Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (Deluxe Edition)

“Hardly a hero,” Elton “Captain Fantastic” John introduces himself in the title track, “just someone his mother might know.” In this concept album’s narrative, the star’s self-mocking uber-hero persona was quickly discarded (the Brown Dirt Cowboy was lyricist/Western fetishist Bernie Taupin); the overall theme is the team’s struggling early days. This set — the first rock LP to debut at Number One in Billboard — reflected the omnivorous stylistic leaps that accompanied Elton’s rise. Epic ballads (“Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” “Curtains”) sat next to smirking hard rock (“(Gotta Get a) Meal Ticket”) and Philly soul (“Tell Me When the Whistle Blows”). It was his melodic gift, not to mention the band’s tightness, that held it all together. This deluxe edition features bonuses in two Number One singles (“Philadelphia Freedom” and “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”), two B-sides (“House of Cards” and John Lennon’s “One Day at a Time”) and a Wembley Stadium-recorded take on the entirety of Captain Fantastic from June 1975, the month of its release.