Elton John - Chartbusters Go Pop

Chartbusters Go Pop! 20 Legendary Covers from 1969/70 as Sung by Elton John is an album of cover versions of hit singles.

These were taken from the time prior to Elton John's first success as a solo performer and were used on budget-priced compilations of hit songs by nameless 'soundalike' performers under such brand names as Top of The Pops and Hot Hits .

These compilations were extremely cheap and sold in vast quantities in the years before compilations featuring the original artists were on sale from such labels as K-Tel. On this particular album some of the tracks do not sound like Elton because he was trying to replicate the sound of the original artist as best he could

The title is no joke, but dead-on truth in advertising. Circa 1970, Elton helped pay the rent and gain studio expertise as a session vocalist for British quickie budget exploitation LPs that "re-created" the sound of current hit singles. Elton takes on such vintage AM mothballs as "In the Summertime," "Up Around the Bend," "My Baby Loves Lovin'," "Yellow River," and "Signed Sealed Delivered" here, along with a few songs that were only hits in the U.K. These records were never intended to be taken seriously as artistic statements, and one suspects that the studio players were having fun at someone else's expense on "In the Summertime," with farting raspberry noises and ridiculous orgiastic grunts by John during the instrumental break. Most of the time, though, he played it straight, his supple pipes proving to possess the necessary versatile anonymity required of such projects. This reissue, complete with scholarly liner notes, aspires to do nothing more than preserve this footnote in the budding superstar's career, of interest mostly to completists and novelty seekers. As far as unintentionally funny moments go, the highlight has to be John extolling, "To be young, gifted and black, that's where it's at!" on his cover of the Nina Simone classic. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide


As a piece of history, this is interesting. They all sound like Elton (EXCEPT "It's All in the Game" Which has been pointed out to me is obviously one mr David Byron), and the arrangements are serviceable. The "original hits by the original artists" are better, but this is a good addition for a completist.


01  "My Baby Loves Lovin'" - 2:44 (White Plains)
02  "Cotton Fields" - 2:47 (Lead Belly, popular cover by The Beach Boys)
03  "Lady D'Arbanville" - 3:41 (Cat Stevens)
04  "Natural Sinner" - 2:50 (Fair Weather)
05  "United We Stand" - 2:48 (Brotherhood of Man)
06  "Spirit in the Sky" - 3:37 (Norman Greenbaum)
07  "Travelin' Band" - 2:16 (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
08  "I Can't Tell the Bottom from the Top" - 3:42 (The Hollies)
09  "Good Morning Freedom" - 3:07 (Blue Mink)
10  "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" - 3:04 (Nina Simone)
11  "In the Summertime" - 2:51 (Mungo Jerry)
12  "Up Around the Bend" - 2:38 (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
13  "Snake in the Grass" - 3:02 (Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich)
14  "Neanderthal Man" - 3:35 (Hotlegs)
15  "She Sold Me Magic" - 1:56 (Lou Christie)
16  "Come and Get It" - 2:14 (Paul McCartney, popularized by Badfinger)
17  "Love of the Common People" - 2:33 (Waylon Jennings, popular cover by Nicky Thomas)
18  "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" - 2:32 (Stevie Wonder)
19  "It's All in the Game" - 2:23 (Tommy Edwards, popular cover by the Four Tops)
20  "Yellow River" - 2:35 (Christie)
 

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