Jewel Box

I have been waiting on a rare collection of Elton John’s music for a long time, I know some people thinks this Jewel Box is a waste of money lol, but this is for the hard core fans that really appreciates all of his music.

Been a long time EJ fan up to about the time Here & There was released. Thought this might be a fun collection of fun songs, but I was wrong. The only thing more painful than the price was actually listening to it. There are songs on there that we already know, love, and own. Everything thing else should have stayed hidden in the attic cuz they just are neither good nor interesting. The best thing to ever happen to EJ was Bernie T. These songs are the kind that only a parent could love when a child is first learning a instrument. This is a great album to rent, struggle through one listen, and then be done...but not to own. You’ll never listen to it twice. Don’t waste the money like I did.

I find myself of the same opinion I have of all the Beatles material that has been "discovered" and (re) released...THERE"S A REASON the songs either weren't released at the time or were released in different versions at the time - because they weren't very good. ;)

There are two kinds of boxed sets. One is a career retrospective--all the hits and some live or unreleased stuff to give a full picture of the artist. The second (and odder) boxed set is essentially a collection of unreleased stuff for major fans. This is DEFININTELY the second kind. There are NO hits on this 148-song boxed sets. This is a collection of unreleased or rare material for fans who basically own all the OTHER stuff and want everything left over--b-sides that didn't make the album, songs recorded before Elton was famous and when he was still learning how to write songs, etc. And then we have the deep cuts. Elton IS way more than his hits. His album tracks are often better than the singles, though most of his hits are timeless classics. Some of the deep cuts on here ARE great, but I imagine a LOT of people could have assembled a better list of deep cut fan favorites, and other fans could put together online streaming playlists of these deep cuts if they have a streaming service. So this is really about the unreleased and rare material. A LOT of the songs aren't as good as his non-single album tracks. Many of the songs are sort unreleased for a reason. As a huge fan, though, this treasure trove of rarities is great sort of as musical archaeology. So...it's for completists, but it's a GREAT boxed set if you understand that. Do NOT start your collection with this boxed set, though.

I purchased the whole box but for some reason - a few tracks aren't available for download even though I purchased it. 11/13/2020

I like the fact that Elton is releasing a lot of the songs that were originally B sides from old singles, and a lot of older demos that have never been released, however I don’t understand why he is adding the deep cuts. The deep cuts you can already buy from iTunes anyways. But the thing that really boggles the mind is how random the deep cut selections seem to be. It’s almost as if someone printed every single deep cut from every album he’s ever recorded on a sheet of paper and he closed his eyes and just randomly started selecting songs to put on the album. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why he selected most of the deep cuts. Of course there are a few that really stand out like Ticking which is probably the best song from the Caribou album anyways but 99 percent of the deep cuts he chose seem to be so random. I think it would have been better if he had just released the B sides and the old demos instead. Either way it’s not going to be great because the B sides were originally omitted from the original albums and released as B sides for a reason. Because they are not that good. Unless your a real hardcore Elton John fan, it just doesn’t seem to be that great.

elton john voice is not the same on the new song

Tired of the same old retreads. What does the term “deep cuts” even mean today when you can access any track at any time. The only plus is the trove of old, unreleased songs, but there’s a good reason they haven’t seen the light of day before. It’s as if he’s given up.

What a great release. So many great songs that have gone unnoticed or never released.

This is so long overdue. Definitely the only good thing coming out of COVID is having Elton able to have time to reflect. Can’t wait to hear these treasures. Some of them i haven’t heard since I had my 45s. Now Elton let’s do the same for all your old concerts on dvd.