Elton John

Jewel Box (2020)

    
 
Disc One
Deep Cuts - 1
 1. Monkey Suit
 2. Where to Now St. Peter?
 3. Mellow
 4. The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909-1934)
 5. Chameleon
 6. Gone to Shiloh
 7. We All Fall in Love Sometimes
 8. Too Low for Zero
 9. The Power
 10.All That I'm Allowed
 11.The Bridge
 12.The New Fever Waltz
 13.Stones Throw from Hurtin'
 14.The North
 15.Hoop of Fire
 16.Boogie Pilgrim
 
Disc Two
Deep Cuts - 2
 1. Ticking
 2. Crystal
 3. All Quiet on the Western Front
 4. Tell Me When the Whistle Blows
 5. Freaks in Love
 6. Never To Old (To Hold Somebody)
 7. The Emperor's New Clothes
 8. House
 9. (Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket
 10.Understanding Women
 11.Shoot Down the Moon
 12.Have Mercy on the Criminal
 13.Blues for Baby and Me
 14.My Quicksand
 15.Street Kids
 
Disc Three
Rarities Part One
 1. Come Back Baby
 2. Mr. Frantic
 3. Scarecrow
 4. A Dandelion Dies in the Wind
 5. Velvet Fountain
 6. A Little Love Goes a Long Way
 7. If You Could See Me Now
 8. Mr. Lightning Strikerman
 9. Countryside Love Affair
 10.I Could Never Fall in Love with Anybody Else
 11.I Get a Little Bit Lonely
 12.The Witch's House
 13.Get Out of this Town
 14.Year of the Teddy Bear
 15.Where it's At
 16.Who's Gonna Love You
 17.Nina
 18.Angel Tree
 19.Here's to the Next Time
 20.Thank You for All Your Loving
 21.Watching the Planes Go By
 22.When the First Tear Shows
 23.Tartan Coloured Lady
 
Disc Four
Rarities Part Two
 1. Hourglass
 2. 71-75 New Oxford Street
 3. Turn to Me
 4. Reminds Me of You
 5. I Can't Go On Living Without You
 6. And the Clock Goes Round
 7. When I Was Tealby Abbey
 8. I'll Stop Living When You Stop Loving You
 9. Trying to Hold on to a Love That's Dying
 10.Sitting Doing Nothing
 11.Regimental Sgt. Zippo
 12.Cry Willow Cry
 13.There is Still a Little Love
 14.If I Asked You
 15.Skyline Pigeon
 16.Two of a Kind
 17.The Girl on Angel Pavement
 18.Smokestack Children
 19.Baby I Miss You
 20.All across the Havens
 21.Bonnie's Gone Away
 22.Just an Ordinary Man
 23.There's Still Time for Me
 
Disc Five
Rarities Part Three
 1. The Tide Will Turn for Rebecca
 2. Dick Barton Theme (The Devils Gallop)
 3. Breakdown Blues
 4. Taking the Sun from My Eyes
 5. It's Me That You Need
 6. Sing Me No Sad Songs
 7. The Flowers Will Never Die
 8. In the MOrning
 9. Open Your Eyes to the Sun
 10.One Time, Sometime or Never
 11.Slow Fade to Blue
 12.Rolling Western Union
 13.My Father's Gun
 14.Amoreena
 15.Burn Down the Mission
 16.Razor Face
 17.Madman Across the Water
 18.Holiday Inn
 19.All the Nasties
 
Disc Six
B-Sides Part 1
 1. Snow Queen
 2. Conquer the Sun
 3. Cartier
 4. White Man Danger
 5. Tactics
 6. Steal Away Child
 7. Love So Cold
 8. Les Aveux
 9. Donner Pour Donner
 10.J'veaux D'la Tendresse
 11.Fools in Fashion
 12.Can't Get Over Getting Over Losing You
 13.Tortured
 14.Hey Papa Legba
 15.Take Me Down to the Ocean
 16.Where Have All the Good Times Gone?
 17.The Retreat
 18.Choc Ice Goes Mental
 19.A Simple Man
 
Disc Seven
B-Sides Part 2
 1. Lonely Boy
 2. Highlander
 3. Billy and the Kids
 4. Lord of the Flies
 5. Rope Around a Fool
 6. Medicine Man
 7. I Know Why I'm in Love
 8. Big Man in a Little Suit
 9. God NEver Came Here
 10.The North Star
 11.Did Anybody Sleep with Joan of Arc?
 12.So Sad the Renegade
 13.A Little Peace
 14.Keep it a Mystery
 15.How's Tomorrow
 16.Peter's Song
 17.Things Only Get Better with Love
 
Disc Eight
And This is Me...
 1. Empty Sky
 2. Lady Samantha
 3. Border Song
 4. My Father's Gun
 5. All the Nasties
 6. I Think I'm Going to Kill Myself
 7. Philadelphia Freedom
 8. Song for Guy
 9. Sartorial Eloquence
 10.Elton's Song
 11.Cold as Christmas
 12.I Fall Apart
 13.Amazes Me
 14.The Last Song
 15.American Triange
 16.(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again
 

Now....let's remember - this is a music review site. Not a packaging review site. When one looks at this impressive box set, it's quite easy to be blown away. Nice big, hardback book style box set with plenty of colored pages and insights into the eight discs of music that is featured. However, on closer examination, what is exactly here that the masses want? Well, sadly,not much.

When artists typically release huge retrospectives like this, one would expect a few well known songs to be included at a minimum. At a maximum, a comprehensive set of the artist's catolog of radio friendly and fan favorite hits. None of that is here. Let me repeat that - None of that is here. Out of the 148 songs on this package, the only song that the casual fan might recognize if Philadelphia Freedom. Now, to be fair, Elton already has a plethroa of "hits" collections, including the 3 disc set Diamonds, which was released three years prior. It would have made a lot more sense to kill a lot of what is here, and put those 3 discs on this set, but I guess the fiance department and the record label sees things differently.

So as a breakdown here - let's see what we have. The first two discs are "deep cuts" hand picked by Elton himself. None of these songs were hits, but remain perennial favorites of the artist. Whereas every fan has their own set of deep favorites, it's comforting to see that the majority of what Elton picks for this portion of the box set is quite good. It's a great way for a casual fan to hear material other than what they heard non-stop on the radio years ago. Sadly, after those first discs, the other six go downhill quick.

The next 3 discs are rarities/demos from when Elton as still unknown. I guess this is good for the "completist", but if I were one of those individuals, I would prefer to spend 60% less and just be forced to shell out the money for those 3 discs by themselves. The music on these three discs is largely forgettable. The first chunk is Elton by himself on the piano singing lyrics (mostly) given to him by collaberator Bernie Taupin. Elton definitely had a long way to go before his songs had any breadth of quality. One can't really fault him for this. My guess is just about every artist had to cut their teeth in a similar fashion. Speaking of Bernie Taupin, the highlight of most of these early songs is actually reading Taupin's lyrics. Those by themselves are incredibly rewarding, and he managed to find his maturing groove a lot earlier than his musical partner. As these three discs go on, we start to hear band accompaniment, as well as some demos of "official" songs. Still, not much here, and I can't imagine even the hardest core fan listening to this more than once.

The next two discs are B-sides. For most of Elton's career, the B-sides to Elton's singles were never chosen from an actual album. They were usually cuts from songs that weren't good enough to make an album. So we get two cds worth of songs that aren't "good enough". Again, I can't imagine anyone listening to this repeatedly

The strangest inclusion is the last CD. The songs are supposed to somehow compliment the recent Elton autobiography "Me". I guess Elton went through his songs and picked the ones that reflected his life the most and included them here. In a way, these songs are nothing more than another CD of "deep cuts". So a weird one.

My three star rating is generous. I confess that the excellent packaging played a part in me kicking the score up a notch or two. Still not sure what's here is worth all of the money though.