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Rare Masters | 
 enlarge | Artist: Elton John
Label: Island
Category: Music
List Price: $29.98
Buy Used: $9.47
You Save: $20.51 (68%)
New (31) Used (29) from $9.47
Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 38815
Format: Box Set
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 1.1
MPN: 514138
UPC: 731451413827
EAN: 7314514138276
ASIN: B000001DXH
Release Date: October 20, 1992
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Same day shipping. Free upgrade to 1st class mail for all CDs. Professional packaging material. Friendly customer service.
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| Tracks:
Disc 1
| • | I've Been Loving You | | • | Here's to the Next Time | | • | Lady Samantha | | • | All Across the Havens | | • | It's Me That You Need | | • | Just Like Strange Rain | | • | Bad Side of the Moon | | • | Rock & Roll Madonna | | • | Grey Seal | | • | Friends | | • | Michelle's Song | | • | Seasons | | • | Variation on Michelle's Song (A Day in the Country) | | • | Can I Put You On | | • | Honey Roll | | • | Variation on Friends | | • | I Meant to Do My Work Today (A Day in the Country) | | • | Four Moods - Elton John, Buckmaster, Paul | | • | Seasons Reprise |
Disc 2
| • | Madman Across the Water | | • | Into the Old Man's Shoes | | • | Rock Me When He's Gone | | • | Slave | | • | Skyline Pigeon | | • | Jack Rabbit | | • | Whenever You're Ready (We'll Go Steady Again) | | • | Let Me Be Your Car | | • | Screw You (Young Man's Blues) | | • | Step into Christmas | | • | (Ho! Ho! Ho!) Who'd Be a Turkey at Christmas | | • | Sick City | | • | Cold Highway | | • | One Day (At a Time) - Elton John, Lennon, John | | • | I Saw Her Standing There - Elton John, Lennon, John | | • | House of Cards | | • | Planes | | • | Sugar on the Floor - Elton John, Taupin, Bernie |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
During Elton John's most commercially successful period, between 1970 and 1975, he was also at his most prolific. Usually producing two albums a year, he also knocked off a dozen or so non-LP B-sides, a handful of demos for other artists, and even a soundtrack album for 1971's obscure Friends. Rare Masters, which brings much of this work together with a handful of other odds and ends (an alternate version of "Madman Across the Water," John's debut single, "I've Been Loving You"), is hardly a substitute for Greatest Hits, but its generally high quality is impressive. --Rickey Wright
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| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
Some plum collectibles November 27, 2008
Long before anyone else was thinking in terms of boosting sales by including non-album b-sides, Elton was ahead of the game. That's what this collection summarizes, all those odds and ends. I'll admit to not having heard this entire collection, I'm commenting on just the b-sides, albums and rarities that I already have elsewhere in my collection which are compiled on this welcome collection. Compare track listings with the 4CD box set "To Be Continued..." and you'll find that there's some overlap of rarities. The latest round of reissues of individual albums also include many of these songs as bonus tracks.
The 1973 remake of the ballad "Skyline Pigeon", b-side of "Daniel", is much more listenable than the primitive effort on Elton's debut, "Empty Sky" and would win my vote for best Elton b-side ever. I don't want to be rude but it's better than the entirety of some of Elton's weaker albums. Check out the audio sample and see if you don't agree.
The 1974 cover of John Lennon's "One Day At A Time" cherry-picked the one strong album track from Lennon's otherwise disposable album "Mind Games", and wouldn't you know Elton recorded the best version of the song; It was originally the b-side of another Lennon song, "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds". The live "I Saw Her Standing There", b-side of "Philadelphia Freedom" was a gem and also turned out to be John Lennon's last live performance. It's not so much that it's the best recording of that song. It's just that you can feel the sense of fun that Elton and John are having in this performance. Both tracks are included on the box set.
The soundtrack to the film "Friends" had a strong rocker, "Can I Put You On", and a lovely if brief ballad, "Seasons (reprise)". The title track has been included in several compilations including Elton's box set but all three tracks are keepers. The album track and b-side of the single "Friends", "Honey Roll", is upbeat and adequate but unlikely to win over the otherwise unconvinced. "Can I Put You On" also appears in a compelling live version on the album "11-17-70" but I tend to give the studio version a slight edge.
The remainder of soundtrack numbers from "Friends" are pseudo-symphonic entries that as far as I know have nothing to do with Elton. "Michelle's Song", "Variations on Michelle's Song", "I Meant To Do My Work Today", "Variation on Friends", and "Four Moods" are just string-laden instrumentals that sometimes extend to eleven minutes per track. No singing, not even Elton's band as far as I can tell. Presumably included to have the entire soundtrack here.
Another rocker included here as a studio version is "Bad Side of the Moon". It's also performed in a barnburning live performance on "11-17-70". This b-side could have done so much good for the weak 1970 release "Elton John" had it replaced one of the more embarrassing or overwrought album tracks.
Although I'm not familiar with Elton's version of his own "Let Me Be Your Car", it was written for his friend Rod Stewart's album "Smiler". Unfortunately the "Smiler" album was so weak it pretty much stopped me from purchasing any further Rod Stewart solo albums. Rod's version of that song was nothing to write home about; the song itself wasn't one of Elton's better numbers.
1973's "Step Into Christmas" is on the box set, it's one of those rare holiday perennials. It's b-side "Ho Ho Ho" is a harmless throwaway. "Cold Highway", b-side of "The Bitch Is Back" is a throwaway, deservedly not making the cut for the album "Caribou". Just by checking the length of the song "Slave" you can tell it's not the same version that appears on the "Honky Chateau" album, I'm guessing that this must have been the version that appeared as the b-side of "Honky Cat".
All in all this collection does a good job of scooping all of Elton's classic collectibles in one place. I would expect that the era of being able to download individual tracks from Amazon in mp3 format would, in the long run, hurt the sales of collections like this that include the divine with the disposable.
 Elton John lost album-"Friends" July 10, 2008
I loved this album in the late '70s and could not find it. It is a wonderful as then. There are other songs that are very good also. I think it is a GREAT CD !
 Great for "Friends" album songs, not for much else September 27, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought it because it was the only way I knew to get copies of the songs from the old "Friends" album (movie of same name). Don't care for any of the other songs.
The real reason to get this is the "Friends" album tracks April 18, 2007
Almost all of the b-sides and various singles included here on this collection are now available on the expanded reissues of Elton's albums. The real reason to get this is that its (as of this writing)the only place to get the "Friends" soundtrack. No, not the soundtrack to that TV show but to an obscure early 70's movie. Elton and Bernie wrote four new songs that were used in the film (although Bernie supposedly didn't read the script he only skimmed through it to get a feel for the movie). The rest of the album is filled with Paul Buckmaster's soundtrack which adapts various themes from these four songs plus a reprise of the title track. Is it worthwhile buying this just for the "Friends" soundtrack? Yes, if you're a hardcore Elton John fan because his is the only place to get the album now.
If you enjoy Buckmaster's orchestrations on the early Elton John albums, then you'll enjoy every aspect of this album. If you're looking just for the songs that John and Taupin wrote, you'll still enjoy the four full performances and song reprise. Just about any of these songs musically would have fit in well on "Elton John", "Tumbleweed Connection" or "Madman Across the Water" with "Honey Roll" and "Can I Put Yon On" two great lost Elton John rockers. They would have made a fine single if they had been released separately from this album (which I believe one of them was if memory serves).
We also get the singles/b-sides that were added to each Elton John album through "Tumbleweed Connection". "I've Been Loving You"/"Here's To the Next Time", "Lady Samantha"/"All Across the Havens", "It's Me That You Need", "Just Like Strange Rain", "Bad Side of the Moon", Rock & Roll Madonna", "Grey Seal" (an early version of the song from "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road")all demonstrate Elton and Bernie's developing songcraft even if they aren't always the best songs by the duo.
The second disc features an outtake from "Madman Across the Water" (included on "Tumbleweed Connection"), "Into the Old Man's Shoes", "Rock me When He's Gone", "Slave" all of which appear on "Tumbleweed" or "Honkey Chateau". "Skyline Pidgeon" is a piano/vocal re-recording that appeared as a b-side from 1973 and appears along with "Jack Rabbit", "Whenever You're Ready (We'll Go Steady)" from "Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player" (although the latter two were also on the deluxe reissue of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"). "Screw You". "Sick City", "Step Into Christmas" and "Ho! Ho Ho" all appear on "Carbiou" as bonus tracks. "One Day At A Time" and "I Saw Her Standing There" appeared as b-sides and on "Captain Fantastic". "House of Cards", "Planes" and "Sugar on the Floor" all appear on "Rock of the Westies". Only "Let Me Be Your Car" doesn't appear anywhere else as it was written/performed as a demo for Rod Stewart who recorded it for one of his albums.
The two CD set includes an oversized booklet with comments from Bernie about the genesis of each song. The mastering is pretty good overall and is done by Joseph Palmaccio before engineers started applying too much compression to make the music sound "louder" and more contemporary (and squeezing the dynamic range to death hurting the quality of the sounds you hear). I'd get it if you are an Elton John fan before it goes out of print as almost everything here is somewhere else, it's possible this is on the chopping block. So I'd give 4 stars to the best songs here from "Friends" and the stronger tracks from disc 2 with 2-3 stars for the other b-sides on the first disc and the remainder on disc 2 with an overall rating of 3 stars.
A purposeful purchase March 20, 2007
I purchased this SOLELY because it was the only way to get a CD version of the soundtrack to the movie "Friends". I own the LP, but searched in vain for a CD re-make. Apparently, there's no market for this in the US because this CD was not released in the US. The geniuses at the record labels strike again. Anyway, it is pricey but worth it!
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