Elton John – Regimental Sgt. Zippo Vinyl LP – Record Store Day 2021 SEALED MINT

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Elton John – Regimental Sgt. Zippo Vinyl LP – SEALED MINT

Record Store Day 2021 "RSD First" release, part of the June 12th drops.

Limited to 7,000 copies.

Record housed in a generic black polylined inner sleeve

Includes a "The Sound Of Vinyl" download card.

Front sticker text:

"THE DEBUT ALBUM THAT NEVER WAS!

Recorded 1967/68

Contains one previously unreleased track and eight alternate versions In beautiful swinging mono.

It was during the intense research phase for last year’s Jewel Box box set Rarities items that the hidden history of Regimental Sgt. Zippo came into focus. In late 1967 and early 1968, the year before Empty Sky was released, twelve songs were recorded and organized onto two LP sides for intended release as Elton's introduction to the world.

However, it was not to be.

As graphic designer David Larkham recalls, “[Then-manager] Steve Brown would have said to Dick James, ‘Give these guys a little more slack other than just as songwriters in the ‘moon and June’ genre that you’re looking for because they do have other things to say.’ And then a bit later he may have said to Elton and Bernie, ‘Let’s shelve this album and see what you can come up with, and let me produce the next album.' Which turned out to be Empty Sky.”

Three of the twelve songs on the unreleased 1968 LP were actually included, in their final version, on Jewel Box last year. The box set also contains eight more RSZ titles, but in the form of early demos or previous incarnations (there is also one alternate mix). The remaining song, You’ll Be Sorry To See Me Go, has its official debut with the Record Store Day drop.

The earliest known activity for a song on Regimental Sgt. Zippo was the recording of the demo for Nina on November 3, 1967, a mere month after the release of Bluesology’s third and final single (Since I Found You Baby) and a full week before Elton and Bernie signed their first publishing deal with Dick James.

On the 15th of that month (so now five days into the songwriting team working on the clock, as opposed to skulking around the 1st-floor studios in the dead of night to capture their steadily growing volume of work before the famed publisher's staff became wise), Elton, producer/guitarist Caleb Quaye, and the musicians mentioned below picked up their instruments and fired up the four-track tape machine to cut the full-band version of Nina. At some point after, strings were added to the track, and the project was launched. "Regimental Sgt. Zippo was put together as an album, it wasn’t just a pile of demos", says Larkham.

Elton’s studio work that year was not yet done. In amidst demo-ing and developing a number of other John/Taupin compositions, Elton – or, more accurately, someone at the Dick James office – registered Angel Tree with the UK copyright office on December 13, quite possibly at the very same moment the demo was being recorded. As an intriguing point of reference, Elton sang backing vocals for the Tom Jones hit Delilah the following week. The version of Angel Tree heard on RSZ was recorded on January 11, 1968, with the backing vocals tracked on the 19th, during the same session as the orchestration for Elton’s first single, I’ve Been Loving You, was recorded.

Busy days indeed: in March and April of 1968, he recorded the bulk of RSZ as well as a handful of other new songs, released I’ve Been Loving You, and played his first club performance under his own name on April 30 at the Marquee Club in London. 20 days later, the album's title track, evoking not only the Beatles' mind-blowing Sgt. Pepper album but also Elton’s birth name, “Reg”, and the fact that his father was a regimented military man, was tracked and the sessions were complete.

And that is where the story ended...for 53 years. Until now. Finally, “the album that never was”, as Elton calls it, has a home on the Record Store Day shelves and in fans' collections.

'Regimental Sgt. Zippo' album details

All songs written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, unless otherwise noted.

Recorded on four-track at Dick James Studios, 71-75 New Oxford Street, London, UK.

Produced by Caleb Quaye

Engineered by Frank Owen

Musicians:

Elton John (as Reg Dwight): Piano, Electric Piano, Organ, Harpsichord, Lead and Backing Vocals

Caleb Quaye: Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Flute, Percussion, Backing Vocals

Dee Murray: Bass, Backing Vocals

Dave Hynes: Drums, Backing Vocals

Paul Fenoulhet Orchestra – arranged by Zack Laurence

Label: Rocket Entertainment – 0602435557878, EMI – 0602435557878, UMC – 0602435557878, DJM Records – 0602435557878, Rocket Entertainment – RSDRSZ2021, EMI – RSDRSZ2021, UMC – RSDRSZ2021

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Mono

Country: Worldwide

Released: June 12, 2021

Genre: Rock, Pop

Style: Psychedelic Rock, Pop Rock

Remixed At – Abbey Road Studios

Lacquer Cut By – Sean Magee

UPC: 602435557878

Label Code: LC00542

Track List

Elton John’s fabled Regimental Sgt Zippo album that was slated for release in 1968, but ultimately shelved.

Side 1

When I Was Tealby Abbey

And The Clock Goes Round

Sitting Doing Nothing

Turn To Me

Angel Tree

Regimental Sgt. Zippo

Side 2

A Dandelion Dies In The Wind

You’ll Be Sorry To See Me Go

You’re My Woman (aka Nina)

Tartan Coloured Lady

Hourglass

Watching The Planes Go By