Elton John - BBC Sessions, Volume 6: Hammersmith Odeon, London, Britain, 12-24-1974

I recently posted an Elton John concert from 1973. This is very similar in some ways. Both were played at the Hammersmith Odeon, in London, almost exactly one year apart from each other. (Specifically, they were one year and two days apart.) Both concerts were played live on TV and radio by the BBC. As a result, both sound fantastic. The main difference though is that John had another year to come up with still more classic songs, so there are lots of differences in the set lists. But both concerts are pretty much the peak concert recordings of him from his great early to mid-1970s era, so any fan of his should listen to both.

I'm not entirely sure, but I suspect that John played a bunch of lesser known songs at the start of the concert before the TV and radio audiences joined in. He suggested as much with some comments between songs. I'm guessing that "Funeral for a Friend - Love Lies Bleeding" was the first song played for the TV and radio audiences, since that was a typical concert opener for him. If that's the case, there are seven songs prior to that. 

Regardless of how much was played on the TV and radio at the time, from the medley mentioned above until the end, nearly every song is a classic, with the exception of "Grinsby" and "Grey Seal," plus a couple of covers like "I Saw Her Standing There" and "White Christmas." For "White Christmas," John was joined by Rod Stewart and Gary Glitter. You can hear Stewart talking some before the song begins. (Too bad about Glitter being there too, in light of what we now know of his sex crimes, but at least you can't really hear him.)

One advantage this has over the 1973 BBC concert is that this one is even longer, by half an hour. This concert is two hours and ten minutes long. Because it was recorded professionally by the BBC, there were no sound problems for me to fix, despite the fact that it's still officially unreleased.

I just have one more concert to go before I finish this series of BBC albums from John's peak 1970s years.

01 talk (Elton John)
02 Skyline Pigeon (Elton John)
03 talk (Elton John)
04 I Need You to Turn To (Elton John)
05 Border Song [Holy Moses] (Elton John)
06 Country Comfort (Elton John)
07 talk (Elton John)
08 Holiday Inn (Elton John)
09 talk (Elton John)
10 High Flying Bird (Elton John)
11 Burn Down the Mission (Elton John)
12 Funeral for a Friend - Love Lies Bleeding (Elton John)
13 talk (Elton John)
14 Candle in the Wind (Elton John)
15 talk (Elton John)
16 Grimsby (Elton John)
17 talk (Elton John)
18 Rocket Man [I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time] (Elton John)
19 talk (Elton John)
20 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)
21 talk (Elton John)
22 Daniel (Elton John)
23 talk (Elton John)
24 Grey Seal (Elton John)
25 Bennie and the Jets (Elton John)
26 talk (Elton John)
27 Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (Elton John)
28 talk (Elton John)
29 I Saw Her Standing There (Elton John)
30 talk (Elton John)
31 Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me (Elton John)
32 talk (Elton John)
33 Honky Cat (Elton John)
34 talk (Elton John)
35 Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting (Elton John)
36 talk (Elton John)
37 Crocodile Rock (Elton John)
38 talk (Elton John)
39 The Bitch Is Back (Elton John)
40 talk (Elton John)
41 Your Song (Elton John)
42 talk (Elton John)
43 White Christmas (Elton John with Rod Stewart & Gary Glitter)

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I'm not entirely sure if the cover art  photo here is from this exact concert or not. It looks posed and thus not something from the middle of a concert. But I found another photo of him at the concert wearing the exact same glasses, so I think it is. (I'm assuming he lost the tall hat at some point.) But if anyone has a photo that is absolutely for sure from this concert, please let me know and I'll use that one.