Search - Elton John :: Jewel Box [8CD Super Deluxe Edition]

Michelle D. from HAMPDEN, ME
Reviewed on 3/9/2021...

The past few years has seen Elton John been busy. In 2016, he released an album. In 2017, he released a greatest hits. In 2018 he announced his three year long farewell tour. In 2019, a movie came out about him. He also published an autobiography. And then Covid-19 came and squashed everything. The tour was postponed. However, in November of 2020, the Jewel Box came out. Here's a pretty long review.
Disc One: Deep Cuts. The first disc includes 16 songs people may not know about. My favorites are Where To Now St. Peter (From Tumbleweed), Danny Bailey (From Yellow Brick Road), and Monkey Suit (From The Union). It also includes songs from his early 80's albums like Hoop Of Fire from Leather Jackets and the title track from Too Low For Zero.
Disc Two: Some more Deep Cuts. The second disc has 16 songs. Favorites are Ticking (From Caribou, and Have Mercy On The Criminal (From Don't Shoot Me). Shoot Down The Moon is from Ice On Fire, an early 80's album. All Quiet On The Western Front is from Jump Up.
Disc Three: Demos. Apparently before Empty Sky, Elton and Bernie wrote a busload of songs. This is the first of three discs that include them. They all seem to blend together. They are great though! Apparently Before Empty Sky, there was going to be an album called Regimental Sergeant Zippo. All of the songs that were going to be on that are on here. The track listing is also in the credits.
Disc Four: Some More Nice Demos. Even more demos. I haven't listened to this disc just yet, but there seem s to be demos of All Across The Havens and Skyline Pigeon that are of interest to me.
Disc Five: Even More Demos. Again, haven't listened to this yet. I WILL UPDATE THIS REVIEW WHEN I HAVE LISTENED TO THEM. This seems to include demos of some Tumbleweed and Madman songs. My favorite Elton John period is Empty Sky through Madman.
Disc Six and Seven: B-Sides. I haven't listened to these yet. These are the songs that weren't on albums and were only released as singles.
Disc Eight: And This Is Me. This includes songs mentioned in his autobiography ME. I haven't read the book, but there are snippets from the book to go with each song in the Jewel Box book.
All in all, pretty good. I'll update this when I've finished listening to all the discs. But for now, 5/5 stars.