It also doesn’t appear to have any of the so-called “Nick Drake sessions”. I was always a big fan of When The Day Is Done:
So exciting! I didn't buy any of them. To be fair, Queen don't have many non album B-sides and most of the ones they do have are poor, but a CD box set of demos and other unreleased stuff would be great as long as there's enough that's worth releasing. No alternate mix or instrumental backing track type rubbish. Depending on the price I could be interested in the Elton box for the 60s stuff. It looks very special. It's been a while since a major artist has done this kind of thing. It seems that he's done a great job of keeping his tapes.
Seasons: The Early Love Songs was a UK-only, cassette-exclusive scheduled for release in 1984 on the Cambra label. It was a 2-cassette package housed inside a slipcase. For some reason (and I've never been able to figure it out), Cambra stopped its release at the very last minute, even though they'd already produced a run of stock copies. Over the years copies have turned up on the collector's market, and they're very pricey of course, mainly because Side 1 contains the master of "Rebecca." I even suspect that Yellow Dog sourced the track for its Dick James Demos Vol. 3 boot from a copy of the Seasons compilation. And you're correct; there isn't much information available online about it. But here's its entry in Discogs: Elton John - Seasons - The Early Love Songs . Perhaps it's been lost or destroyed. But no, as you point out, it couldn't have been a casualty of the 2008 fire, since that would've wiped out all the DJM demo tapes. Perhaps there just wasn't enough room for both versions, and Elton (or someone else at Rocket) simply preferred the piano demo. Frankly, I've always found the master version kind of overdone anyway (though it's nowhere near as bad as The Equalizer's cover version of it!). That's the one. And, even though its label says Plastic Penny (and that may well be Plastic Penny on backup), it's definitely EJ on lead vocal. Oh, it's a catchy song! I recall the chorus: "For today's the day, I'm gonna see my baby / For the last two weeks, I thought that I'd go crazy / Can't live without you, girl / Can't live without you, girl..." (So, obviously the lyrics weren't particularly great. But the tune, man. It's a great tune.)
I've often wondered whether the original tapes for those sessions even exist anymore. Every boot I've ever heard of the “Nick Drake sessions” (a.k.a. the Saturday Sun Sessions) was clearly sourced from one of the hundred or so white-label LPs from 1970. But, even if the original tapes are now gone, EJ certainly hasn't forgotten about those recordings. I found it interesting that, when he sold nearly all his vinyl LPs in the early 1990s, among the very few he kept was his own copy of the Saturday Sun Sessions disc. I suspect he didn't want bootleggers to get it; I also suspect he'd realized the importance of preserving such things. Because he'd parted with early Reg Dwight stuff before (i.e. acetates, etc., some of which he'd given away to friends back in the early 1970s) and later regretted it, I think.
Found a Ebay UK listing for the cassette: Elton John - Seasons The Early Love Songs Cassette | eBay I've noticed most of the Dick James demo boots are playing slower (or in a lower pitch) than it actually should. I've compared Sing Me No Sad Songs that's on Spotify with the bootlegged version; The official release has the speed/pitch correct.
It looks like Sean Magee is mastering this. The forum seems to have a positive opinion of this guy, but I haven't heard anything. Looks like his 2015 Rush cds have a high dynamic range. For those of you in the know, what should we expect from his mastering?
Wow! I nearly bought it (what a great price!) but realized that it's missing Cassette 2. Oh well, the seller won't ship to the US anyway. Yes, I noticed that too when I heard the Yellow Dog boots the first time. Some tracks even change speed/pitch mid-song (e.g., "There's Still Time for Me"), and you can tell it's a source limitation and not an intentional key change or anything like that. I think most tracks on those three boots were sourced from tapes, not discs; you can hear the hiss. And they couldn't have been fresh dubs, either; "Thank You for All Your Loving" on the second volume, for example, sounds like a dub of a dub of a dub, etc. I figure that, somewhere along the way, someone made a set of tapes using some small, crappy machine, or perhaps a good one but with failing batteries(?)
Hey, I just noticed that EJ's YouTube channel has uploaded "Snow Queen" too. Sure, it's YouTube audio but it sounds far better than any copy I have!
I was hoping this release would have a sonically-improved version of Rock Me When He's Gone. Oh well.
As a big Elton fan this is absolutely wonderful. As others have posted, I never thought something like this would come to market. To be a special project for him makes it a must buy even though I don’t need cds 1, 2 and 8. I have his catalog in many variants, MCAs, remasters, polydors, sacds, MFSLs, SHM-CD, etc. This is like Diamonds deep cuts, Rare Masters 2, and a pre fame Demos album all released as one set without any of the hits being included. A true treasure trove for the fan and worthy release. I much prefer this to buying deluxe Expanded versions of his whole catalog over 10 years lol. the mastering will probably not be the best, but I’ll take it. Complete surprise this didn’t leak either. No pondering what the final track list was going to be for months, just boom, it announced. very excited here.
Okay so pardon my lack of expertise on the Elton catalogue, but weren't there 2 b-sides from the "I've Been Loving You" single that were only available in like, Portugal? The songs in question were "Angel Tree" and "Thank You for All Your Loving." Are the versions on here gonna be those versions? I'm assuming not, but I don't know.
Depends on who's pulling the strings. If they allow extra money for a dedicated mastering, they may let him do a dynamic one for the LP's. However my guess for digital, the powers that be may want a compressed mastering for streaming/portables. (bright/loud)
Re-reading the PR, I see EJ’s only doing track-by-track commentary for the first two discs: “including a track-by-track commentary by Elton for Deep Cuts.”Perhaps in my excitement I skipped over that initially. Still a cool set, but I was looking forward to hearing EJ rip on Regimental Sergeant Zippo and other tracks of the era! Oh well, can’t have everything!
I probably could have held out for the vinyl sets with the material I'm most interested in, but I sprung for the full 8-CD set. Pre-ordered today.
A beauty but cds, really? A non starter for me. No offense to those that are still buying them. Love the packaging! edit: actually, after reading through some posts they are right to just go cd. Most of the material is likely not great quality, and a vinyl set this expansive would be very expensive. Kudos to him and his team for putting something out like this for true fans. Shows, imo, that he appreciates them and this is really a gift to them.
I'm not a massive EJ fan, but I'll be all over this. I love this kind of material, but I also want to support a project like this. If it succeeds, I hope it inspires others to open the vaults!
"In terms of vinyl, you have three options: all 31 ‘Deep Cuts‘ from the first two CDs in the box set are available as a 4LP set. Additionally there is a ‘Rarities & B-sides 3LP vinyl package. This features just over half (‘highlights’) of the 65 rarities from the CD box and just five of the 36 B-sides from the eight-CD box. Finally the ‘And This Is Me‘ compilation which completes the box set is also available as a 2LP vinyl package."
Really wanting that on vinyl. For the life of me I can’t believe it didn’t come out with the last batch of reissues.
It seems like with all the unreleased tracks from this album, there might have been enough for a second album.
