Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. I've Been Loving You
2. Here's to the Next Time
3. Lady Samantha
4. All Across the Havens
5. It's Me That You Need
6. Just Like Strange Rain
7. Bad Side of the Moon
8. Rock & Roll Madonna
9. Grey Seal
10. Friends
11. Michelle's Song
12. Seasons
13. Variation on Michelle's Song (A Day in the Country)
14. Can I Put You On
15. Honey Roll
16. Variation on Friends
17. I Meant to Do My Work Today (A Day in the Country)
18. Four Moods
19. Seasons Reprise

Disc 2:

1. Madman Across the Water
2. Into the Old Man's Shoes
3. Rock Me When He's Gone
4. Slave
5. Skyline Pigeon
6. Jack Rabbit
7. Whenever You're Ready (We'll Go Steady Again)
8. Let Me Be Your Car
9. Screw You (Young Man's Blues)
10. Step into Christmas
11. (Ho! Ho! Ho!) Who'd Be a Turkey at Christmas
12. Sick City
13. Cold Highway
14. One Day (At a Time)
15. I Saw Her Standing There
16. House of Cards
17. Planes
18. Sugar on the Floor

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #78675 in Music
• Released on: 1992-10-20
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Box set

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

Customer Reviews

It's worth having simply for the "Friends" soundtrack alone!
I understand that apparently most (all?) of the rarities on this box set are available on the newly-remastered individual albums as bonuses. But even if that's true, who cares? The fact that the soundtrack to "Friends" has been re-released in ANY form is worth the price of admission in itself, as it is quite simply the loveliest soundtrack work Elton has ever done (forget "The Lion King"!), weaving light rock/pop and orchestrations into a distinctive whole of hippie innocence. As wonderful as this all is, there is one complaint I have--one which annoys me to no end and the only thing that keeps me from awarding this set five stars. The song sequence of the "Friends" soundtrack, for some weird reason, has been slightly juggled. Why, I don't know, as I can't think of any good reason for it. But this means that those of us who adored the vinyl version of it first won't be able to listen to it in the same order that was on our old records. Some probably won't notice this, but I found it annoying because I loved the original song sequence exactly as it was. I've actually gone through the trouble of using my CD-burner to make a backup of my own "Friends" CD with the songs in their original sequence. The box is otherwise perfect and the songs magnificent throughout, but be prepared to have to do at least some track-play programming every time you insert the CD if you want to hear "Friends" the same way you did all those tender years ago.

Great Compilation of Odd Tracks & Rarities
When I was a lot younger I bought all of Elton John's albums and singles on vinyl. When I upgraded my albums to CD I was disappointed (at first) to find that many of the B-sides that appeared on singles were not issued to CD. Later releases of Elton John's 1970s era albums contain many of these B-sides as bonus tracks. So buyer beware if you have the later EJ reissues.

This set is great because nearly all of the 1970s era B-sides are in one place. These are oddities and rarities, some very beautiful. One of them, "Skyline Pidgeon" is one of my all time EJ favorites. This version is better than the harpsicord based original that appears on 1969's "Empty Sky" album. This version of "Skyline Pidgeon," often called the "piano version" was issued in 1973 as the B-side to the hit single "Daniel". It was probably recorded at the same time as the "Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player" album.

Besides the famous "I Saw Her Standing There" live duet with John Lennon (which also appears on the extended edition of "Here And There"), one of the prettiest Elton John tracks on this collection is "One Day At A Time." This beautifully produced piece was issued as the B-side to Elton John's #1 hit single, "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds." Yes, the A-side was penned by Lennon/McCartney. "One Day At the Time" was written and originally recorded by John Lennon and appeared on his "Mind Games" album in late 1973. You know what? I always liked Elton John's version of this song better than Lennon's.

"Step into Christmas" is a great holiday track to which I bought and still own the original 45. The B-side to this record was the hilarious "Ho Ho Ho Who'd Be A Turkey at Christmas". I'm sure this was recorded as a throwaway for the single.. but hey... it is funny and reminds me of "B-B-B-Bennie & the Jets"... Funky little holiday song that goes by each year unnoticed by the masses.

Three Dog Night recorded a version of Elton John's "Lady Samantha". In this case Elton's original is much better than the cover version. Good thing it is included here.

Finally, I never saw the movie "Friends," but am happy the entire soundtrack to "Friends" is included here. The title song was a minor hit single for Elton John and its b-side "Honey Roll" appears for the first and only time on CD.

Be aware that some of these songs also appear on the 1990 boxed set "To Be Continued". Whatever the case may be, most Elton John fans will be happy to own this CD set.

Looking for the "Friends" music ??
This 2-CD set is where you can obtain the "Friends" music from the movie, "Friends" (1971) on CD.