Elton John to Reissue ‘Greatest’ Live LP for Record Store Day
Elton John will reissue his personal pick for his favorite concert recording, 17-11-70, on Record Store Day, with the gig’s entire performance available on vinyl for the first time.
The reissue, dubbed 17.11.70+, comes as John was anointed as the first Worldwide Record Store Day Legend to mark the annual celebration’s 10th anniversary.
“Happy 10th birthday to Record Store Day,” John said of the honor. “I love record stores, I can go to the record store in [Las] Vegas and spend three hours in there. Just the smell of it, the looking at it, the wonder of it, the memories.”
In a video recorded for Record Store Day, the singer talked about his love of vinyl and his most recent purchase, a bootleg copy of Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo that “cost a fortune.” John also admitted that he cried when Tower Records closed, but he’s heartened by the surge of vinyl sales and the support of independent record stores.
“I love vinyl so much,” John said. “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. I’ve been around long enough to know, I’ve been in so many studios … It does sound better. So it’s just the wonder of having vinyl.”
John added that he sold his massive record collection in 1990 at auction for $250,000, which he donated to the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Two years ago, the singer decided to start a…