DEEP CUT Favourites from the JEWEL BOX

[dougs]

Well, Elton's JEWEL BOX is finally out today.  So much to listen to.

I thought I'd set up a thread about our favourite songs included as DEEP CUTS (discs 1 & 2).  There are so many eligible and worthy songs to be considered as "deep cuts" and it is clear that no soundtrack songs were included here - just regular Elton album tracks.

To start us off, I'll list a few of the songs that I am most pleased made it as DEEP CUTS on the JEWEL BOX set:

* "Boogie Pilgrim" from BLUE MOVES;  not many EJ songs sound like this one.  I still love playing it.  Great vocals / backing vocals, horns, organ, and slide guitar.
* "Street Kids" from ROCK OF THE WESTIES;  one of the most, if not the most, rocking song in EJ's repertoire.  Great guitars from Davey & Caleb.
* "Blues For Baby and Me" from DON'T SHOOT ME I'M ONLY THE PIANO PLAYER;  this one could have been a single back in 1973.  An under appreciated track for certain.
* "The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909-1934)" from GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD;  this has stunning piano work in the outro.  Del Newman has a subtly beautiful arrangement.
* "Too Low For Zero" and "Crystal" from TOO LOW FOR ZERO;  these two songs capture Elton as his best electronic / drum machine best.  Both songs worked out superbly.

A couple of songs I could live without are "All That I'm Allowed" and "Shoot Down The Moon."  They aren't bad but...tracks like "Carla Etude" from THE FOX and "Sweat It Out" from THE ONE would have shown Elton's versatility in writing music across many genres - check out his piano playing on both!

One beef;  Where on Earth is "Simple Life"?  It didn't show up anywhere on the JEWEL BOX - 148 songs and no room for this song?  It hasn't shown up on any hits package, either.  If not a DEEP CUT, then maybe on THIS IS ME because of the song's relevance to Elton's life.  This is too good of a song to never appear anywhere since its original album & single release.  A lost opportunity.

There you go.  Your favourite choice as DEEP CUTS?

Doug

[BiteUrLip]

Out of those, I think "Street Kids" and especially "Blues For My Baby And Me" are the best ones. "Boogie Pilgrim" is average.

[nix]

From B-sides they forgot to include 'Choc Ice Goes Mental'.

[dougs]

nix:

I see "Choc Ice Goes Mental" listed on CD6 - B-SIDES PART 1 (1976-1984).

Did they actually omit it from the disc?

Doug

[rocketman]

I'm still going through the album's contents (I use a music streaming service and don't plan to buy physical media because I don't feel like having to store this many discs); thus far, I'm generally pleased with the "Deep Cuts" selections. My biggest objection is to Freaks In Love, which may be intended to convey Elton's love situation, but isn't a very good song, at least to my ears.

In other cases, songs (in this case, not deep cuts) are repeats from other packages. The Retreat makes yet another appearance. Good song, I like it a lot. But it's on To Be Continued, and included on the Remastered disc of Too Low For Zero (id rather have seen Saint added instead of the title cut from Too Low).

Back to Deep Cuts, songs like Boogie Pilgrim and Chameleon are good choices, though I'd prefer One Horse Town and Crazy Water, or perhaps Cage The Songbird or Shoulder Holster. Where's The Shoorah? would be an interesting addition. But this is not a serious qualm.

My Quicksand is an interesting addition, and I think I read in an interview that Elton really likes it. Id have prefered Oscar Wilde or Voyeur, but it's not a big deal. Including New Fever Waltz was an excellent choice.

The Bridge from The Captain/Kid is a slightly disappointing choice. Tinderbox and/or And The House Fell Down, or Richard Nixon, would have been much better.

But all in all, I think that they generally made good choices.

[dougs]

rocketman:

Agreed on every count!

I like the lyric to "Freaks in Love" but it is not a favourite of mine musically.  The BLUE MOVES choices were good but there are so many strong tracks on that album;  "One Horse Town" and "Crazy Water" are very strong candidates as DEEP CUTS.  "Oscar Wild Gets Out" is my favourite track off THE DIVING BOARD plus "And The House Fell Down" is a majorly overlooked track from CAPATIN AND THE KID - both would have made excellent additions to DEEP CUTS.

Generally, I find the DEEP CUTS a pretty good selection...

Doug

[nix]

Nov 16, 2020 13:56:21 GMT dougs said:

nix:

I see "Choc Ice Goes Mental" listed on CD6 - B-SIDES PART 1 (1976-1984).

Did they actually omit it from the disc?

Doug

I didn't see it on list from beginning.. lol. It's there, of course. 

[nix]

IMO, I'm not that impressed with chosen deep cuts.

CD 1:

1. 'Monkey Suit' - Why not 'Hey Ahab'? It's much better song.
2. 'Where To Now St Peter?' - Not bad decision
3. 'Mellow' - along with 'Slave', this is the weakest song from HC to me. Why not 'Mona Lisas' or 'Amy'/'Susie' to have something unique and more energetic?
4. 'The Ballad Of Danny Bailey (1909-34)' - good choice.
5. 'Chameleon' - it's fine, but why not 'Tonight', one of his most beautiful non-hits?
6. 'Gone To Shiloh' - another one from The Union? It's fine, but I would prefer 'I Should Have Sent Roses'.
7. 'We All Fall In Love Sometimes' - good choice
8. 'Too Low For Zero' - interesting choice, but since we have similar and brilliant 'Crystal' on 2nd disc, why this?
9. 'The Power' - good choice
10. 'All That I’m Allowed' - I'm ok with this one, but why 'Freaks in Love' then and not single song from TBP? Simply bad choices.
11. 'The Bridge' - very good song, but I would rather choose 'TCATK' or 'And the House Fell Down'.
12. 'The New Fever Waltz' - fine song, but 'Oscar Wilde' would be better.
13. 'Stones Throw From Hurtin’' - good song, but considering how brilliant SWTP album is, this is really the worst choice. What about 'Healing Hands'? Damn!
14. 'The North' - Ok, this is really great choice. I love this song. Brandi Carlile loves it too... hehe
15. 'Hoop Of Fire' - what was he thinking? I mean, it's not bad song, but 2 LJ album tracks on this compilation?
16. 'Boogie Pilgrim' - another one from BM and the really annoying and repetitive one. Bad choice.


CD 2:
1. 'Ticking' - good choice
2. 'Crystal' - great choice
3. 'All Quiet On The Western Front' - most boring song from Jump Up. What about 'Empty Garden' or brilliant 'Where Have All the Good Times Gone'? Even 'Princess' would be much much better choice.
4. 'Tell Me When The Whistle Blows' - another one from CF? I never enyojed this song. What about great 'Tower of Babel' or 'Better Off Dead'?
5. 'Freaks In Love' - I don't hate this song like other fans, but it's unnecessary.
6. 'Never Too Old' - 3rd song from TU? And the most boring one? WHAT ABOUT A SONG FROM THE BIG PICTURE???
7. 'The Emperor’s New Clothes' - good choice
8. 'House' - this song is like the most Elton-ish ballad ever. I like it, but come on... what about 'Belfast', 'Latitude', 'Cold?
9. '(Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket' - 3rd song from CF? I think he has much more interesting rockers than this one. What about FFF/LLB? That one should have been here or 'You're so Static'? I like melody and horns on that one.
10. 'Understanding Women' - weird choice, but interesting one. 2nd song from The One and still not a single one from TBP.
11. 'Shoot Down The Moon' - bad choice... not bad song, but pretty much derivative ballad. What about 'Soul Glove' or 'This Town'?
12. 'Have Mercy On The Criminal' - great choice
13. 'Blues For Baby And Me' - good choice.
14. 'My Quicksand' - oh, come one.. it's strange song, but not that interesting
15. 'Street Kids' - ok, this one is unnecessary rocker, but ok...

This could have been so much better.

[newloneranger]

Nice to hear the Bsides in higher quality. I'll have a larger review later. On the song I Cant Get Over Getting Over Losing you still sounds a little warped. Must have been recorded on a tape or something. But its better than the version I had before.

[rocketman]

Nix, you made some very good points. I'm surprised that no songs from The Big Picture were chosen. there would be several very good candidates. Also, Mellow, I agree, is a bit weak compared to Amy or Hercules, or Mona Lisas.

I'm not sure where Latitude is these days, but if she has this Box Set, she's probably fuming that I Fall Apart was included. I'd have preferred Go It Alone, a good mid-80's rocker, or even 'Heartache', though that is on a Greatest Hits compilation.

[dougs]

rocketman:

Yeah, there certainly are some odd inclusions and some surprising exclusions.

Regarding "I Fall Apart" I must say that that is, for me, such a hard song to listen to musically.  I have almost always skipped it when I played that album.  Not a liked song by anybody I played it to, either.  I can understand EJ including it for its lyrical content but I'd suggest "And The House Fell Down" as a better choice.  Both songs lyrically show a time when EJ had hit the wall on a personal level and was bottoming out.  "And The House Fell Down" is a much more interesting song musically.

I get the feeling that EJ listens quite seriously to what Bernie has to say;  Bernie trashed THE BIG PICTURE calling it their worst album...and no songs from it show up on the massive JEWEL BOX...instead we get multiple songs from LEATHER JACKETS!  Some really amazing album tracks such as "Latitude" are nowhere to be seen.  With all of those strong album tracks on MADE IN ENGLAND we get "House" as the song for the box set.  Odd.  I know that EJ "likes" the song...so that must be it. 

I cannot figure why "Simple Life" has never shown up anywhere on any package at any time and with room for almost 150 songs on the JEWEL BOX it is nowhere to be seen...again.  There are some very strong non-single album tracks like "All The Girls Love Alice" and "Tonight" and "Madman Across the Water" and "Indian Sunset" that might have been included in the DEEP CUTS discs.  It can be argued that these are not deep enough.  OK, then superb deeper tracks like "Carla Etude" and "Blue Avenue" and "Crazy Water" and the adventurous "Sweat It Out" could be included as DEEPER CUTS but we get things like "Shoot Down The Moon" and a 3rd (!!) track from THE UNION called "Never Too Old."  There are almost as many songs on just the DEEP CUT discs from THE UNION (3) as there are from Elton's three 90s albums...THE ONE and MADE IN ENGLAND and THE BIG PICTURE (4) combined on the entire JEWEL BOX package! 

Doug

[nix]

My first 2 CD's and the last one would look probably more something like this:



1. 'Hey Ahab'
2. 'Son of Your father'
3. 'Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters'
4. 'The Ballad Of Danny Bailey (1909-34)'
5. 'Tonight'
6. 'I Should Have Sent Roses'
7. 'We All Fall In Love Sometimes'
8. 'Long Way from Happiness'
10. 'All That I’m Allowed'
12. 'Oscar Wilde Gets Out'
13. 'Healing Hands’
14. 'The North'
15. 'Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters (part 2)'
16. 'The King Must Die'

CD 2:
1. 'Ticking'
2. 'Crystal'
3. 'Where Have All the Good Times Gone'
4. 'Nobody Wins'
5. 'And the House Fell Down'
6. 'Madman Across the Water'
7. 'The Emperor’s New Clothes'
8. 'Latitude'
9. 'I Don't Care'
10. 'Breaking Hearts'
11. 'This Town'
12. 'Have Mercy On The Criminal'
13. 'Blues For Baby And Me'
14. 'FFF/LLB'

CD 8: And This Is Me...
1. Skyline Pigeon (from ES)
2. You Gotta Love Someone
3. Take Me to the Pilot
4. Talking Old Soldiers
5. All The Nasties
6. I Think I’m Going To Kill Myself
7. Ego
8. Mama Can't Buy You Love
9. Sartorial Eloquence
10. Someday Out of the Blue
11. Cold As Christmas (In The Middle Of The Year)
12. I Fall Apart
13. Amazes Me
14. The Last Song
15. Original Sin
16. Never Too Late

[dougs]

nix:

Hard to beat your selections for your version of DEPP CUTS CDs 1 & 2.  Great choices.

I would drop "All That I'm Allowed" and include either "Madman Across the Water" or the 11-17-70 version of "Sixty Years On."

Doug

[newloneranger]

I don't see how I Fall Apart would be on this set. Poor Choice, My favorites from the deep Cuts would probably be BFBAM, Street Kids and Meal Ticket, Danny Bailey and WTNSP. I'd probably replace Mellow with maybe Salvation. All That I'm Allowed replaced by maybe Too Many Tears or I Stop and I Breathe. Nice to see The Power on here, Probably the best song on Duets. Freaks In Love replace with They Call Her The Cat. But Most of the other choices i'm pretty happy with.