The bonus tracks, most notably the piano version of "Skyline Pigeon" are fine additions. Without a doubt, this is an essential Elton John CD.

(EDITORIAL NOTE 12/18/2006: "Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player" was the last Elton John album to feature composer Paul Buckmaster's superb orchestral arrangements until the 1995 album "Made in England". I'm especially impressed with his string arrangements for "Have Mercy on the Criminal" and "Blues For Baby And Me"; the latter one of his most stirring ballads, and one which should have been a hit single - but was never released - from this album. And I am still amazed with just how good "Texas Love Song" is as the John/Taupin songwriting team's first great effort in country music, which would yield eventually such great hits as "Sad Songs (Say So Much" and "Something About The Way You Look Tonight".).

Elton at his Apex
The young Elton at his zenith. I still think that the three songs that open this album are among the greatest songs Elton ever recorded: Daniel ( a classic, of course), Teacher I Need You (little known but fantastic) and Elderberry Wine, one of Elton's most underrated gems. The piano work on this song alone makes it worth your while to purchase this album.

In addition, Crocodlie Rock is as good as it was 28 years ago, when this was released. It's still impossible to listen to this album and not have a smile on your face and feel happy. Elton and Bernie produced some of the great songs of the 70's and four of them are on this record.

If you are trying to decide which Elton albums to sample, this and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" should be at the top of your list.