Elton John / “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” super deluxe edition coming
Elton John‘s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road will be receiving the Super Deluxe Edition box set treatment this spring.
The 1973 classic was originally expected to be issued in Autumn 2013 (the 40th anniversary year) but was pushed back to avoid clashing with John’s new album The Diving Board.
We can reveal that amongst the contents the new box will be an album of cover versions of tracks from GBYBR and a live 1973 concert. There will also be a High Fidelity Pure Audio edition (hopefully with 5.1) which will be available, although at this stage it’s unclear if this will be separate and/or in the box set.
Expect this set late March / early April 2014.
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Full info has been posted here: http://store.eltonjohn.com/gybr40
Disc One: GYBR, newly remastered
Disc Two: covers from contemporary artists, plus Elton’s demos, outtakes, and misc. tracks from the era:
Candle In The Wind – Ed Sheeran / Bennie and the Jets – Miguel / Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Hunter Hayes / Grey Seal – The Band Perry / Sweet Painted Lady – John Grant / All The Girls Love Alice – Emili Sande / Your Sister Can’t Twist (But She Can Rock And Roll) – Imelda May / Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting – Fall Out Boy / Harmony – Zac Brown Band (2:55)
Grey Seal (piano demo) / Grey Seal (1970) / Jack Rabbit / Whenever You’re Ready (We’ll Go Steady) / Screw You (Young Man Blues) / Candle In The Wind (Acoustic) / Step Into Christmas – Elton John /
Ho Ho Ho (Who’d Be A Turkey At Christmas?) / Philadelphia Freedom / Pinball Wizard
Discs Three & Four: Hammersmith Odeon, Dec. 22, 1973 show
Disc Five: ‘Elton John and Bernie Taupin Say Goodbye To Norma Jean and Other Things’ documentary on DVD
So, nothing that hasn’t been circulating already. I’m pretty sure all the Elton material on Disc Two already appeared on To Be Continued… or as bonus tracks. I wish they’d release the covers album separately or have Mojo put it with their magazine. It doesn’t seem necessary alongside the other material.
Oh yes, the price is for the Super Deluxe Edition is $98.25 USD.
Other versions:
– a single-CD version will be released with just the remaster
– a 2CD “Deluxe Edition” version will have the first two discs of the Super Deluxe
– an HD PureAudio Blu Ray disc will also be released, although Elton’s site doesn’t specify the sample rate.
– yellow vinyl 2LP pressing of the new remaster
I think they should include a full new ‘GBYBR’ documentary with vintage interviews where available discussing all of the songs in full as well as the original ‘GBYBR’ 1973 documentary in full.
Latest edition of Record Collector indicates a box set to include 2 DVDs including the ‘…Goodbye Norma Jean…’ film along with the cover versions and live Hammersmith concert December 1973 plus vinyl.
That sounds about right. I knew there was at least one DVD but wasn’t sure what was on it.
Personally, I don’t think anything has topped the 1992 Polydor reissue. The subsequent reissues either have reduced dynamic range, split the contents onto two discs, or both. 5.1 mixes? Totally unnecessary. The original album was never released in a quad version, as far as I know, so any such multichannel versions that have been released are essentially applying current production methods to archive material. The whole point of remastering should be to retain as much detail from the original master as possible, with any subsequent remastering done only when advances in digital technology make it possible to capture detail that earlier technology could not.
I would love the hear a version Benny and the Jets without the audience mixed in, since this wasn’t a live performance anyway.
Don’t I already own a Deluxe Edition of this in SACD 5.1 multichannel? Is the “super” part, covers by others? No thanks. I love my current one and see no need to buy something to have a disc I wouldn’t listen to.
Why have an album of cover versions? That extra disc is much better spent on something more worthwhile, maybe even something that will be listened to more than once. A cover album is fine as a standalone tribute release, but it’s useless in a box set.
Since I already own 2 SACD versions of this – the only thing mentioned here that I’d be interested in is the ’73 concert ( I actually saw him that year at Madison Square Garden, and it was a great show).
I agree that SACD’s of Don’t Shoot Me… and Caribou would be far more enticing than yet another version of GYBR (great album tho it is).
Yawn !
Joe i am with you it’s a classic in it’s own right, and could not agree more with Justin, could it be in a similar vein to Pink Floyd’s Immersion box sets where you get various “formats” especially 5.1 bluray disc, dvd audio,
and a number of stereo, original stereo mixes, 5.1 surround sound mixes
very similar to the amazing Yes’s “Close To The Edge” definitive bluray
disc edition. Judging by what we are reading above it will include the new High Fidelity Pure Audio mix, whether that will be in stereo or 5.1
who knows with no extras, from what i understand the album is already out on that format.
So possibly in the style of the Pink Floyd “Immersion” sets? If so, I’m in. One of my top 5 albums of all time. Hopefully blu-Ray 5.1 is the first thing included. The cover versions disc will probably be taken out once to get ‘ripped’….that’ll be it.
Wouldn’t be surprised if live concert is from the December 22, 1973 Hammersmith Odeon. If so wouldn’t this be the 1st official release?
One of the GREATEST albums EVER recorded by anyone! Every song on Yellow Brick Rd is a complete movie.
I hope the concert can be acquired in a 2 or 3 CD format. Like what Peter Gabriel did with So.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, all of the extras on here, plus the album itself, in stereo and 5.1, could be fitted onto a single Blu Ray with no compromise to the audio for the discerning EJ fan, along with the content from the last release, and you’d still have room to spare.
But no, they say, let’s release this album again, throw in some more stuff on CD that we couldn’t squeeze onto the 3oth Anniversary 3 disc SACD version that also included the Classic Albums ‘making of’ DVD, to squeeze some more cash out of this, and then, a few years down the line, maybe in 2023, we’ll do it properly (or not) by putting everything in hi-res, warts and all, on Blu Ray (or whatever new format we have at the time).
When are we going to learn to not fall for this anymore? :-(
Couldn’t agree more Rob. Blu-ray should solve all space issues. Sure we don’t have to buy this stuff but it just continues to confuse, and to dilute the material that’s out there, and doesn’t treat long-time loyal fans of good music with respect.
And still they come! How many times are we expected to buy albums? Eventually they will kill the fatted calf. Music is slowly disappearing up its own ………! In the golden age of recorded music an album was released and stood on its merit. Nowadays there has to be at least three versions including the one that makes toast. Do we really need another version of GBYBR? Not really.
5.1 needs to be on an accessible format for me. I already bought into SACD and DVD Audio, and I’m not in a hurry to buy into another format.
How about remaining 5.1 SACD reissues of a few early Elton’s CD, for example: Blue Moves which were to be released a few years ago but were unfortunately scrapped.
Yes!
My point exactly!
We already have a perfectly good reissue of GYBR.
How about the 5.1 mixes of “Don’t Shoot Me…”, “Caribou”, “Rock of the Westies”, and “Blue Moves”?!
https://www.facebook.com/SurroundEltonJohn
Agreed. Don’t Shoot Me, Caribou, Rock of the Westies and Blue Moves are all completely finished in terms of the mixing, they just need the incentive to release them.
A disc of cover versions? Meh.