Відео

I heard that RPM had based the '94 CD cover on one of the original LP covers, but I'd never seen the actual LP cover! I think they chose well and did a good job modifying it for the CD. Strange though how the original LP didn't actually feature any of the reg Dwight recordings on it. In any event, some of those cheap-o bin "Chartbusters" album overs were really risqué.

It’s ironic how he says here that he hates the idea of doing shows in Vegas; he later did two residencies in Vegas. 😂

Whatever happened to that animated movie, I wonder?

Another great video mate. Keep it up. Thank you for the shoutout, here to help any Elton fans. Stay safe and happy. Keep up the good work👍👏

amazing research, well done!

As a long time EJ superfan, I’m curious to know if any of these sleeves or inner sleeves to any of these cover sessions ever had the credits of the studio musicians included? You continue to make great content, by the way. Always have. Thank you!

I'm wondering if you own, or know anything about Elton's publisher's demos, such as the song Desdemona?

When I was in high school, I remember one of my teachers telling me that her cousin (well, more specifically, her former cousin-in-law) was Jeff Christie, who wrote and performed the hit version of "Yellow River". By then the _Reg Dwight's Piano Goes Pop_ CD had been released, and she began the conversation with "You know Matt, Elton John once recorded a song my cousin wrote." I'll never forget that!

Been watching your channel for a long time, even when it was in its first version. Love this new series exploring Elton's session work. Thanks for all your content. I've shared it to the Steve Hoffman Forum Elton John Album discussion 1969-present post. Collecting Elton is also there and shares his content as well. Keep up the good work!

PS - I noticed the sticker on the bottom of the second sleeve you showed. "Alan Finch Promotions"... the same Alan Finch that published _Elton John: An Illustrated Discography_ (UK, 1981)? I'm guessing so.

Quite an impressive collection of cover version singles. I’m really looking forward to hearing what you have to share and see more of your collection!

Enjoyed this and yesterday's episode!

Hmm, I've never heard of this "dark Dutch" sleeve. I have only the standard Dutch Rocket issue.

It's often tempting to call something a "misprint" or error when really a lot of these things are just examples of "variants". "Variants" are multiple versions of the same thing (in this case, the UK 7" sleeve for EJ's "Cold as Christmas") that show tiny differences between them but for which no chronological priority can be established. If chronological priority can be established, then it's a "point of issue" situation (e.g. "first issue, second issue", etc.). Sometimes differences are indeed errors, but in those cases a reasonable basis must exist for believing that one version is "correct" while the other is "incorrect". That's not the situation here. This is a "variant" case. Obviously at some point the artwork changed, but which version came first is anyone's guess. Plus there's no basis for believing that one version is "correct" while the other is not. Some picture sleeves list the B-side on the cover, some don't.

cracking the matrix... congrats!

This looks like a copy of what we used to call the “Dark Dutch” sleeve. It is more difficult to find, but not much more expensive. There was another _Empty Garden_ sleeve from the Netherlands that more closely matched the standard UK sleeve except for the catalog number and it is much more common.

I love those Portuguese sleeves!

Really like that cover art of the Portugal Bitch Is Back, nice one. Bad news? Hope all OK with you. Thnx heaps for sharing.😀

Another enjoyable video, Jay. Question: Does the sleeve (at 00:51) give an artist credit for that cover illustration? It looks like it could've been done by the same person who did the EJ illustration for the 1975 cover of _Time_ magazine.

You could count on Portugal to do something out of left field (sorry for the US figure of speech). Most other territories just used a version of the _Rock of the Westies_ artwork. Two great new additions to your collection. Thanks for sharing again! (Those sleeves were much easier to see in detail without the glare off the protective sleeves-great work!)

00:20 This sleeve is one of my all-time favorites. I'm not always so crazy about Elton's crazy outfits but there's just something about the way this sleeve's been designed. It would've made a good sleeve design for a live album, I think.

Rocket XPRES 60 was Judie Tzuke “Higher and Higher”/“City of Swimming Pools”. I don’t think there was an XPRES 64, 66, or 70.

Again, a very impressive collection!

John Punter, the man who produced Judie Tzuke's 1979 LP on Rocket Records, later moved to Canada and opened a pub in my hometown. I spent many wobbly nights in that pub and even spoke with John a few times. He was nice and we talked about music. But it was only after I moved away that I realized who he was. I'd have loved to ask him questions about his Judie Tzuke years.

A very nice rundown of the initial XPRES releases. There was an XPRES 20 with “Mamma Can’t Buy You Love”/“Strangers” (misspelling “Mama”) but it was quickly withdrawn and replaced by XPRES 21 “Victim of Love”/“Strangers”. I can understand if you didn’t want to show the later Rocket single for fear of being demonetized by UA-cam. They do have community standards to uphold!!

A very nice collection of vintage recordings!

I very much enjoyed this video, Jay. Yours is a great, impressive collection. My comments on specific discs: 01:39 - Are you sure that's an original (1965) pressing? Looks like the 2016 UK RSD reissue. 02:49 - I had no idea a red vinyl version of that existed. I'll have to check that out. I have only the standard, black vinyl copy. 03:17 - A radio station copy! Had no idea those existed. Mine's a stock copy. Nice to see you have the Congress factory sleeve too. Those are tough to find. 03:33 - I've been looking for one of those. It's a reissue, yes, but more specifically it's an unauthorized reissue; so, you can't get 'em anymore via Discogs. I'd love to have one someday. 04:31 - Country/region? Looks like a Norwegian copy - still pretty rare, like the UK issue. 05:02 - I have one of those (1991 reissue) but, despite the "STEREO" on the label, both sides play in mono. I suspect that the "stereo" indicator was a design error. 05:14 - Beautiful sleeve on that. And in great condition too. 06:30 - Is that an original sleeve or is it a facsimile? I ask because it's cropped differently than my copy. I'm wondering if that's a variant issue or something(?). 06:41 - Same question: Is the sleeve a facsimile? The cropping is tighter than on my copy. 07:27 - Whoa, I'm pretty sure that's a pre-1965 Bluesology lineup but Reg would've been in the group. And Little Richard toured the UK in 1964. Perhaps that was when this was recorded? Nice item for sure.

I have one copy of _Diamonds_ and it's the standard black vinyl 2LP. I'm so tired of seeing this package reissued a hundred different ways every year.

Hey guys! Jay, your copy of _GG_ is the same as my copy right down to the matrix number. I played my copy again and it has none of the mono mix "indicators": "Valhalla" fades early, "Western Ford" has the double guitar, there's no extended whistling on "Hymn 2000", and "Lady" has the piano intro. So, there's no way this boot was sourced from a mono copy. And when I play "Skyline Pigeon", the vocals and harpsichord are separated in the channels. That said, the stereo effect seems narrower across the album. That may be because the high end is very dull on my copy. I can also hear what sounds like tape hiss at the end of some tracks, which in one or two cases seems to drop out and then in again between tracks. I wonder if they rolled off the high end to subdue some of the hiss? Anyway, the _GG_ boot was for American buyers and (if I recall correctly) was also made in the US. Would the mastering engineer have cut the lacquers directly from another LP or would they have transferred the source LP to 1/4" tape first? Perhaps they used a cassette copy (assuming that _ES_ was available on cassette in the early 70s -- I don't know much about the DJM cassettes). If the makers of _GG_ made their own cutting tape from a legitimate source, perhaps they narrowed the stereo a bit so that it wasn't so "sixties"-sounding(?).

While I don’t have your records or files to compare, I do have a few ideas for you to try while waiting for Matt to respond. To my mind, the most obvious song difference would be found on “Skyline Pigeon” with its hard channel separation during the opening verse. However, if the boot is a fold-down, this may be difficult to perceive. Judging by the timings seen on the rear CD panel at the 9:55 mark on Collecting Elton’s recent video, the running times are fairly similar to my stock Empty Sky CD with the exception of “Hymn 2000” which is listed at either 4:46 or 4:48 (my eyesight isn’t what it used to be) which is a good 15 seconds longer than my CD version. Assuming the song titles and times are not simply a scan of the West German CD, you may be able to compare the running time of “Hymn 2000” on your digital mono copy with the Gulliver’s Gone track and see if there is a significant difference in time. This should help determine if this is a modification/remastering from a stereo copy or a mono copy. Just an idea.

I tend to agree with you. The style doesn’t sound like Elton and the Moog would be a strange choice for him. It is a nice mystery, though!

Wow! In a way, I kind of like that sleeve concept.

Question: In a comment you left on one of my videos, you said that one of your copies of the _Gulliver's Gone_ boot was in mono. Which issue of _GG_ is that? There were several; I have only one and it plays in stereo. Plus, do you know for sure if your mono _GG_ is a copy of the true mono mix or is it a fold-down?

Hi Jay -- I knew that Epic had released _The Superior Sound_ in Spain in 1983 but I wasn't aware at all of the other releases. And, off the top of my head, I have nothing even to suggest as to why Epic was chosen for any of those releases. The rights would've been DJM's at the time (so, this is still several years pre-Polygram), but I cannot find evidence of any pre-1983 connection between DJM and Epic in any part of the world. I can only speculate that perhaps Epic offered DJM the best deal for distribution in that territory. Copies of the earlier albums were badly needed there by the mid-80s, anyway. It seems _Superior Sound_ came out first and the others followed.

Very interesting, as usual. Thanks for sharing!

I was looking forward to your thoughts on ROKN 503, the Ebenezer Moog reissue from 1975. I believe ROKN 504 was a pressed, but quickly withdrawn Mutter Slater single and that catalog number is officially “unallocated”. The A-side was replaced and Mutter Slater reappeared on ROKN 510 (also on ROKN 507 as a member of Stackridge. Also the “Definitely NOT Thomas the Tank Engine” Rocket Choo Choo runs counterclockwise on the PIGs and clockwise on the ROKNs (which I thought was a better design as the train ran in the direction of rotation on the turntable).

_The Superior Sound of Elton John_ was released in Spain on the Epic label in 1983, and it appears that the rest of Elton’s studio catalog was released there on Epic in 1984. I have the _Tumbleweed Connection_ release manufactured in Madrid by Discos CBS, S.A. and I have seen photos for most of the others through _Rock of the Westies_ (I haven’t yet seen examples of the Greatest Hits compilations or the live albums, but they may also exist. I don’t think they used old DJM stampers, but I’ll have to check that, too.

Thanks for removing the protective outer sleeve from the Russian flexi-disc. It was so much easier to see the artwork without the glare of lights on the protective cover.

Top man

You showed what a Great Band E.J & the Boys were with that stripped down version. No one played music like that; that’s why we Love them.

The "Candle" sleeve is my favorite.

Wow. I don't have many of these or many of the Portuguese singles either. I love the sleeves. I also had no idea "Soul Glove" had ever been released as a single anywhere. Great song.

I've been clicking "Like" on all these videos, Jay. I'm really enjoying them.

I have that "Hoop" double promo too. Is it me or are the two discs exactly the same? Also... that Yellow Brick Road single sleeve is just plain bizarre, eh?

A lot of the Dutch sleeves are among my favorites for those singles. Really nice.

Another great and informative video! Thanks. I have the Russian GBYBR and Single Man and their titles are in Russian. Belated Happy Holidays to you.

Awesome number of 45s that you have collected, lots of really unique picture covers and pressings. Are you a completist collector for the countries you have in your collection? Thnx heaps for sharing😀😀😀

Are most of these on iTunes or spatify?

Nice to see your getting your teeth into these jay

There are a large number of Elton LPs, particularly from Central & South America that have the titles in other languages, Mexico, Columbia, Argentina, Peru etc. But also Russia (Soviet Union), and a few other assorted variations from other places. If you also collect 45 picture sleeves, the number just grows, with a huge number of titles in non-English titles. Merry Christmas to you and Spikey!