THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,598) Elton John — “Turn to Me”
Before Reginald Dwight (see #175) was Elton John, he was Regimental Sgt. Zippo. Here is his unreleased Sgt. Pepper-inspired ‘68 album’s “lost gem, a truly lovely tune which finds [him] offering his heart to a lonely soul, as [Bernie] Taupin edges into the now familiar storytelling imagery”. (Dave Simpson, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jun/11/elton-john-regimental-sgt-zippo-review-long-lost-trippy-album) The song was released at the time by Plastic Penny, with Elton John’s future drummer Nigel Olsson, and by Guy Darrell.
John F. Higgins tells us of the album that wasn’t:
The earliest known activity for a song on Regimental Sgt. Zippo was the recording of the demo for “Nina” on November 3, 1967, a mere month after the release of Bluesology’s third and final single . . . and a full week before Elton and Bernie signed their first publishing deal with Dick James. On the 15th of that month . . . Elton, producer/guitarist Caleb Quaye [see #807, 1,169], and the musicians . . . picked up their instruments and fired up the four-track tape machine to cut the full-band version of “Nina”. . . . Regimental Sgt. Zippo was put together as an album, it wasn’t just a pile of demos”, says [graphic designer David] Larkham . . . . [I]n March and April of 1968, he recorded the bulk of RSZ as well as a handful of other new songs, released “I’ve Been Loving You”, and played his first club performance under his own name on April 30 at the Marquee Club in London. 20 days later, the album’s title track, evoking not only the Beatles’ mind-blowing Sgt. Pepper album but also Elton’s birth name, “Reg”, and the fact that his father was a regimented military man, was tracked and the sessions were complete. And that is where the story ended… [u]ntil now.
https://www.eltonjohn.com/stories/regimental-sgt.-zippo-in-detail
Stephen Thomas Erlewin adds:
Originally slated for release in 1968, Elton John scrapped Regimental Sgt. Zippo in favor of Empty Sky, the LP that became his official debut in 1969. Looking back, it was certainly the right move. Empty Sky touches upon the lush, arty balladry that would become one of John’s signatures in the 1970s, whereas Regimental Sgt. Zippo is very much looking backwards — at the psychedelic vistas opened up by the Beatles in particular. The very title signals the album’s debt to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” — a song Elton would later cover — is a particular touchstone. Melodies swirl through the ornate production, the lyrics are aggressively whimsical, and the recordings are intent on opening up your mind so you can float downstream. As a whole, Regimental Sgt. Zippo is a heavier affair than Pepper — there are fuzz guitars and washes of organ straight out of Procol Harum — and it can also get quite Baroque . . . . All of this is interesting and makes for a rather interesting artifact, but there’s little question it would’ve gotten Elton John’s career off to an unsteady start back in 1968.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/regimental-sgt-zippo-mw0003543430
Here is Plastic Penny:
Here is Guy Darrell:
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