"Space Oddity". Their first collaboration was Your Song, with Dudgeon elaborating the simple piano tune and adding an orchestral arrangement by Paul Buckmaster. It reached the US Top 10, becoming John's first substantial hit, and kick-starting "one of the most successful artist-producer pairings of all time, with Dudgeon guiding John throughout the decade and launching such blockbuster albums as Madman Across the Water, Honky Château, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. Elton John trusted Dudgeon’s production instincts to the point that the artist often left the studio after the piano and vocal tracks were laid down, "leaving Dudgeon to create that unique synthesis of orchestral pop and Americana that defined many of John's best recordings". The producer helped to "make John the most successful singles artist of the 1970s, and No. 2 on the album charts behind Elvis Presley". Dudgeon and Elton John formed The Rocket Record Company and put out successful releases for Neil Sedaka and Kiki Dee. However, Dudgeon was sometimes critical of his and Elton John's work, and is quoted in Elizabeth Rosenthal's His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John as slamming 1974's Caribou (which he produced), saying that "the sound is the worst, the songs are nowhere, the sleeve came out wrong, the lyrics weren't that good, the singing wasn't all there, the playing wasn't great and the production is just plain lousy". Dudgeon and Elton John parted company in 1976, re-uniting in 1985 to produce three more albums together. Bowie, Brookes and sampling After leaving Decca, where he had been an engineer on David Bowie's debut, Dudgeon produced Bowie's "Space Oddity" (1969). Tony Visconti agreed to produce the album, but not the single which he regarded as a novelty tune, and suggested Dudgeon instead. He went on to produce Michael Chapman's first three albums, Rainmaker (1969), Fully Qualified Survivor (1970), and Wrecked Again (1971). Each of these albums features string arrangements by Buckmaster. His production of John Kongos' hit "He's Gonna Step on You Again" (1971) used a tape loop of African tribal drumming. The Guinness Book of Records recognised him as the first person to use sampling in music production. He was also credited by Bowie as the voice of the gnome on The Laughing Gnome. In 1972, Dudgeon produced Joan Armatrading's debut, Whatever's for Us, written by Armatrading and her then collaborator Pam Nestor. He also