Elton John’s ‘Rock Of The Westies’ Receives 50th Anniversary Reissue
The expanded edition arrives November 20 with previously unreleased piano and vocal versions from the original sessions.
Elton John has announced a 50th anniversary edition of his 1975 album Rock Of The Westies, arriving November 20 via UMe.
The reissue will be available across 2LP, 2CD, 1LP, and digital formats. The expanded editions will include previously unreleased piano and vocal versions recorded during the album’s original sessions. One of those versions, “Street Kids,” is available today as a preview of the collection.
The 2LP edition will be pressed on Sea Blue and Electric Blue vinyl and housed in a gatefold sleeve with a 16-page booklet, while the 2CD edition includes a 24-page booklet with new liner notes and archival imagery. A limited D2C 1LP will be pressed on 180g Blue Jay, Baby Blue and Sunshine Yellow tricolor-effect vinyl.
“I listened to the whole album again this year, stripped back to just the piano and vocals,” the pop icon said of the tune. “On ‘Street Kids’, there is a single, long piano riff throughout the whole song. And there’s absolutely not a single mistake on there. After all these years, I am still very proud of the quality of the musicianship on this record.”
Originally released in October 1975, Rock Of The Westies was Elton’s tenth studio album and was recorded at Caribou Ranch in Colorado with longtime producer Gus Dudgeon. It arrived just five months after Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy, during a momentous year that also saw Elton headline Wembley Stadium and perform his era-defining concerts at Dodger Stadium. The album was Elton’s sixth consecutive No. 1 on the Billboard 200, entering the chart at the top where it remained for three consecutive weeks. It also reached No. 5 on the UK albums chart.
Rock Of The Westies represented a change in Elton’s band at the time: Kenny Passarelli and Roger Pope joined on bass and drums, respectively, while James Newton Howard came aboard on keyboards. Caleb Quaye also joined Davey Johnstone on guitar, with Ray Cooper on percussion. The new lineup had been together for just 33 days when they arrived at Caribou Ranch to record the album. The resulting collection included singles like “Island Girl” (which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks), alongside “Grow Some Funk Of Your Own,” “I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford),” “Street Kids,” and the opening medley “Yell Help / Wednesday Night / Ugly.”
The reissue announcement arrives during another busy year for Elton. He kicked off this month by returning to Mexico for two special performances at Estadio Banorte, his first Mexico City shows in 14 years. In September, he headlined Rock in Rio in Brazil. The icon also launched an expanded edition of the Elton John Impact Awards earlier this year, honoring figures including Chappell Roan, Melissa Etheridge, Jonathan Bailey, Laverne Cox, Billie Jean King, and Orville Peck, and released the limited The Remixes LP for Record Store Day.
Pre-order Elton John’s Rock Of The Westies on vinyl or CD now.
