Customer Reviews

Rare Masters

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I understand that apparently most (all?) of the rarities on this box set are available on the newly-remastered individual albums as bonuses. But even if that's true, who cares? The fact that the soundtrack to "Friends" has been re-released in ANY form is worth the price of admission in itself, as it is quite simply the loveliest soundtrack work Elton has ever done (forget "The Lion King"!), weaving light rock/pop and orchestrations into a distinctive whole of hippie innocence. As wonderful as this all is, there is one complaint I have--one which annoys me to no end and the only thing that keeps me from awarding this set five stars. The song sequence of the "Friends" soundtrack, for some weird reason, has been slightly juggled. Why, I don't know, as I can't think of any good reason for it. But this means that those of us who adored the vinyl version of it first won't be able to listen to it in the same order that was on our old records. Some probably won't notice this, but I found it annoying because I loved the original song sequence exactly as it was. I've actually gone through the trouble of using my CD-burner to make a backup of my own "Friends" CD with the songs in their original sequence. The box is otherwise perfect and the songs magnificent throughout, but be prepared to have to do at least some track-play programming every time you insert the CD if you want to hear "Friends" the same way you did all those tender years ago.

When I was a lot younger I bought all of Elton John's albums and singles on vinyl. When I upgraded my albums to CD I was disappointed (at first) to find that many of the B-sides that appeared on singles were not issued to CD. Later releases of Elton John's 1970s era albums contain many of these B-sides as bonus tracks. So buyer beware if you have the later EJ reissues.

This set is great because nearly all of the 1970s era B-sides are in one place. These are oddities and rarities, some very beautiful. One of them, "Skyline Pidgeon" is one of my all time EJ favorites. This version is better than the harpsicord based original that appears on 1969's "Empty Sky" album. This version of "Skyline Pidgeon," often called the "piano version" was issued in 1973 as the B-side to the hit single "Daniel". It was probably recorded at the same time as the "Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player" album.

Besides the famous "I Saw Her Standing There" live duet with John Lennon (which also appears on the extended edition of "Here And There"), one of the prettiest Elton John tracks on this collection is "One Day At A Time." This beautifully produced piece was issued as the B-side to Elton John's #1 hit single, "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds." Yes, the A-side was penned by Lennon/McCartney. "One Day At the Time" was written and originally recorded by John Lennon and appeared on his "Mind Games" album in late 1973. You know what? I always liked Elton John's version of this song better than Lennon's.

"Step into Christmas" is a great holiday track to which I bought and still own the original 45. The B-side to this record was the hilarious "Ho Ho Ho Who'd Be A Turkey at Christmas". I'm sure this was recorded as a throwaway for the single.. but hey... it is funny and reminds me of "B-B-B-Bennie & the Jets"... Funky little holiday song that goes by each year unnoticed by the masses.

Three Dog Night recorded a version of Elton John's "Lady Samantha". In this case Elton's original is much better than the cover version. Good thing it is included here.

Finally, I never saw the movie "Friends," but am happy the entire soundtrack to "Friends" is included here. The title song was a minor hit single for Elton John and its b-side "Honey Roll" appears for the first and only time on CD.

Be aware that some of these songs also appear on the 1990 boxed set "To Be Continued". Whatever the case may be, most Elton John fans will be happy to own this CD set.

This 2-CD set is where you can obtain the "Friends" music from the movie, "Friends" (1971) on CD.

I was delighted to find this 1992-release 2CD set for sale in November 1993 in a music retail store in Melbourne without having being aware previously of its existence. What a great find, I exulted!! I already knew of these songs via a 1981 Elton John discography I had read, but was pessimistic about tracking down the ridiculously overpriced original 7" vinyl singles needed to complete my collection of Elton's early work.

Some great stuff on here that you won't hear on any other Elton album (or anywhere else for tht matter):

1968 I've Been Loving You - his first single. Not real great but, hey, everyone's got to start somewhere!
1969 Lady Samantha - groovy evocative song, the best of his pre-fame singles
1970 B-sides Grey Seal and Bad Side Of The Moon. The latter has a catchy repeated intro line that I still can't figure out what they're singing despite many, many listens; it sounds like "Who's a mile high, who's a mile high ...!!" but I could be wrong there!
1970 Friends - a nice song , sort of romantic and sentimental
1970 Can I Put You On . I like this one - it sounds like it could have been recorded for Tumbleweed Connection . Rocking finale
1971 The extended version of Madman Across The Water is cool
1972 The re-recorded version of Skyline Pigeon, done at the same time as the Don't Shoot Me... sessions. Fantastic song
1973 Let Me Be Your Car. Elton does this as a piano + voice demo and gives it a lot of sparkle
1974 Cold Highway and Sick City . B-sides to Caribou singles would have helped that album if included in place of dud tracks.
1974 Live version of John Lennon /Elton version of I Saw Her Standing There. Indispensible night of magic at Madison Square Garden in Nov. 1974
1975 Sugar On The Floor - Well-sung soulful ballad written by Kiki Dee (Elton's favourite duet partner)

There are enough rarities here to keep all but the most ardent completist fans satisfied forever. Now, all that's missing is the companion set collecting all his 80's and 90's rarites...

By the way, the liner notes include comments on individual songs from Bernie Taupin , but not from Elton himself.

You will like this album. I have been a big Elton fan since 1970, and, though it sounds strange, this album has an outtake from the Tumbleweed Connection (my favorite album of all time)album that is now one of my top five EJ cuts: it is "Into The Old Man's Shoes". Other than time considerations, how could this possibly not have made it onto the original? You will recognize the old-West style immediately.

This album also encompasses the Friends soundtrack, which I also consider a tremendous piece of work (I'm sure I'm in the minority on this one). Unfortunately, they shorted one track from the original LP, but it does have my single favorite Elton cut ever, "Michelle's Song". This is a beautiful song that never saw the light on day as far as radio airplay went. It's made all the better if you've seen the movie (which I also loved -- see "minority" remark above).

I recently purchased this album (Rare Masters)...I was sure that i'll like most of the songs...His oldies were of great charm by themselves.I was a fan of Sir Elton for 15 years now...more than half of my age!...well,this album was something different...I've been loving you(written also by Elton),Bad side of the moon,...& his magic:"Friends"...I never thought that Elton could excel more above his everlasting "your song" or "Tonight" or...his many other songs...Well,now we see!!..Even his rare mastrers which have never been recorded before are an excellent proof that his is the one & only in the music world....The Master! In this double album,you'll hear many great pieces...each is very enough to show u how he is the master of piano & composing..I remember i felt the same when i was listening to "Lion King" For every Elton's fan,u need to hear this...it will move u further in his kingdom....He will never fade..He is still..The Master!

When "Rare Masters" was first issued in 1992, CDs had solidified their place in pop culture, but the concept of bonus tracks on re-releases of re-releases of remasters of albums we'd already bought four times previously hadn't taken off quite yet. So, when this set, jammed with what were at the time hard-to-find singles and other obscure releases from Elton John, hit record stores, it was time to party! Elton fans had pretty nice CD versions of some great b-sides, rarities and, for the first (and still the only) time on CD, "Friends," previously only available on vinyl.
Cut to 15 or so years later and the set has lost some of its intrinsic value. All the tracks on Disc 2, for example, have since reappeared on the various updates of Elton's albums from his purple period as bonus tracks and so on. So has part of Disc 1, but what continues to make the set of any value at all are the first two tracks on Disc 1: "I've Been Loving You" and "Here's To The Next Time" have yet to surface on CD in any other form, and of course there's the "Friends" soundtrack, still only available cleaned up and on CD here and here alone.
Eventually even those appearances may be supplanted by other versions, but for now, if you don't have many of the songs on any other recordings, or just want to have all the Elton you can get your hands on (don't we all?), then pick up a copy. It does have a nice booklet as well, with notes from Taupin on the various recordings. That and the "Friends" set alone are easily worth it.

Long before anyone else was thinking in terms of boosting sales by including non-album b-sides, Elton was ahead of the game. That's what this collection summarizes, all those odds and ends. I'll admit to not having heard this entire collection, I'm commenting on just the b-sides, albums and rarities that I already have elsewhere in my collection which are compiled on this welcome collection. Compare track listings with the 4CD box set "To Be Continued..." and you'll find that there's some overlap of rarities. The latest round of reissues of individual albums also include many of these songs as bonus tracks.

The 1973 remake of the ballad "Skyline Pigeon", b-side of "Daniel", is more listenable than the primitive effort on Elton's debut, "Empty Sky" and would win my vote for best Elton b-side ever. The 1974 cover of John Lennon's "One Day At A Time" cherry-picked the one strong album track from Lennon's otherwise disposable album "Mind Games", and wouldn't you know Elton recorded the best version of the song; It was originally Elton's b-side of another Lennon song, "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds". The live "I Saw Her Standing There", b-side of "Philadelphia Freedom", was a gem and also turned out to be John Lennon's last live performance. It's not so much that it's the best recording of that song. It's just that you can feel the sense of fun that Elton and John are having in this performance. Both tracks are included on the box set.

The soundtrack to the film "Friends" had a strong rocker, "Can I Put You On", and a lovely if brief ballad, "Seasons (reprise)". The title track has been included in several compilations including Elton's box set but all three tracks are keepers. The album track and b-side of the single "Friends", "Honey Roll", is upbeat and adequate but unlikely to win over the otherwise unconvinced. "Can I Put You On" also appears in a compelling live version on the album "11-17-70" but I tend to give the studio version a slight edge.

The remainder of soundtrack numbers from "Friends" are pseudo-symphonic entries that as far as I know have nothing to do with Elton. "Michelle's Song", "Variations on Michelle's Song", "I Meant To Do My Work Today", "Variation on Friends", and "Four Moods" are just string-laden instrumentals that sometimes extend to eleven minutes per track. No singing, not even Elton's band as far as I can tell. Presumably included to have the entire soundtrack here.

Another rocker included here as a studio version is "Bad Side of the Moon". It's also performed in a barnburning live performance on "11-17-70". This b-side could have done so much good for the 1970 release "Elton John" had it replaced one of the more embarrassing or overwrought album tracks.

Although I'm not familiar with Elton's version of his own "Let Me Be Your Car", it was written for his friend Rod Stewart's album "Smiler". Unfortunately the "Smiler" album was so weak it pretty much stopped me from purchasing any further Rod Stewart solo albums. Rod's version of that song was nothing to write home about; the song itself wasn't one of Elton's better numbers.

1973's "Step Into Christmas" is on the box set, it's one of those rare holiday perennials. Its b-side "Ho Ho Ho" is a harmless throwaway. "Cold Highway", b-side of "The Bitch Is Back" is a throwaway, not making the cut for the album "Caribou". Just by checking the length of the song "Slave" you can tell it's not the same version that appears on the "Honky Chateau" album, I'm guessing that this must have been the version that appeared as the b-side of "Honky Cat".

All in all this collection does a good job of scooping all of Elton's classic collectibles in one place. I would expect that the era of being able to download individual tracks from Amazon in mp3 format would, in the long run, hurt the sales of collections like this that include the divine with the disposable.

This multiple CD compilation shows us a rare side of Elton John, including the B-sides of many singles and a lot of material that was cut from albums made during the height of his popularity in the 1970's. Of special note is the inclusion of the soundtrack for the film "Friends", most notable for the songs "Friends" and "Honey Roll"; both of which should have been released as singles. There's also splendid alternative versions of "Skyline Pigeon" and "Madman Across The Water" and singles like "Step Into Christmas". Certainly an absolute must for Elton John fans, even though some of this material has been included in recently remastered CD versions of his classic 1970's albums.

The amazing thing about listening to these Rare Masters by the Master is that although many of these were first songs, like Lady Samantha, I've Been Loving You Baby, and Skyline Pigeon; is how hypnotically catchy they are. Signs of things to come. The best things about these early songs is the purity of EJ's voice. A true instrument on it's own with perfect pitch, tone and incredible range.