Elton Celebrates 10th Record Store Day with '17-11-70+'

Record Store Day is the one day of the year when thousands of independent record shops all across the globe come together to celebrate their unique culture and on April 22 this year, to commemorate the 10th Record Store Day, Elton will serve as the first ever worldwide Record Store Day Legend and release an expanded, double-vinyl version of his first live album.

Happy 10th birthday to Record Store Day. I love record stores, I can go to the record store in Vegas and spend three hours in there. Just the smell of it, the looking at it, the wonder of it, the memories. I love vinyl so much; the tactile nature, the ritual of it, looking at the sleeve…especially with the old albums and the liner notes – who played on them, the process of putting it on, the needle going on and the sound coming out. And it DOES sound better, I know it does! It’s just the wonder of having vinyl. – Elton John

Watch the full video below to see Elton wax lyrical about his lifelong love of vinyl.

To celebrate the 10th Record Store Day, Elton is releasing 11-17-70+.

The album 17-11-70 was not meant to be a live one at all; we did one of the first ever stereo radio broadcasts live at A&R Recording Studios in New York City in 1970 on the 17th of November. It was Phil Ramone’s studio, one of the greatest producers of all time, and we just went in the booth and played it as a three-piece: Nigel Olsson on drums and vocals, Dee Murray on bass and vocals, and myself. There was a studio audience of about 100 sitting outside the booth, hearing it coming through the loud speakers, and we just played. I’m astonished by how good we were, listening to this record. It wasn’t initially coming out as a live album, but there were so many bootlegs in those days that the record company put it out. I’m glad they did because it really is something I’m very very proud of. – Elton

With the end of Elton’s Louder Than Concorde… tour on August 17, 1976, Elton came off the road for the better part of a year and no longer required the Starship. The plane itself was losing its appeal in general, thanks to changing economics and increasing fuel costs, and was eventually dismantled for parts.

But for four years in the mid-1970s, and much like Elton’s career… what a ride!