Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.128) - Ranked #135 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "[T]his set documents why Elton John was one of the biggest-selling pop stars of the Seventies."
Personnel includes: Elton John (vocals, piano, electric piano, organ, Mellotron); Davey Johnstone (acoustic & electric guitars, banjo, background vocals); Frank Clark (acoustic guitar); Clive Hicks (guitar, 12-string guitar); Colin Green (guitar); Jean-Louis Chautemps, Alain Hatot (saxophone); Ivan Jullien (trumpet); Jacques Bolognesi (trombone); Brian Dee (organ); Ken Scott, David Hentschel (ARP synthesizer); Dee Murray (bass, background vocals); Dave Richmond (bass); Nigel Olsson (drums, maracas, background vocals); Barry Morgan (drums); Ray Cooper (tambourine, bells); Carl Wilson, Toni Tenille, Bruce Johnston (background vocals).
Engineers include: Robin Geoffrey Cable, Ken Scott, David Hentschel.
Recorded at Trident Studios, London, England; Strawberry Studios, France; Caribou Ranch, Colorado between 1970 and 1974.
After Elton released 9 records in a four year span and undertook massive tours as well, GREATEST HITS was the second album he put out in 1974. The unprecedented success John had with lyricist Bernie Taupin resulted in a compilation of ten songs of which nine easily landed in Billboard's Top 20 at one point. John's enormous talents enabled him to shift gears from tender balladry ("Your Song") to raucous rock'n'roll ("Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting"), all the while pumping each song with abundant enthusiasm.
Such was the widespread appeal of these compositions that when "Bennie And The Jets" was initially released, many black radio stations added it to their playlists, assuming that the singer was black. Seeing as the former Reginald Dwight had long been enamored of rhythm & blues, this was an easily made mistake. If "Crocodile Rock" gave EJ an outlet for expressing his love of early rock music, then "Border Song" allowed him to display gospel's influence on his music-making, right down to the choir he chose to back him on this song.