We’re starting with his non-album single “Lady Samantha” from 1969. This is a great rock song where Elton plays electric piano and organ. Elton’s organ has a good presence including prominent parts in the chorus. There is a great balance between Elton’s keyboards and Caleb Quaye’s guitars. Caleb also plays guitars on the next two songs. From Elton’s debut album “Empty Sky” released later the same year, he plays piano and organ on “Western Ford Gateway”. Elton’s piano forms the base of the song and his organ leads the song well musically. This song has the guitar in a more supportive role. Elton plays the same instruments on “Amoreena” released a year later. Amoreena is driven by the piano, with the organ and guitar playing a supportive role. The three instruments are mixed well together.
Lady Samantha (1969)
We’re now featuring two hit singles from 1973’s “Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player” album. Elton plays both electric piano and the keyboard instrument mellotron on “Daniel”. Elton’s mellotron gives a nice sound like a flute. It’s credited as a ‘flute’ mellotron. The mellotron only appears in certain sections, but is very noticeable when it does. On “Crocodile Rock”, Elton plays both piano and farfisa organ. The organ has a good presence and it is a memorable part of the song. Elton is paying tribute to rock & roll music from the 1950s on this tune. Davey Johnstone’s rocking guitars go well with Elton’s keyboards.
Crocodile Rock (1972)
An interesting song is the satirical ballad “This Song Has No Title”. It’s a solo song featuring just Elton on piano, farfisa organ, mellotron and electric piano. The organ gives a great presence on the chorus. The mellotron is used for both the flute sound and the string sound. On “Your Sister Can’t Twist (But She Can Rock ’n Roll”, Elton plays the piano/farfisa organ combination on a rock & roll song similar to “Crocodile Rock”. The organ has a fun jolly feel including a good solo augmented by backing vocals.
On “Tell Me When the Whistle Blows”, Elton plays electric piano and clavinet. The clavinet is an electric keyboard instrument that uses guitar strings. On this mid-tempo song with rock and soul elements, Elton’s clavinet comes in and out of the song giving a quirky feel. It matches well with Davey’s guitar. On “(Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket”, Elton plays clavinet with acoustic piano. This rock song is driven by Davey’s guitar. The clavinet has a supportive role. Elton is using his skills as a rock musician with these two keyboards. On the ballad “We All Fall In Love Sometimes”, Elton plays piano, mellotron and harpsichord. The mellotron gives warm soothing notes. The harpsichord has a minimal role with it heard nicely in the second half of the song.
On “Theme from a Non-Existent TV Series”, Elton plays electric harpsichord with his then keyboardist James Newton Howard playing electric piano and synth. I like this instrumental song which really sounds like the theme to a 1970s TV series. Elton’s electric harpsichord is behind James Newton Howard’s keyboards. A few years later, Elton had the mostly instrumental hit “Song for Guy” featuring a mix of piano, keyboard, percussion and bass. Elton is on piano, mellotron and synth. He plays two types of synth: polymoog and salena string. Song for Guy is led by piano. Elton gives atmospheric effects with his keyboards which come in and out of the song. He’s enhancing his piano playing with the keyboard parts.
Song for Guy (1978)
A Single Man, the same album as “Song for Guy” has the gospel themed song “Georgia” about the US State. Elton plays piano, church organ and harmonium. The church organ is present in much of the song, contributing to the full band sound. There’s an instrumental outtake from that album’s sessions “Earn While You Learn” which emerged as a B-Side in 1983. The song rocks well with Elton playing piano and multiple keyboards. His organ has memorable parts throughout the song. He also plays the familiar mellotron parts and seems to play an electric piano. Elton’s keyboards and Tim Renwick’s guitars wonderfully lead the sound of this song.
In Elton’s 1983 “Too Low for Zero”, he played all the keyboards including a lot of synth. I’m mentioning two songs from it. These are the first songs in this article not to feature any piano. On the minor hit “Kiss the Bride”, Elton’s synths go well with Davey’s guitars. This is an intense pop rocker. The synths give off a 1980s sound. Elton does something similar on “Whipping Boy” which is also a guitar driven rocker. I’m assuming Elton’s keyboards are synths. They can be heard more than the previous track. I get vibes from organic keyboards Elton has played like harpsichord and harmonium.
Kiss the Bride (1983)
On the pop song “Satellite”, Elton plays synths. Elton’s then keyboardist Fred Mandel plays keyboards and guitarist Davey Johnstone is credited with synth/guitar. While Davey could be playing synth and guitar, it’s more likely he’s playing synth guitar as he played that instrument on the same album. I’m not sure which keyboard parts are Elton. There is a light keyboard part sounding similar to an electric piano. I suspect Elton is playing this. There are nice atmospheric synth effects.
Satellite (1985)
Elton plays piano and organ on the blues rocker “Runaway Train”, a duet with Eric Clapton. Elton’s piano is low in the mix. Following Eric’s guitar solo, Elton unleashes an organ solo. His solo is really good which contrasts well with Eric’s guitar. It’s even more impressive that he’s able to do a solo like this as organ is not his main instrument. There are other similar organ sounds on the song. I’m not sure if Elton is playing them.
These songs are a selection of Elton’s keyboard playing. While Elton’s skills on other keyboards aren’t on the same level as his piano playing, he can play the keyboard well. He used his keyboard skills to augment his piano playing and in rare cases when there’s no piano as an alternative. The songs featured cover Elton’s strengths on ballads, rock songs and those in between.
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