The first of six 'Jewel Box Companion' episodes. It's taken me a while to get to grips with all of the extra new material and versions that we have been treated to. I've boiled it down into six relatively short playlists, and I'm going to be

Episode 41 - Old Friends

Mar 7th, 2021 1h 7m

It's the 50th Frenniversary!Elton's 4th album was a pick-and-mix, with three pastoral pop songs from the same mould as the Elton John Album, two spiky rock songs that kept the Tumbleweed rolling, and a 10 minute long Buckmaster-stroke, throw

Episode 40 - Tumbleweed Connection at 50 (part 2) with John Higgins and Peter Thomas

Feb 18th, 2021 2h 9m

Here we are at last! This is the concluding part of the Tumbleweed Conversation I had with John Higgins, Elton's Legacy Consultant and Feature Writer at eltonjohn.com, and Peter Thomas, founder of pmc-speakers.com and Elton collector extraord

Episode 39 - Tumbleweed Connection at 50 with John Higgins and Peter Thomas

Nov 30th, 2020 1h 55m

I am very thankful to John Higgins, Elton's Legacy Consultant and Feature Writer at eltonjohn.com, and Peter Thomas, founder of pmc-speakers.com and Elton audio expert, who both joined me for this episode of the podcast. We got together for

Episode 38 - Tumbleweed Connection Covered

Oct 31st, 2020 1h 26m

It's all go in Eltonland! The label have marked the 50th anniversary of Tumbleweed with a reissue of the album on green vinyl, plus an entirely unexpected companion 10" single, featuring the unearthed almost 8 minute long original version of

Episode 37 - 'Elton John' at 50 (Part 2) with John Higgins and Skaila Kanga

Oct 13th, 2020 2h 6m

Here's the rest of my track by track breakdown with John Higgins of the 'Elton John' album. The album lit a fuse. Four and a half months later, Elton exploded at the Troubadour. John and I got to talk about some of the strides and the mis-s

Episode 36 - Jewel Box Joy

Sep 17th, 2020 22m 35s

Well it's finally happened. I've got pretty much everything I've ever asked for, and probably a bit more. In this quickie episode, I dip into the mind-bending rarities track-list, and talk about what's new and what's not. All of the details

Episode 35 - 'Elton John' at 50 with John Higgins

Aug 28th, 2020 1h 40m

Enormous thanks to John Higgins - Feature Writer for the eltonjohn.com website - who came onto the podcast to share his love for the 'Black Album', and to tell me some of the stories that he'd been able to hear during interviews that he carri

Episode 34 - Fantasy Residency and More Songs They Gave Away

Feb 1st, 2020 1h 14m

In this episode I apologise for my absence; make some excuses; review the autobiography, in a limited sense; talk about the way that the book, the film and reality interact in one case; accept that I was wrong in another; mentally stage a res

Episode 33 - Anett Murray Interview

Aug 24th, 2019 1h 24m

This episode starts off with a Rocketman competition, courtesy of Paramount Home Media (here is the prize pack that's up for grabs) before the main event, an interview with Anett Murray, wife of Dee Murray, and a big part of the Elton John fa

Episode 32 - Mysteries of Elton

Jul 22nd, 2019 1h 10m

Welcome aboard the Mystery Machine, as we take a Flight of Fancy into the unknown corners of Elton's musical world. In this episode, I investigate the spookiest, dustiest corners of discogs, I search for the bootlegs that don’t even exist in

Episode 31 - Empty Sky at 50

Jun 17th, 2019 1h 40m

Empty Sky, Elton’s debut album, and also his most honest, laid-back sounding set of songs, hit the shelves 50 years ago this month. It didn’t make much impact at the time, but it is greatly loved, both by fans, and by the people that created

Episode 30 - Listening Session with Peter Thomas

Apr 17th, 2019 2h 6m

You are invited to a very special listening session and conversation with Peter Thomas, the preeminent Elton John collector and archivist.Peter Thomas, in his role as founder of monitor and speaker company PMC, has worked with the finest stu

Episode 29 - Top of the Charts with a ROCKET, ft. The Lambrettas

Mar 6th, 2019 1h 10m

This episode counts down the 15 biggest non-Elton singles on Rocket, and in the process, tells the story of the label, attempts to define the Rocket sound (spoiler - there isn’t one), and draws out the connections with Elton’s music, where th

Episode 28 - Alternate Versions, Mixes and Edits

Feb 18th, 2019 1h 8m

This episode revels in the obscure, picking up the curios in the discography, studying them, and making an attempt at explaining them. Here are the early versions, the erroneous edits that never should have been heard, the remixes, the rough

Episode 27 - Breaking Down 'Passengers'

Feb 4th, 2019 48m 11s

This is the story of Elton's personal redemption, through the prism of the song 'Passengers', the UK top 5 hit single with the unique songwriting credit - Elton, Bernie, Davey and South African musician Phineas Mkhize. This episode follows E

Episode 26 - Rare Masters Vol. 2 (Part 2)

Jan 22nd, 2019 1h 12m

In this episode, I finish going through the imaginary box-set. First, I detail all of the non-album tracks that were released between 1984 and 1990 (CD3 of the collection that I have programmed), and I then go on to discuss the rarities that

Episode 25 - Rare Masters Vol. 2 (Part 1)

Jan 8th, 2019 1h 21m

The Elton John Podcast with the unwieldy name goes where the record company dare not go - Rare Masters Vol. 2. We all loved the first volume when it came out, and many of us have been going grey waiting for the next instalment. It didn't look

Episode 24 - David Larkham Interview

Nov 19th, 2018 1h 12m

Another treat - an interview with David Larkham – the man who controlled the visual element of the classic albums, liaising with Steve Brown, Bernie, Elton and others to bring their ideas to life.David was there at Steve Brown’s house in 68/

Episode 23 - Bernie's Auction - What We've Learned

Oct 30th, 2018 48m 40s

In this episode, I attempt to play (and sing in one case) the three ‘new’ songs from 1967 that have come to light via Bernie’s upcoming auction. I also go through the working lyrics that Bernie is selling in New York on the 9th of November, a

Episode 22 - Caleb Quaye Interview

Oct 20th, 2018 1h 25m

I was lucky enough to be able to spend more than an hour in the company of the brilliant Caleb Quaye. Without Caleb, there would be no Elton John as we know him. He got Elton and Bernie the gig with Dick James, and it was his audacious approa

Eppsisode 21 - Stuart Epps Interview

Sep 23rd, 2018 1h 1m

Stuart Epps is Elton John royalty! He was a huge part of the team that worked together to bring Elton out from the sidelines of Tin Pan Alley, into megastardom. He saw that process first hand, working in a variety of different roles. Here he

Episode 20 - Elton's Buried Treasure vol. 2

Sep 15th, 2018 56m 51s

In this episode the cake is unbaked, and every ingredient of the Elton John recipe is celebrated. Complex drum and percussion sounds are unpicked, backing vocals are highlighted, lead vocals are isolated, and previously buried piano tracks ar

Episode 19 - Early Cover Versions of Elton's Music

Aug 19th, 2018 55m 32s

It's well known that Elton and Bernie spent their formative years trying to write hits for other artists, while trying to find their own voice. This episode tells the story of Elton and Bernie's early years through the prism of those early co

Episode 18 - Elton's Anonymous Cover Versions - ft. Dana Gillespie

Jul 30th, 2018 55m 47s

In his formative years as a session musician, in fact even after the recording of his third album, Elton earned some extra cash recording cover versions of the hits of the day, anonymously, for budget record labels. These long player albums r