Search - Elton John :: To Be Continued

	Elton John To Be Continued Genres: Folk, Pop, Rock, Classic Rock, Metal Elton John has been a force in pop music since the mid-'60s. This extravagant and colorful box set presents, in chronological order, his hit songs through 1990. Designed to accommodate a large booklet and the four CDs, whi... more » « less
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CD Details

All Artists: Elton John
Title: To Be Continued
Members Wishing: 2
Total Copies: 0
Label: Island
Original Release Date: 1/1/1990
Re-Release Date: 10/31/2000
Album Type: Box set, Limited Edition, Original recording remastered
Genres: Folk, Pop, Rock, Classic Rock, Metal
Styles: Adult Contemporary, Singer-Songwriters, Soft Rock, Vocal Pop, Album-Oriented Rock (AOR), Glam
Number of Discs: 4
SwapaCD Credits: 4
UPCs: 008811011024, 008811011048, 076731011042

Synopsis

Amazon.com

Elton John has been a force in pop music since the mid-'60s. This extravagant and colorful box set presents, in chronological order, his hit songs through 1990. Designed to accommodate a large booklet and the four CDs, which when placed side by side present a likeness of Elton, the package indicates the care and expense this huge-selling artist commands. With the exception of some very early work with Long John Baldry, the music is exclusively focused on the songs Elton wrote in conjunction with lyricist Bernie Taupin. Their songwriting method--whereby Taupin submits lyrics to John, who gives them musical shape--is discussed at length in an insightful interview with the two men. This method has produced a truly astonishing number of hit records, particularly throughout the '70s. Discs 2 and 3 contain all the monster hits--"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Daniel," "Bennie and the Jets," "Crocodile Rock"--as well as many others. The combination of John's pliable and emotive voice, Taupin's well-wrought words, and strong production values led to megastardom. The '80s were a period of transition and growth for Elton John. Disc 4 has a number of hits from that period--"Sad Songs," "Sacrifice," and "You Gotta Love Someone"--as well as featuring several live performances before a full orchestra, including "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." His voice and stage persona both reflected a maturing Elton John. This box set, compiled by Taupin and John themselves, was completed in 1990 and summed up Elton John's career to that point. The title of To Be Continued has proven to be more than just wishful thinking, as he continues to maintain his vitality in popular music to this day. --Wally Shoup

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Member CD Reviews

Todd J. (tjolicoeur) from DETROIT, MI
Reviewed on 1/9/2008...

The artwork has been altered to accomodate slimline double CD cases. On the outside of each you get the track listing for Disc 1 and Disc 3 and when you lift the CD inside, you see the track listing for Disc 2 and Disc 4.

0 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

CD Reviews

The Portrait of an Artist as Pop Star

Steve Vrana | Aurora, NE | 11/14/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you're on a tight budget, MCA's three Greatest hits CDs would provide you with most of the hits, but the box set with key album tracks and the occasional rarity is necessary to provide the listener with an accurate portrait of Elton John as one of the greatest pop artist of the past fifty years.I passed on this sprawling 67-track collection when it first came out in 1990. [Hey, on a teacher's salary I simply couldn't afford it.] Then during the past year when I finally felt I could, I discover that MCA had let it go out of print! Searching online for used copies, I found that they were selling in excess of one hundred dollars. What a thrill it was to see it back in print. It contains every Top Ten hit (except "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" is represented in a live version--and not the 1991 duet with George Michael). Altogether, you get 30 of his 45 Top 40 hits. And what a rush to hear John Lennon on "I Saw Her Standing There" (the b-side to "Philadelphia Freedom") from 1975.I have only two complaints: First, with a 4-disc box set, I would like to have seen more (if not all) of his lesser hits included. I especially would like to have seen the inclusion of "Grow Some Funk of Your Own" (No. 14, 1976), "Bite Your Lip (Get Up and Dance)" (No. 28, 1977), "Part-Time Love" (No. 22, 1978), "Who Wears These Shoes" (No. 16, 1984) and "Healing Hands" (No. 13, 1989). Second, It's been ten years since this box set was first released. Why not add a fifth disc? Elton had seven Top 40 hits in the Nineties, including the million-seller "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from The Lion King. That said, Elton John along with the Beatles, Elvis Presley and few others had as big an impact on the musical landscape as any other artist of the 20th Century. If you missed this the first time around (like me), don't pass it up this time. ESSENTIAL"

It sounds even better than before.

gregv57 | Toronto Ontario Canada | 11/24/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Not only is To Be Continued an absolute must for every Elton John fan but it has been remastered and sounds even better than it did 10 years ago! It sounded great when it was first released but I compared it with the original and there is no comparison.So if your thinking of getting this box set better put it on your wish list as each box is numbered and it apparently is a very limited edition.Don't miss it the second time around it may be the last."

The Essential Elton John

mirasreviews | McLean, VA USA | 02/20/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For Elton John fans who don't want to buy all of his studio albums -and he made so many- "To Be Continued" encompasses most of Elton John's best work from 1965-1990. There are 67 songs in chronological order on 4 cd's. As with all boxed sets, it's what's missing that attracts the most attention. "Burn Down the Mission" and a studio version of "Dont' Let the Sun Go Down on Me" are the omissions that bothered me. But that said, "To Be Continued" is the most comprehensive collection of Elton John's work that you will find in one place.The packaging is, well....big. The box is the size of an old vinyl album but thicker. It won't fit on most bookshelves. If you have a shelf for vinyl albums, this set will fit perfectly. The 4 cd jewel cases form a picture when placed side-by-side, which is neat. But the box is cumbersome. Included is a booklet that contains a lengthy interview with Elton John and Bernie Taupin."

A Limited Edition Reissue of a 1990 Boxed Set - -

J. Wade | USA | 10/09/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For those of you who haven't followed Elton's career since the beginning or thoroughly researched his catalog, this boxed set may appear a bit uneven or even confounding. In 1990 when Andy McKaie* compiled this collection, it was his intent to present the hits and a collection of rarities for hard-core fans like me. At the time, there were no remastered individual albums with bonus tracks (those were issued in 1995 and 1998) and no compilations such as Rare Masters (1993). A major legal problem arose shortly after this set was issued in that Elton's catalog ended up being split between MCA Records, Geffen Records, and Dick James Music which had licensed Elton's classic 1969-1975 albums to Polygram records. As it turned out, this caused To Be Continued to be discontinued by 1992. Subsequently, MCA acquired Geffen Records and eventually, MCA and Polygram merged to form the largest record company in the world, Universal Music Group. Fortunately, for the first time, Elton's entire catalog was united under one label worldwide. With the legal obstacles removed, this beautiful set was reissued for those who may have missed it back in 1990. I think it is only supposed to be a limited run of 50,000 copies. The Reissue of Elton's classic albums with bonus tracks rendered much of the appeal of To Be Continued to completists moot, but it still includes a couple of 1965 tracks which still do not appear anywhere else and a few other genuine rarities. There are also four tracks that were recorded exclusively for this set, and a bizarre barely recognizable version of John Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance". As the title implies, there will most likely be a second boxed set at some point, and it will probably be much more extravagant than this one. (*Andy McKaie is a Grammy-award winning special projects producer with MCA Records.)"