pulling John back from the brink of suicide before an aborted wedding to pickled-onion heiress Linda Woodrow. But the entire album flows through boogie rock, breezy pop, ersatz Philly soul, Queen-like prog and rhinestone country flashes with masterful tunes, restless arrangements and Taupin's typically oblique but image-rich lyrics.

The major selling point of this double-disc edition is a gutsy seventy-one-minute live set recorded at Wembley Stadium just a month after Captain Fantastic's release. Although he'd score several dozen additional hits, John's craft and commercial savvy would never again attain this poptastic synergy.