Amongst all of the many Record Store Day announcements, one of the most exciting has to be Island/Mercury’s announcement of an unreleased Elton John album finally seeing the light of day: 1968’s Regimental Sgt. Zippo, due on the June 12, 2021 RSD Drop.
One of the best box sets of last year was Elton John’s Jewel Box. Among its 8 CDs were three discs of rarities spanning 1965-1971. Perhaps the most intriguing tracks included were those intended for an unreleased album entitled Regimental Sgt. Zippo. Recorded at Dick James Studios in London in late 1967 and early 1968, the new partnership of composer John and lyricist Bernie Taupin wrote this group of songs under the influence of The Beatles but in their own unique and developing style. A total of twelve psych-pop songs were intended for the album and it was given its title with a nod to Elton’s real name of Reginald, his father’s military service, and once again, The Beatles. But for reasons lost to time, the album was shelved and the world would have to wait until 1969 to hear a full album of John and Taupin songs with Empty Sky. Regimental Sgt. Zippo was largely forgotten about as the duo’s careers hit the stratosphere, other than some of the songs leaking out on bootlegs. Cut to last year with the Jewel Box which published a track listing for the final LP and presented versions of most of its songs.
The songs from Regimental Sgt. Zippo were spread out among the CDs on Jewel Box and some of them were in demo form, not in the versions that would have been heard on the final album. Now, the entire LP will be released as originally intended. This means that several of the songs will be heard in their completed versions for the first time. (The press release indicates that five are in their finished versions for the first time, but there were only four songs labeled as demos in the Jewel Box: “When I Was Tealby Abbey,” “And the Clock Goes Round,” “Angel Tree” and “A Dandelion Dies in the Wind,” so it is unclear which other song will have a new version. It could be the song “Nina,” which has a different title on the album’s tracklisting, but that is just conjecture.) Also, “You’ll Be Sorry to See Me Go,” the lone RSZ track not included in any form on Jewel Box, is making its debut here. The LP will be limited to 7,000 copies and will have a flip-back laminated gloss sleeve.
We’ve got the tracklisting below. If you would like to grab a copy of what would have been Elton John’s first album, head to your local record store participating in RSD on June 12. There’s no word yet on a digital or CD presentation of Regimental Sgt. Zippo, but watch this space for any news.
Elton John, Regimental Sgt. Zippo (Island/Mercury, 2021)
Side A
- When I Was Tealby Abbey
- And the Clock Goes Round
- Sitting Doing Nothing
- Turn to Me
- Angel Tree
- Regimental Sgt. Zippo
Side B
- A Dandelion Dies in the Wind
- You’ll Be Sorry to See Me Go
- You’re My Woman (a.k.a. Nina)
- Tartan Coloured Lady
- Hourglass
- Watching the Planes Go By
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Oh, I am SO going to try to get this! The most exciting RSD title I’ve seen thus far,
I would really love to get this, BUT I no longer have a record player and I refuse to pay $30+ for vinyl. I hope that they will reissue this on cd.
Also – I know they did 11/17/70 last year, but WHY did they not put the songs in order and WHY have they not released it on cd???
FRUSTRATED!!!
11/17/70+ 2-LP was in 2017, not last year, so I’m not that optimistic either will ever be released on cd, unfortunately.
I feared the same for the Live From Moscow release, but was pleasantly surprised when they released that on CD, so there is hope.
Moscow finally released, yes, but again woefully incomplete.
It’s an interesting conundrum we see with previously unreleased live albums: Many artists still wish to “curate” live albums (like they did back in the day when LP running time was an issue) such as the recent David Bowie and Neil Young releases. Others take advantage of the CD format to present warts-and-all complete concerts. It seems to me that the latter is the preferred approach for those reading this, especially as so many of us are completists; does anybody reading this prefer the tighter, more compact listening experience of many LP-era live albums even if that’s at the expense of songs performed?
More is not always better, I agree, but for reissues like these I prefer complete concerts.
In this case, if you release a concert after 40 years why focus AGAIN on the contemporary hits instead of the many rare songs in the setlist (Ego, Roy Rogers, Idol, I Think I’m Gonna Kill Myself etc.), or at least add them to the cd version. Much more interesting for the audience (the completists) who are still buying this.
Probably it’s a costs issue, but still…
Have to agree with you there. Makes me sick that the CD release of Linda Ronstadt’s Live In Hollywood 1980 concert was so truncated. Adding insult to injury as usual the PBS broadcast of the concert was also edited.
So is this gonna have the 1968 Portugal released “Angel Tree” original version on here? Hopefully so. And then hopefully it comes out at least in digital!
This will be a wonderful addition to any true fans collection. I cannot wait.
A copy of the original acetate of the abort 1968 LP was listed on EBAY about 4 or 5 years ago starting at around $20,000. According to the EBAY listing. the copy for sale was given to an English film director friend of Elton’s and presumably put up for sale as part of the director’s estate (or by the director himself, as I cannot recall his name now or if he is still alive). The EBAY listing was mysteriously taken down before any sale could be completed. The poster included 40 to 120 second long clips of all of the album tracks. At the time, I think this was the only way you could hear “Watching The Planes Go By” and “You’re My Woman”. I managed to record them directly from the EBAY listing while it was still accessible. But both recordings were incomplete. However, The Jewel Box resolved that issue.
As for the question regarding “Angel Tree”, I would hope that the EP mix is what they will be using (along with “Thank You For Your Loving”). As mentioned in the Jewel Box liner notes, most of the unreleased mixes were taken from either previously existing digital transfers of the original acetates or the acetates themselves, as most likely few or none of the original 2 and 4-track tapes done at Dick James’ studio survived (but. hopefully, we could be pleasantly surprised, I hope!).