Breaking Hearts

This is not a critical review, you will have to look for the so called music expert or audiophile for that. I purchased this CD because it was Elton John and for no other reason, let me explain. As a music lover I grew up listening to many styles of music, thanks to my parents I was exposed to blues, country and jazz at an early age. I started collecting music while I was in Jr. High, The Beach Boys, Jan & Dean were probably some of the first, and am still at it. Elton John was one of the artists that I really enjoyed in the 70's and he is one of a very short list that I will purchase, without hearing because I know that I will like the majority, if not all, of the music, this CD was no exception. While I will always be partial to his early music, 11/17/70, Elton John, Tumbleweed Connection, Honky Chateau etc. I have come to enjoy his current offerings as well. I have seen him in concert several times and have always enjoyed the show. Elton John has evolved into a true rock icon.

Elton has never received the accolades he deserves for his vocals. Every song on this album is a perfect vocal gem. If you like to sing and appreciate challenging rock vocals, flawlessly performed, you'll enjoy this album. [Someone in the studio got a tad carried away with sweetening and speeding the backing vocals, though; note second chorus of the title track!]Other highlights: This is a tight, experienced band, and it shows. I've bought every Elton John album since he first came to America, and this one is frequently overlooked. It's just fun. "Slow Down, Georgie" is a kick, and "Did He Shoot Her?" makes my list of all-time favorite Elton songs. Bass and drums THUMP throughout this album! Great job, Nigel!Another reviewer called this album a "Guilty Pleasure." Nevermind the guilt! Just enjoy!

Loved the CD. Arrived early. Thank You Seller

"Breaking Hearts" is perhaps Elton's best album of the eighties. Although his previous album "Too Low For Zero" is considered by many to be his real comeback album after six years of indifference by his fans, this album is better in many ways. It has a more guitar driven sound than any Elton release since "Rock Of The Westies." John is in top vocal form and the songs are at once catchy and remain in the listener's mind long after the album is over. There's not an ounce of filler here. "Restless" is one of his best rockers ever and "Sad Songs Say So Much" is perfect melodic pop. The jaunty "Who Wears These Shoes?" has dark lyrics that oppose the lighthearted aura of the music.When many of Elton's albums were remastered and re-issued about ten years ago, somehow "Breaking Hearts" was left out. Finally the remastering is done but the album is only available as an import. It should be made available here in the states so that old and new fans alike can appreciate one of the best efforts of Elton's long and fruitful career.

This is an Elton album that didn't receive as much "pub" as others. Two songs released as singles.."Who Wears These Shoes?" and "Sad Songs (Say So Much)"As usual, the songs are both contemplative and rockin'I thought I already had the CD version of this album..as I had the CDs of all EJ albums...along with the original vinyl!! What a great surprise to find this album on amazon.com!!

Bought for a couple of songs, discovered a couple more that I really like. I love discovering new music from a favorite artist!

After so many late seventies career problems because of everything going on in his life, Breaking Hearts surprises in that the songwriting and performances are so strong. You can't beat the team of Elton, Bernie, Dee, Davey, and Nigel!!

I've always liked Elton John's music. I have the original LP of Breaking Hearts. It was one of my favorites. Great music, great memories.

This is another of those patchy eighties albums from Elton John, that somehow didn't do it, either for me, or for many others, it would seem. However, listening to it again, I am pleasantly surprised to hear that is much better than I recall. I have owned it for years and not dug it out too often. I am finding it has hidden depths. Bernie Taupin was back with Elton full time now, as he had been on the previous album, the successful "Two Low For Zero". Also, the "Elton John Band" - Dee Murray, Davey Johnstone and Nigel Olson are all present here, which is always a good thing.TRACK LISTING1. Restless2. Slow Down Georgie (She's Poison)3. Who Wears These Shoes4. Breaking Hearts5. Li'l 'Frigerator6. Passengers7. In Neon8. Burning Buildings9. Did He Shoot Her?10. Sad Songs"Restless" get the album off to a fine start with some chunky Stonesy riffs and a confident, lively vocal. "Slow Down Georgie (She's Poison)" is lyrically banal, but is actually quite an exhilarating, upbeat number that gets you singing along, embarrassingly. "Who Wears These Shoes" is, funnily enough, also strangely addictive in its funky liveliness. Maybe it is not quite as ordinary an album as I remembered. The title track is a bleak, sad song, hauntingly sung over a sparse piano and choral backing. "Li'l 'Frigerator" up the tempo once more, with a frantic, typical Elton seventies-style rocker. He does this sort of thing so well. You know, I'm not that big a fan of "Too Low For Zero" and I find I am enjoying this album more, to be honest."Passengers", I have always felt, was a really odd song, with its slightly reggae-ish beat and strange, chanted lyrics. It also has a captivating air about it, though. Maybe this album has a few hidden secrets. "In Neon" (or "Ne-awwwn" as Elton sings it, Jagger style) is a fetching, melodic slow number with that slightly country-ish feel to it that we are so familiar with in John/Taupin compositions. "Burning Buildings" is a big production, dramatic number reminiscent of the material on "Captain Fantastic". "Did He Shoot Her?" is another surprisingly appealing one that I have found I have enjoyed all these years later more than I ever did. Elton's voice sounds excellent here, even though it was only a couple of years away from an operation."Sad Songs" is one we all know - melodic and singalong. It doesn't need further comment from me. What does need to be said, however, that this is a far better album than I had remembered, or is popularly conceived as being. In my view it is the superior, not only of "Jump Up!" but also of "Too Low For Zero".

It was always going to be hard to follow his hugely successful 1983 album, Too low for zero, which is regarded as something a comeback album. Not that Elton had ever been away, but his albums during the period 1977 to 1982 aren't generally held in such high regard as most of his early albums released between 1970 and 1976. Actually, Elton's albums from that period aren't all as bad as some would have you believe. I enjoy some of them, particularly Blue moves and 21 at 33, but it would be fair to say that Elton made some mistakes during that period, the biggest by far being the album Victim of love. So the 1983 comeback (if that's what it was) surprised a lot of people who had written Elton off as a has-been. But with this album, Elton proved that Too low for zero was no fluke. While Breaking hearts doesn't quite match the brilliance of its predecessor, it comes close. With basically the same people involved, and the same recording studio in Montserrat (some years before the volcanic eruption that devastated the island), the sound and style is similar to Too low for zero, the difference being in the songs.Four of the songs here became British hits (though only two were big hits), while there were three hits in America, although only two hits were the same songs in both countries. The standout track on the album is Sad songs say so much. It made the American top five and the British top ten. The second and biggest British hit (where it made the top five) from the album was Passengers. The lyrics are difficult to understand, but the liner notes to this re-mastered CD suggest that it is actually about South African apartheid, so the train and its would-be passengers are metaphorical. Passengers never became an American single, for whatever reason. The third British single and the second American single was Who wears these shoes?. It made the top twenty in America but was only a minor British hit, perhaps because most people who wanted the song bought the album. The third American single, In neon, became a top forty hit there. In Britain, that song was relegated to the B-side, with the A-side being the album's title track, but it was only a minor hit. Again, any Brits who wanted it probably already had the album.The five tracks already mentioned provide reasons enough to buy the album, but the other five tracks (Restless, Slow down Georgie she`s poison, Li'l 'frigate, Burning bridges, Did he shoot her?) are all worth a listen. Perhaps the pick of them is Burning bridges, but there's not a lot to choose between them quality-wise.Buying this album shouldn't take precedence over Too low for zero or Elton's classic albums of the early to mid-seventies. Nevertheless, every self-respecting committed Elton John fan should buy this album eventually.

Not an all-time classic but does have 4 or 5 very good tracks that are well worth listening to if you are keen to discover more.

I was bought this on tape for my birthday when it first came out. Its a great album. Not your typical Elton John. Its upbeat and includes the classics Passengers and In Neon. This remastered CD has no bonus tracks but it doesn't need them. I love this album.

sad songs and passengers Elton biggest his of 1984sad that passengers isn't on latest e album it wasn't a big hit in Americabit hit in the uk peaked at no 5 in august 1984