Elton John is releasing a deluxe 50th anniversary edition of his Elton John’s classic 1975 album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy on Friday, October 24. That same day, a vinyl LP featuring Elton performing the entire album during a 1975 concert also will be released.
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The limited-edition LP, titled Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy: Live at Midsummer Music, Wembley Stadium 1975, comes pressed on colored vinyl. This will mark the first time that the performance will be released on vinyl.
The live album was recorded at a star-studded, daylong event called the Mid-Summer Music festival, which Elton organized. The show took place June 21, 1975, at Wembley Stadium in London. The other artists on the bill included the Eagles, The Beach Boys, Joe Walsh, and Rufus featuring Chaka Khan.
Elton Posted a Vintage TV Ad for the 1975 Concert
Celebrating the archival LP’s release, a vintage TV commercial for the concert was posted on John’s social media pages. The ad features appearances by Elton, Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys, Walsh, the Eagles, and Khan. John comments during the promo, “These are some of my favorite American artists, and we’re all playing at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, June the 21st.” The price for tickets to the extravaganza was jaw-droppingly low … 3.50 pounds. That’s equivalent to about $50 today.
In a message accompanying the commercial, John shared some background about the show.
“The Midsummer concert came about because I’d never played Wembley Stadium and I thought it would be a fantastic time to debut the Captain Fantastic & The Brown Dirt Cowboy album,” he wrote. “So I handpicked the bill, all the artists I loved—[Joe Walsh, Chaka Khan, the Eagles and The Beach Boys,] who stole the show.”
Elton continued, “I came on & played the whole album from start to finish & no one had heard it before, I could feel the crowd get restless, it was very challenging for me. But when I look back and hear what we played … it sounds amazing. I have it in my memory that the show was a disaster performance wise but we sound brilliant and you can hear that on this 1LP. … [I]t’s reignited my feelings for that day. The show was only £3.50 to get in, daylight robbery!”
The Wembley concert was John’s first with a mostly new backing band. Only guitarist Davey Johnstone and percussionist Ray Cooper remained from his longtime group. The new members included guitarist Caleb Quaye, drummer Roger Pope, keyboardist James Newton Howard, and bassist Kenny Passarelli. Jeff “Skunk” Baxter was a guest guitarist at the show.
More About the 1975 Live Album
The performance featured on the Live at Midsummer Music, Wembley Stadium 1975 album was previously available on a deluxe, two-CD 30th anniversary edition of Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy that was released in 2005.
More About the 50th Anniversary Captain Fantastic Reissue
The 50th anniversary Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy reissue is available in multiple formats and configurations. These include a two-CD set and a two-LP vinyl package featuring session demos, non-album singles, and live performances.
The two-CD version features a 2016 remaster of the original album; the chart-topping non-album singles “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “Philadelphia Freedom” and their B-sides; six demo recordings; and live performances of seven songs from a 2005 concert at Madison Square Garden celebrating Captain Fantastic’s 30th anniversary.
The two-LP set features the 2016 remaster, the six demos, and four performances from the 2005 Madison Square Garden show.
The deluxe CD and LP collections also include a booklet featuring sleeve notes and Elton’s previously unseen 1974 diary entries.
About the Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy Album
Released on June 7, 1975, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy was John’s ninth studio effort. It became the first album ever to debut at the top of the Billboard 200. Captain Fantastic also was the first album to be certified gold by the RIAA before it was even released, based on pre-orders of more than 500,000 copies.
The album sold 1.4 million copies in its first four days on the shelves, and went on to spend seven non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. It eventually was certified triple platinum by the RIAA for sales of more than 3 million copies in the U.S.
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is a concept album featuring songs that tell the story of John and lyricist Bernie Taupin’s musical partnership and rise to fame. For the record’s title track, Taupin had created respective alter egos for Elton and himself.
Only one single was released from the album, “Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.
(Photo by Chris Barham/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
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