E034 | Showcase Short: 1982 "The Other Sides" Australian Rocket LP Elton John

[@connorhart3972]

I love your videos so much. You know so much about elton and Ive learned so much since finding your youtube channel a month ago. Please never stop making videos your passion motivates me and Im sure others to keep collecting elton. Thank you!

[@NunoBento1]

Just like you, I’ve been desperately searching for the other sides vinyl LP. Congratulations for your find!

[@lawrencebrissenden]

Now that’s obscure! This is the type of album that would be perfect as a record store day new release.

[@CollectingElton]

I'd love to see it reappear as an RSD release. That's a great idea. Not many (or any?) EJ RSD releases (other "Good Morning" with Pnau, I suppose) to include any material post-1979.

[@boysiesolem4752]

Excellent review. I didn’t know that this album was even a thing. I’ve been a member when you were at 225. This is my first post. I wanted to thank you for your passion for Elton. It’s a pleasure to meet someone with such knowledge 🎶 cheers from Houston 🇺🇸✌️😎🎶

[@CollectingElton]

Thank a lot! I appreciate your loyal viewership. Lots more stuff to come -- I'm just getting started! On a personal note, I've visited Houston many times, and it's one of my favorite US cities. Great BBQ places, lots of things to see and do. (There seems to be just one speed on the Sam Houston Pkwy: insanely fast!) I love Cactus Music; there was another place I visited once; I forget its name but it was located on the second level of a ca. 1970s shopping centre in or near the Sugarland area. It doesn't appear to be there anymore.

[@boysiesolem4752]

The Houston driver’s still fly like it’s the Audobahn. Cactus Music is still here and doing great. I enjoy your channel. Cheers from Houston.🇺🇸

[@talkaboutcinema3304]

Always love learning about these obscure titles. I’m with you on the B-sides on this era, many of them are underrated, “Take Me Down to the Ocean” in particular. 21 at 33 and A Single Man both made a lot of questionable cuts in my opinion, and this particular collection is proof of that. Also loved hearing the ending to “I Am Your Robot” at the beginning. Great mood setter that lets you know you’re about to watch something good.

[@CollectingElton]

"I Am Your Robot" +1!!

[@shineonugrzydieman]

Very cool - glad you got copy. I found my copy at a record store in New Zealand amongst other second hand copies of Elton records. Bought it instantly because it was different and was priced same as other second hand albums. Wasn't till I posted on an Elton John Facebook group that I was made aware how rare it was. Never seen another copy in the wild. Thanks for sharing

[@CollectingElton]

Great that you found a copy! Yeah, my copy's the only one I've "seen" for sale, and technically I didn't see it. I bought it on faith, sight unseen. But for $20 I was willing to take a chance. And it arrived in great shape.

[@shineonugrzydieman]

​@@CollectingEltonAnd collecting never ends. In a local auction in New Zealand for blue vinyl Australasian release of GBYBR. Missed getting another red vinyl version because price went over $250NZ and because I have multiple copies of the red I threw the towel in. Look forward to video.

[@tumbleweed1970able]

damn how did i miss this in 1982 but i am in the uk and been a collector since 1971 been looking for years and never yet found one in complete /excellent condition or ive missed out /outbid etc etc

[@CollectingElton]

Keep trying! You'll find one. If I can, anyone can!

[@richardleclear]

Matt, hello! That's an awesome find, one that I have been fruitlessly searching for since the late 90s. I would prefer the complete box, but surely like you, would settle for the lp by itself. Cheers!

[@CollectingElton]

Seventeen people on Discogs claim to have copies of the full box. Sooner or later, one or two of them will get around to selling. Looks like copies of the full box have changed hands a few times (at least 3-4 times) on that site over the last twenty years or so. So, the wait may be coming to an end sooner than you think.

[@MichaelEnglish-m2j]

As always, I'm learning more about Elton than I'd ever known thanks to you and your channel. If I had known about this release back in the early 80s, you can bet your bottom dollar I would have made it my dire mission to track it down. I don't even think that Alan McCormick's Wrap It Up UK store had that one, and Alan had tons of rare and obscure releases. He is the one where I obtained the Mighty Fish release of Flip It Over. Thanks again, Matthew, for all you do. I see that the Farewell Yellow Brick Road blanket is still folded up on the back of your couch. You'll soon need it because winter is fast approaching. Stay coll, but keep warm, friend.

[@CollectingElton]

I'll be watching some hockey games with it for sure!

[@michaeljolly8710]

I managed to find a copy for sale on its own some years ago. As soon as I had discovered its existence, I went on eBay and found an Australian seller who had one. Was very fortunate. I do wish it included Steal Away Child. Maybe since Dear God was a double single, the compilers got confused as to the track’s b-side status.

[@CollectingElton]

I hadn't noticed that "Steal Away Child" was omitted. I've just added a note about that in my video's description, as I imply later in the video that it's one of the album's tracks. Oops. It had also omitted "Snow Queen" and "Flinstone Boy". "Steal" is not long but it was probably omitted just for space reasons.

[@Capt.Ego-78]

They dropped the “I” from “I Cry At Night” on both the sleeve and record label. So, now it sounds like a frightening nocturnal command!

[@derekking9824]

Nice one for the collection! Although the labels detail manufactured by PolyGram Records Pty' Limited "The Other Sides LP" (from the box) was cut at CBS Records, Artarmon (then in Sydney) as it evident by the 70mm pressing rings and the matrix numbering MX207201 & MX207202. The other LPs, in the box, are a mishmash of pressings from various plants put together by PolyGram Australia (probably surplus stock at the time). I had forgotten what a mess the Discogs entry for the box-set is 😓 Thx heaps for sharing😀

[@CollectingElton]

Thank you for the info about the pressings. I don't know much about Aus pressings, other than that EMI did the DMM cuts later in the decade. My Aus Rocket "Fox" is an Astor Records Pty. pressing, incidentally, cut by Rob Wise. It sounds good.

[@quails5931]

@@CollectingEltonThere are three different Australian pressings of The Fox. The first is the Astor Records pressing as Astor pressed Polygram related albums at the time of the Album’s release. When Astor closed at the end of 1981, Polygram contracted out their pressing requirements to either EMI or CBS on an album by album basis. So there are also CBS and EMI pressings for The Fox.

[@CollectingElton]

@@quails5931 Was there ever an EMI DMM cut? Nothing in Discogs but I keep clinging to hope that there was.

[@quails5931]

@@CollectingElton Not for The Fox. Leather jackets, Reg Strikes Back and Sleeping with the past were all cut DMM at EMI. Live in Australia was cut by CBS.

[@CollectingElton]

@@quails5931 There was a DMM "Too Low" too, apparently.

[@marktubeie07]

Another fantastic video Matt! Here in Oz, once the initial Box set dropped in sales many retailers (at least here in Sydney) would split up the set & sell the LPs individually. Therefore you could 'occasionally' find the B sides LP sold separately. Over time I kinda had a feeling it would become quite collectable so over time I've managed to score 3 copies - greedy I know right 😉 Trivia, I would dub at the Rocket B sides as they appeared to cassette back in the day and built them up slowly as they were so good. When that collector's B sides LP got released I remember being very record about it at the time. Cheers mate.

[@CollectingElton]

Ah, okay. That might help explain why so few boxes survive. Well, had I been a store manager then, I might have broken the boxes up too. I can't imagine too many boxes sold at the time; any Elton fan serious enough to buy an 8LP box set more than likely had seven of those eight LPs in their collection already. Plus the B-sides on 45s. Why pay a million bucks* just to gain one LP? "The Other Sides" would've been a great idea for a wide release, not just in Aus but in all Rocket territories at least. Good for you for grabbing three copies when you could. It's not greed if you're keeping them safe -- think of it as good "stewardship" of cultural treasures. ;) *Australian denomination is "dollars", right?

[@marktubeie07]

@@CollectingElton Yep, it's dollars ! Even though living here, I've never seen one of those Box sets in person. Working part time in a record store, my boss (friend actually) often talked about Box sets that were split up as more money could be made from the individual sales. Regretfully, in today's terms, the Beatles BC1 blue box set often landed with the same fate, split up for retail sale & the box chucked out ahhh!!! Matt if you would like any Aussie Elton pressings you don't have to complete your collection (of that interests you) let me know - free of charge obviously, just postage 🤗

[@richardleclear]

@marktubeie07 cheers mate! If you ever want to part with one of your 3 copies, I would gladly make it well worth your trouble. I am in New Your City and postage would be expensive, but I would gladly meet your price!

[@CollectingElton]

@@marktubeie07 Thank you for the offer; I'll keep it in mind!

[@McMieke]

I’d love an album of rare unreleased Elton songs especially from his DJM years

[@douglasstruthers8307]

I had never heard of this release! EJ had a larger than average following in Australia in the 80s: The generally poor charting album THE FOX hit #2, JUMP UP! #3, and then TOO LOW FOR ZERO would rank a shocking #7 for the entire 80s decade down under. No wonder they got this special release. At the time I did get and enjoy "Hey Papa Legba" and "Take Me Down To The Ocean" and "The Retreat" as B-sides to EJ's 1982 & 1983 singles. I had 9 of those tracks as B-sides, but at the time it would have been nice to have them all in one place. I do agree, some of the B-sides in the late 70s and early to mid-80s are good ones. It looks like Christmas has returned early for you...42 years later! Hopefully Santa will bring you a new hoodie this year!

[@CollectingElton]

I didn't know that about "The Fox" charting so high there. That's great (well, it's a great album). Yes, he had a massive success there for most of the 80s. Yet "All Quiet on the Western Front" was not released as a single there in late 1982, hence why the alternate "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" was not included on "The Other Sides".

[@CollectingElton]

PS - I'm running out of hoodies. Or rather, I can't fit half of the hoodies I used to fit. I must cut out pizza... but who wants to do that??

[@douglasstruthers8307]

@@CollectingElton Your hoodie: right city but wrong team! An Expos hoodie I think would look ideal. Wouldn't it be great to have a CAPTAIN FANTASTIC AND THE BROWN DIRT COWBOY, if one existed? Going back to your comment about "All Quiet On The Western Front": I saw Elton twice on the JUMP UP! tour but he didn't play it. Apparently the song was played less than 3 dozen times (all in 1982) and supposedly only once in North America. There is a very good version of it live in London at Hammersmith Odeon. It sounded quite good. I quite like that alternate version of "Where Have The Good Times Gone." Question for you: Davey Johnstone is not on the album version of this song. Is he playing on the alternate version? As you know, a lot of those B-sides in your recent find came from the 30ish tracks Elton recorded for A SINGLE MAN or from the bundle of tracks that were written in the summer of 1979 in France. It was an unfocused but not totally unproductive time in Elton's career, wasn't it? Keep these great videos coming.

[@CollectingElton]

@@douglasstruthers8307 About hoodies: Ha, well I don’t mind watching baseball; but I don’t have the same relationship with baseball as I have with hockey and basketball. I do very much enjoy the “Eastbound and Down” series with the great Danny McBride, mind you. Anyway, I agree with you, though; I do need new hoodies. The grey “Canada” one is new (as of last month); but I’d like a Winnipeg Jets hoodie. But as I said (and it’s a fact), I can’t fit half my old clothes anymore. My metabolism vanished when I turned 40; and four years later, I still eat (unwisely) like I’m 20. If I lose a few more pounds (I’ve lost some this year) I’d have a “new” wardrobe, in a way, including an official merch “Captain Fantastic” t-shirt plus other Elton shirts that are still in brand new shape. Tomorrow evening, I pick up an exercise bike and hopefully I’ll kick myself in the derriere enough to lose a few pounds. About “Where Have All the Good Times Gone” and Davey: For years I was convinced that the B-side “version” of “Good Times” was in fact an entirely different version. It’s so different that to believe that it’s only a “remix” seems laughable. And it wasn’t unusual, during the “Jump Up” sessions at least, for Elton, Chris Thomas, and the boys to record two or three different versions of a song: for example, the version of “Empty Garden” we all know was the third attempted version, the other two being entirely different (and still unreleased, it seems). But I’ve since accepted the claim that the “alternate” or “remix” version of “Good Times” is indeed an alternate mix - just such a radical one that, obviously, more than half the instruments and vocals were re-tracked at some point. So, to answer your question more directly: assuming that the “alternate” cut was just a remix, and the re-tracking occurred in Montserrat, then it couldn’t have been Davey playing. Richie Zito would’ve played guitar on both mixes. And the opening guitar licks in the “remix” do sound very “Zito-esque” to me. About the “21” sessions: yes, very productive. I have news articles in my research files (published ca. late 1979, early 1980) that claim that Elton was planning another double album. But then, in the end, it was a short single LP with outtakes serving as non-LP B-sides for years after. Elton’s relationship with MCA was deteriorating at this point; and something tells me that, if the reports about the planned double album were indeed true, MCA wasn’t willing to go with the plan. That may have been partly why Elton kept some of the sessions’ best songs for what became “The Fox” but Geffen then vetoed half of them off the 1981 LP - you know the story, I’m sure. But yeah, that whole “John & Franks” explosion of tracks ca. 1979-80 is a real special part of the EJ catalogue. Not only are the songs so good, but you begin to wonder sometimes what a double album might have been like… “22 at 33”?

[@DetroitRockCitizen]

No Ego!

[@MichaelEnglish-m2j]

Ego was the A side. Flinstone boy was the B side. So, Ego would not have been included on The Other Side LP.

[@CollectingElton]

Yes, as Michael says, "Ego" (much as I love it!) was an A-side. But its B-side, "Flinstone Boy", was not included on "The Other Sides". Nor was "Snow Queen" or "Steal Away Child". So, it definitely wasn't complete.