“ELTON JOHN”By Philip Norman Harmony Books ($22.50)*...

“ELTON JOHN”

By Philip Norman

Harmony Books ($22.50)

* *

The author of the acclaimed Beatle bio “Shout!” tracks John’s trajectory with a thoroughness nearly as compulsive as the rock star’s preoccupation with household tidiness. It’s a proper and predictable job, tracing John’s professional, social and sexual behavior to the usual psychological suspects (remote, strict father, attentive mother). The conflicted pop hero is a dimensional central figure, but the book never achieves literary liftoff. Credibility problems also crop up: Norman’s summary of the Sex Pistols saga is as misleading as the work of the tabloid press he decries, and some obvious errors (he doubles the size of the 3,000-seat Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and renames Bruce Springsteen’s Asbury Park hometown Ashbury Park) cast a nagging shadow.