music

Elton John might be our most prominent ambassador for the magic of vinyl records. His personal collection is famously massive and his taste equally expansive—in a 2020 interview with Goldmine, he claimed to own "over 120,000 CDs and 15,000 pieces of vinyl." Not too shabby! But even if he owns thousands of albums, one particularly meaningful LP has never graced his shelf. Until now, anyway.

On November 5, the singer-songwriter posted on social media about the lovely musical gift he received from Alex Rodriguez, the owner of L.A. shop Record Safari and the Vinyl Record Curator for the Coachella music festival. After coming across the "original acetates" from the first recordings of John’s blockbuster seventh album, 1973’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Rodriguez worked hard to make contact with the musician. (For clarity, as DJ and vinyl expert B-Pushr notes on Instagram, an acetate is a "one-off cut," made from aluminum with a lacquer coating, that allows artists to hear their work before it’s officially pressed.)

A selfless act of kindness

"Every so often, there are acts of kindness that remind you there are still a lot of good people in this world," John wrote, noting that the acetates are still in "beautiful condition," packaged in their original sleeves from Trident Studios, where the album was completed. He described them, accurately, as a "real piece of history."

"Instead of selling them or keeping them for himself, Alex reached out and offered to return them to me personally," he continued. "While they’d be valuable to anyone, to me these recordings are truly priceless, and I am incredibly grateful for his kindness, generosity, and his love of music. Thank you, Alex. This is a gesture I’ll never forget."

The post, which includes an excellent photo of John and Rodriguez posing with the acetates, drew the attention from thousands of musicians, record collectors, and others simply inspired by this selfless act of kindness. Rodriguez also added a sweet note in the comments section, saying it was "totally awesome" to return these discs to their proper owner.

"Even when people doubted I could get it back to you, I believed!" he wrote. "My gut feeling told me you would want this back, mostly because I know you are a fellow record collector/aficionado! Thank you for the kind words, definitely one of the coolest memories to hold on to! I knew the future of this acetate lied beyond the yellow brick road!"

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Elton John's record-collecting roots go deep

Genuinely heartwarming stuff—and clearly much appreciated by John, given his deep passion for physical media. In a 2017 video for Record Store Day, being honored by the brand as a "Legend," he talked about the roots of this love. "I remember [my mother] buying 'Heartbreak Hotel' by Elvis Presley, which changed my life," he said. From there, his collection steadily swelled until 1990, when he sold all his records to raise money for the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

"I sold the whole collection, singles and everything, to someone in St. Louis for about $250,000," he said. "I hated getting rid of it, but I had so much that I [didn’t have anywhere] to put it. Then I obviously started collecting CDs and cassettes, but it wasn’t the same, and then two years ago, there’s a store in Vegas called Wax Trax Records, and I started collecting vinyl—slowly—and replacing what I’d sold."

These days, even just being in a record store puts him in a Zen-like state: "I can go into the record store in Vegas and spend three hours there," he said. "Just the smell of it and the looking at it and the wonder of it, the memories. Music has been my whole life. It’s been my crutch; it’s been my soulmate…It’s never lost its shine."

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