Love Songs is a compilation album by British musician Elton John. It was released on 6 November 1995 by John's own label The Rocket Record Company, in conjunction with Mercury Records, and in North America by MCA Records on 24 September 1996. In the US, it was certified gold in December 1996, platinum in March 1997, double platinum in December 1998 and triple platinum in August 2000 by the RIAA.

It was a major success on its release, topping the album charts in three countries and certified platinum in eleven countries and multi-platinum in seven. It spawned a music video compilation, which was originally released on LaserDisc, VHS and VCD.

Background

Elton John had originally released an album called Love Songs in 1982 through his own label, The Rocket Record Company. It focused mostly on the period of 1976–1982, when John and Bernie Taupin took a break in their collaboration and John was mostly writing with other lyricists such as Gary Osborne and Tim Rice. "Blue Eyes" and "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" are the only two songs from that album are featured in this new collection.

On the US version, ten of the fifteen tracks had been released in the period since the now-deleted Greatest Hits Volume 3 collection, including John's second tenure on MCA Records and two songs from the then-recent Made in England. (Two of these tracks, however, were live versions of old songs, namely "Candle in the Wind" and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"). "You Can Make History (Young Again)" and "No Valentines" were the two new songs made specifically for this release.

The UK version saw an alternate track order with the inclusion of such songs as "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues", "Nikita", "True Love" (a duet with Kiki Dee), "Please", "Song for Guy", and the original version of "Candle in the Wind". In addition, "Blessed" is represented as the single edit on both versions. "You Can Make History (Young Again)" and "No Valentines" did not appear on this version since they were recorded after its release.

Track listing

All songs written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, except where noted.

Notes

  • Due to a production error, the US CD booklet and cassette lyric sheet provide the lyrics for "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" directly after "Candle in the Wind".
  • The phonographic copyright of the compilation is owned by William A. Bong Ltd. and is exclusively licensed to Mercury Records Ltd.

Music video compilation

  1. "Sacrifice"
  2. "Candle in the Wind (Live in Australia, 1984)"
  3. "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues"
  4. "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" (Live duet with George Michael)
  5. "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word (Live in Barcelona, 1992)"
  6. "Blue Eyes"
  7. "Daniel (Live in Australia, 1984)"
  8. "Nikita"
  9. "Your Song (Live at Wembley Stadium, 1984)"
  10. "The One"
  11. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight (Live in Edinburgh, 1976)"
  12. "True Love" (Duet with Kiki Dee)
  13. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight"
  14. "Circle of Life"
  15. "Blessed"
  16. "Please"
  17. "Song for Guy (Live in Australia, 1984)"
  18. "Believe"

Charts

Weekly charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+Chart performance for Love Songs

|-

!scope="col"|Chart (1995–2007)

!scope="col"|Peak<br/>position

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Canadian Albums (RPM)

|11

|-

!scope="row"|Chilean Albums (APF)

|1

|-

!scope="row"|Danish Albums (IFPI)

|4

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Estonian Albums (Eesti Top 10)

|align="center"|2

|-

|-

!scope="row"|French Compilations (SNEP)

|1

|-

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Italian Albums (FIMI)

|2

|-

!scope="row"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)

|9

|-

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Portuguese Albums (AFP)

|2

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Spanish Albums (AFYVE)

|8

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|}

Year-end charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+ Year-end chart performance for Love Songs

!scope="col"|Chart (1995)

!scope="col"|Position

|-

!scope="row"|Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)

|61

|-

!scope="row"|French Albums (SNEP)

|40

|-

!scope="row"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)

|62

|-

!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)

|12

|}

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|-

!scope="col"|Chart (1996)

!scope="col"|Position

|-

!scope="row"|Australian Albums (ARIA)

|47

|-

!scope="row"|Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)

|32

|-

!scope="row"|Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)

|25

|-

!scope="row"|German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)

|43

|-

!scope="row"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)

|51

|-

!scope="row"|Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)

|19

|-

!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)

|77

|}

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|-

!scope="col"|Chart (1997)

!scope="col"|Position

|-

!scope="row"|Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)

|56

|-

!scope="row"|US Billboard 200

|82

|}

Certifications

Release history

{|class="wikitable"

! Region

! Date

! Label

! Format

! Catalogue

|-

| Europe

| 6 November 1995

| Rocket/Mercury Records

| CD

| 528,788-2

|-

|rowspan="2"| North America

|rowspan="2"| 24 September 1996

|rowspan="2"| MCA Records

| Cassette

| MCAC-11481

|-

| CD

| MCAD-11481

|-

| United States

| 2001

| Island Records

| CD

| 314,548,841-2

|-

|}

References

  • Lyrics for Love Songs at BernieTaupin.com