Oil Well – RSC 091 CD
1 When The First Tear Shows 3:07
2 Thank You For All Your Loving 3:30
3 Sitting Doing Nothing 2:44
4 Turn To Me 2:46
5 Angel Tree 2:02
6 Sixty Years On 4:17
7 The Flowers Will Never Die 2:52
8 Sing Me No Sad Songs 2:40
9 In The Morning 2:48
10 Where It's At 2:03
11 I Get A Little Bit Lonely 2:18
12 A Dandelion Dies In The Wind 3:14
13 You'll Be Sorry To See Me Go 2:48
14 Tartan Coloured Lady 4:12
15 Hour Glass 2:57
16 Taking The Sun From My Eyes 2:49
Total duration: 46:49
Note
All songs by Bernie Taupin/ Elton John
Live in Birmingham, UK - March 3, 1969 - Vol.2
All songs recorded in 1968
Track 1 recorded on February 1968
Track 3 recorded on March 7, 1968 (take 4)
Tracks 4,12,15 recorded on March 10, 1968
Track 5 recorded on January 11, 1968 (take 3) / Backing vocals: January 19
Track 13 recorded on April 4, 1968 (take 3)
Track 14 recorded on February 16, 1968 (take 11)
Lineup
This bootleg is a digital clone of: Dick James Demos Vol.2
Second volume of demos Elton cut for Dick James Music. The recording is actually a rare reissue of the Dick James Demo tracks recorded between 1968 and 1970.
Please note that: track 1,2,3,4,5,6,12,14 are 2nd mixes.
On the quantity of Elton's bootleg CDs compared to other artists, the discourse made for the LPs is very few, ie they are very few in proportion to the available material, Dick James Demo Vol1,2,3 are three of the best known bootlegs of Elton John with the concert at Hammersmith Odeon in London 1973.
Audio quality: 
Quality content:
© Official released material:
Elton John and Dick Jame's DJM RecordsWhile Elton John & Bernie Taupin were signed to a contract that was typical for the time, it only seemed unfair by the standards of two decades later. Dick James' side of the story was that he invested heavily in Elton's career, and gave Elton unlimited access to a recording studio for nearly two years with unlimited recording budgets, not just to record piano/vocal demos or band demos, but also fully arranged polished recordings with horn & string arrangements. The idea was to help Elton develope his studio craftsmanship. James would then decide when Elton had produced something good enough to offer to the public. Without this unique, fortunate opportunity to develope his craft, he wouldn't have become as musically significant as he later became.
When Reginald Kenneth Dwight was signed up as a recording artist in 1967, his new mentor, Dick James, declared Reg was no name for a pop singer. So the young Dwight went to the deed poll and emerged as Elton Hercules John. Giving himself a middle nom de plume was a flourish that was to become characteristic.
With immediate success, James packaged Elton John as a sensitive singer- songwriter, which was pop's growth industry on the cusp of the Seventies. With his songwriting partner, Bernie Taupin, Elton wrote mournful numbers that were particularly well received in student bed-sits. But, by 1972, introspection was beginning to pale as a sales tool. So Elton reinvented himself as a Liberace for the glitter age, all stack heels, spangled coats and sequinned underwear. He even made a spectacle of his physical shortcomings, with drawers full of silly glasses.
There was something warm and friendly about the excess, though; he looked daft, never threatening. In the height of his Seventies success, Elton was the kind of pop star mums didn't mind their children worshipping. By the end of Eighties, 20 gold albums later, he was the kind of star children didn't mind their mums worshipping. Perhaps it was his shape: he was a cuddly kind of idol.
But - like some morality tale for kids with stars in their eyes - despite his success, Elton was not a happy little idol. He was an accomplished social mover, friend of royalty and jolly chat- show guest, but in private he was prone to extensive periods of depression and self-loathing, known as 'Reg's little moments'. These centred on his sexuality, his appearance, his retracting hairline . . . almost every aspect of his character.
Elton John's first album review
Elton John has no shortage of classic albums that can be seen as both revolutionary and standing the test of time, but this self-titled second album sees John return to the studio with an even more polished production than was heard on Empty Sky. While I adore Empty Sky, Elton John has that recognisable Elton John sound signature and it is more realised in both sonic and lyrical terms.
Released in April of 1970, Elton John features his breakthrough and likely most recognisable song, Your Song. As the first song on the album, the piano introduction, with the vocal accompaniment, builds into an incredible song that is simply one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded. If you don't feel the need to sing-a-long to this song, you're not listening correctly? It is gorgeous from the first note and I never tire of it.
Elton John is one of the greatest recordings in Rock/Pop history. Yes, we will all point to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road as being John’s pinnacle, but there is much to love about this self-titled release.
When I set out to review this album, I was aware of the various releases and masterings that exist. While I haven't heard the 2004 Multichannel SACD or the SHM SACD from Japan, I’m informed the Japanese release is subtly better. Although, as with everything, better is a subjective term. Subsequently, I based this review on the 24/96 kHz MQA edition streaming on TIDAL Hi-Fi. Yes, I also listened to the remastered 16/44.1 kHz CD edition, also on TIDAL Hi-Fi, and the differences were significant. The standard remastered CD lacked emphasis, soundstage, and felt flat when compared directly to the MQA edition. Hence, I’m intrigued to hear how good the SACD versions are by comparison. One problem, however, is the Japanese release is twice the price of the standard SACD and lacks the multichannel mix. Most normal music fans would say just enjoy the MQA version. Truth be told, the average fan would be content with the standard CD or MP3 equivalent. I wish I could say that I could be satisfied with whichever release comes down the pipeline, but once you have heard how different, different masterings can be, you tend to not settle for a lesser option be it MP3 or high-res, for both can produce substandard results if the mastering was done in haste. Of course, the problem is that I, like most people, don’t have an endless supply of cash and l'm also limited by the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor). I have to be honest, the amount my beloved has allowed me to spend on music is significant and I can't thank her enough for allowing me to partake in this hobby. But, whatever you do dear reader, don't tell her that!
https://www.subjectivesounds.com/musicblog/2017/12/18/elton-john-self-titled-album-review
Regimental Sgt. Zippo Archival album by Elton John
I won’t go into too much detail; I do hope to turn readers onto unsung albums, but in this case, only a select few special people – I’m not bragging – have been able to listen to ‘Zippo’ so far, though I do hope it eventually receives a proper release. But to continue analysing how the album would’ve been a disservice to the now-recognised intuitiveness of Elton John, he isn’t particularly aware of who his audience is, writing and singing about this and that, sometimes the old-fashioned, sometimes the sunshiny – none of this was destined for pop success.
I’d say this is what South Park was referencing when he’s shown onstage singing ‘Cheddar Cheese Girl’, but he had already started working with Bernie Taupin at this point, but the two heads would only better one by saluting other ‘60s products while doing little else. Of course, Elton named himself after John Lennon, a hero of his, and as you may be able to tell by the title, ‘Sgt. Zippo’ is pepper-ish.
And that would’ve been its downfall; its cloning. Check out the Beatles harmonies on the pre-chorus of ‘Sitting Doing Nothing’ – seriously, that’s John, Paul and George warming up for ‘Because’, right?
The title track is pretty rocking, and its post-chorus section is reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s ‘Corporal Clegg’, though that was likely unintentional due to timing, but while we’re on the subject of 1968 records, the most apparent clone on ‘Zippo’ might be ‘Odessey and Oracle’-era Zombies…
My word, everything about ‘Hour Glass’ is Zombies reanimated, from the precise tone of the piano, to the way the chorus settles with ‘Time of the Season’ harmonies. ‘A Dandelion Dies in the Wind’ fits the same piano tone, as quaint chord thrusts enter, completely unsettled, though unlike ‘Odessey’, it’s also haphazardly underproduced, though I guess that’s not so bad given that this isn’t a real album.
‘Tartan Coloured Lady’ is baroque and awe, ardently Argent with harpsichords and flutes that smell like the grass of Ashfield Park. ‘Watching the Planes Go By’ and ‘And the Clock Goes Round’ don the same colours, though the squall of “the pendulum swiiings” on the latter is all Elton, and there’s something particularly magical about that.
And there’s something magical about much of ‘Zippo’ for that reason; those moments in which Elton pokes his nose in and acts like himself. Does the cloning make this a bad album? No, it’s just a little indecisive; curious more than it is capitalistic, bound to be lost in the ‘60s shuffle, but full of solid tunes.You’ll receive a helping of soul from ‘Nina (You’re My Woman)’, on which Elton truly shows off his vocal chops, and opening ditty ‘When I Was Tealby Abbey’ is far more Elton, even if he is whimsically taking the frame of a Lincolnshire parish, he’s hitting those notes like how we expect Elton to – though, I guess he always had the personality.
My personal favourite is ‘Turn to Me’, with its impressive, fill-heavy drums – let’s put the catchiness aside for now, as for some reason, half-militant, pow-pow-pow beats were incorporated, alongside a fitting trumpet. Most of these elements would usually just make it an unapologetic late ‘60s-early ‘70s album track, but it’s all so tactful and harmonic.
Oh man, you wanted a late ‘60s-early ‘70s album track, you got it with ‘Angel Tree’, which shies away from going full-Bo Diddley, but maintains that Stones-style old school carry-over with bright-but-rough acoustic guitar, badly double-tracked vocals, and not much else. For more of that ilk, ‘You’ll Be Sorry to See Me Go’ is genuine single material, albeit lo-fi, but a hardcore Jagger impression, that nobody could distract themselves from, just won’t leave us alone. Even the guitars and stray tambourines smother the track in Stones quota.
Yes, it always comes back to the sound-alikes. It’s the inescapable signature of ‘Regimental Sgt. Zippo’, one that gets in the way of the fun of listening to Elton John, unless for you that includes listening to his nineteen-year-old form do a few impressions at a talent show. But please listen when you eventually can, because it’s a quaint time capsule; a nugget released in the era of ‘Nuggets’. It’s Elton John trying on a few different suits – sure, the pain of an outcast wishing to fit in may exist in its framework, but ‘Regimental Sgt. Zippo’ is an alluring pop beginning; a beginning that never really was.
Elton John’s importance spreads further than pop music, as his sexuality, which he had often coupled with his own individuality, has also become a source of influence – it’s not about being popular, it’s about what you do with your popularity. I’d like to use this opportunity to say I hope you’ve all had a happy Pride Month, as it comes to an end in less than a week, and also to remind you to do whatever you can do feel comfortable in your own skin, to make your existence as peaceful as possible.
Tune in to Elton John’s YouTube channel tomorrow at 10PM BST (June 25th), to find out what pride means to him and his partner David Furnish, alongside special guests, all in support of the Elton John AIDs Foundation.
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