Elton John Recording Engineer Stuart Epps (Jimmy Page, George Harrison, Paul Rodgers+)
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- Stuart Epps is a legendary British recording engineer and producer who befriended young Reginald Kenneth Dwight before he became Elton John. Stuart was part of a small dedicated team who worked to lift Elton John out of obscurity in England to eventually become a global superstar. Stuart toured the world as Elton’s personal assistant; and was one of the few who witnessed the incredible concert at Madison Square Garden when John Lennon joined “Elton and the boys” for what was to be Lennon’s final public performance. In 1975 Stuart took a position as studio manager and engineer at The Mill recording studio where he worked with a host of rock music royalty including Jimmy Page, George Harrison, Paul Rodgers, Bill Wyman, Mick Fleetwood, Chris Rea and countless others. His life has been a series of amazing experiences working with some of the most important people in the history of music.
To hire Stuart to produce your next project: stuartepps.co.uk
To read Stuart’s essay on the early history of Elton John: stuartepps.co....
Check out my other Elton John episodes:
• Why Did Elton Fire Dee...
• Reflections on Goodbye...
• Recording with Dee Mur...
• Video
• When Nigel Played On M...
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These stories are what we wanted to read about in Circus magazine in 1974.
That’s exactly how I feel! That was what was so cool about talking with Stewart. He shared all of the minutia; the stuff you never hear about the most exciting times, when Elton was just starting out. Are used to buy all those magazines looking for the same kind of information and never finding it. Thanks for the great comment!
What a fantastic interview, Jon!
All the hands on experience and knowledge he picked up in the early days at DJM.
Those early days when things were new, a sound no one’s heard before that time.
It’s so amazing how you locate and interview these people who were their at the start of it all.
Thank you so much!!
PS love your hat - it fits you perfectly. ❤
Thank you, Patti! I can always count on you for encouragement😎. So glad you enjoyed the interview. I think it’s so important to give these people their proper place in history. So I try to make these videos almost like a mini documentary about their lives. I know how much I love watching things like this; so it’s very cool to know that people like you are digging my videos as well. I’m glad you like the hat! I’ve always envied the fact that women have so many cool options in terms of clothing and accessories; so I thought it would be cool to start wearing a hat. Now that I started, I find myself finding really cool hats all over the place that I want to buy but I can’t afford! 😆
Jon, your interviews are the stuff that dreams are made of!! I love the stories, the pictures, the music clips, the insiders point of view! So exciting to learn new things about Elton😊
I love hearing from people like you! Because it’s just as fun for me to be learning new things from people like Caleb and Stuart. I’m really hoping to interview Davey Johnstone; but so far, no luck contacting him. Thanks for your encouraging words!
Brilliant! Stuart sounded like a real nice guy. Your videos have a treasure trove of photos and clips I've never heard or seen. Just loved it. Hard to categorize but this is one of my favorites so far. Takes me back to beautiful memory land of my youth. I keep saying we were blessed to grow up when we did. Now my own children love the early artists and bands.....timeless! Thanks Jon!
Thank you so much for the kind words! My kids are the same way! They now have their own attachments to this amazing music. They also discern how bad modern music is 😆. We were indeed blessed to grow up in a time when music was so important. I really appreciate your encouragement!
Great interview with great photos & video footage. Enjoyed Stuart's stories. Stuart Epps was in the ideal location at the ultimate time in music history: London 1967 onwards. What a time for music & social experimentation, revolution, and overall creativity. Countless timeless brilliant albums came from that era. It was good to finally have REGIMENTAL SGT ZIPPO get released on "Record Store Day" in 2021 - 53 years late! "Empty Sky" from Elton's 1969 debut remains one of my favourite Elton tracks. This was such a different time in music: a musician had to prove himself/herself a legit capable live performer to even be considered for a record company contract. Thanks Jon!
I heartily agree with every word you said! I can tell you’re the kind of person I could talk to for hours about this stuff 😎! It’s hard to find people who understand how important this music is; and how amazing this period in history was for music. It’s been so cool to interview Caleb and Stewart; two guys who are right at the right place at the right time. Could you imagine what it was like to be in England, when so much was happening in the music world! Thanks for your encouraging comments!
This particular interview is monumental! Thanks again, Jon.
Thank you good sir! I appreciate the kind words!
Love love love this documentary . Absolutely profound. Just incredible. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't tell you how much it means to get a comment like yours. Thank you so much! These videos are really labor intensive and hearing from you is such an encouragement. Thank you!!!
@@JonBlackstone My pleasure 🤗
Excellent stuff. Ice on Fire has grown on me over the years -- and even Leather Jackets, because I'm tuning in to the songs more than the production. Heartache All Over the World is overproduced, but the song itself if brilliant. I'd love to hear remixes (and deletions of tracks) of albums from RotW to Leather Jackets.
Thanks for watching! Stay tuned for more!
Great interview Jon, I would love to know why nobody ever thought of videoing the now famous Elton/Lennon Madison Square concert. Talk about a once in a life time opportunity, still this is great to hear Stuart is a really interesting guy.
I’ve asked myself that question 1 million times! Obviously, Gus and the team knew enough to record the concert. So why in the world didn’t they film it?! I’ve heard Davey talking about a new documentary that is focused upon the Elton John band and that period they were together. There’s a trailer for it on CZcams. Apparently it’s like a fan funded project so it’s slow in coming. But in the trailer, he talks about that night and insinuates that the documentary has footage that no one has ever seen. Could it be that there’s some footage of that show? Wouldn’t that be awesome! Thank you for watching!
I’d never hear about this from anyone else or anywhere else. A well-spent hour Jon.
Thank you Greg! So glad you enjoyed it. I enjoyed talking to Stuart too!
Jon, thank you for all the great interviews in 2023. Id like to echo all of the comments as well. Looking forward to what you are going to surprise us with in 2024 (no pressure).
I’m sorry I just found your comment seven months later! I really appreciate what you said. Thank you for the very encouraging words. I just rereleased my interview with Caleb Quaye in high definition and I’ll be doing the same with this interview shortly. Thanks again. Cheers!
When I saw Elton John at the Forum in 1972 Legs Larry Smith was there doing his tap dancing.
I really liked the Bonzo Dog Duda Band. They were very funny!
Thanks for watching and for sharing your story! It’s so rare right here from anyone who knows about the Bonzo dog band!
I love hearing these interviews with people I've never heard of, but who were instrumental behind the scenes. They have such great stories and additional perspectives that go beyond the well-known published narratives. I find these interviews across a number of podcasts, but I really love your addition of photos and video clips. It must be a lot of work, but it really adds to the stories being told and keeps me hooked in. By the way, the release of Sgt Zippo last year surprised me. I had no idea there was an unreleased first Elton LP. The songs on it are great, and I couldn't understand why it was never released. I'm glad that was brought up early in the conversation. It's the first I've heard anyone talk about it.
Thank you for the kind words! I’m constantly searching for rare photos to illustrate the videos I make. I’ve been collecting photos for years. And I’ve been collecting bootleg’s and live concerts for decades. Have you watched my other videos? I’ve done several deep dives into Elton’s classic albums. If you enjoy this video, you’ll really enjoy the others! Thanks again for watching!
What a great interview-
I especially loved the segment about modern era musicians and singers.
And how the GREATS all drew from our rich musical heritage.
I blame the removal of arts and music education from schools.
That and 'Looney Tunes' gave me an appreciation for classical music.
I feel sorry for kids today, more than anything.
Thanks for doing your part to keep our era of music alive-
I love that you mentioned Looney Tunes! Those cartoons not only introduced me to music; but to artistic integrity in general. Those cartoons are 7 minute masterpieces of drawing, painting, writing, directing, voiceover, sound effects and custom music written for each short. When you grow up exposed to that kind of excellence it makes you see excellence in music and other media. That’s why I despise most modern music and films. We have such amazing technology which has only taken the place of artistic integrity. Thanks for the great comments!
Fantastic interview! Love hearing about all of the happenings in the background. Thanks Jon
Thank you so much for the kudos! These videos are really labor-intensive and hard to make; so your encouragement is much appreciated!
Great interview Jon and Stuart! Stuart has so many interesting stories! For those who have not heard his talking book, Elton the early years, it’s a must. 🔥
Thank you Linda! Stuart's "Elton The Early Years" is one of the best Elton reading I've found. I love hearing the innocence and thrill of the times before the world came to know Elton John.
Jon, thank you for diving deep into Ice on Fire. We hear so much about the early and mid-70s albums that it’s almost cliche, and then the later ones usually get waved off as if they didn’t exist. Sure, they weren’t as good overall-but that makes the stories behind all of the overlooked work even more interesting. And of course there are some gems in there that certainly deserve for their stories to be told while we still have the chance to talk to most everyone involved: whether that’s Paris, Slow Rivers (great to get a few words on that in this interview), or the France Gall duets. Thankfully there’s some good videos on CZcams re Live in Australia (search Tour de Force), the Fox, and the Thom Bell Sessions-and now your interview has taken its place as the-best-on-record about Ice on Fire. PS those were some wonderful photos of the Ice on Fire sessions-were they from Mr Epps personal collection?
Thank you for watching, and the great compliments! Yes, those photographs were from Stewart apps, private collection. You should check out his website. He tells even more stories about the production of that album. I think you’d really like it! Thanks for watching!
Wow. Didn’t find this until now!
Glad you found it! I have some other videos I’m sure you’ll dig. Thanks for watching!
So glad you found my interview. I did a recent one with Caleb Quaye. That’s really cool too!
@@JonBlackstone I look forward to the Caleb interview especially. He's a fascinating man, brilliant musician, and I quite enjoyed his book after finally getting a copy last year.
Thank the music gods I came across you and all this. This is fantastic.
Thank you so much for the great comments. It’s so cool to encounter other people who appreciate this music as much as I do. Thanks for watching!
Your videos are getting better and better......keep it up!
Thank you, Steve! I really appreciate the kudos! I’m really happy with how this turned out. Stay tuned
50:38. I love Leather Jackets album. It´s my favourite EJ album.
Loved it! And loved your intro _avec_ “Empty Sky”!
Thanks for watching, and for the kind words! From the very beginning, I imagined that intro to empty sky as the beginning of the video. That period of time that Stewart and Caleb participated in must’ve just been so exciting. And I hear that excitement on that opening track. That song just kind of explodes as if to say “Elton John has arrived”!
Excellent interview/video Jon! Thank you for sharing with us. This dude, whom I'd never heard of before today, really was in the right places at the right times. Wow! He watched all the magic happen and was able to be a part of it. What a feeling! One thing that occured to me when he was talking about artists (?) today versus then and having people in a room playing together and the "feel" of the sound, is that another contributing factor is analog versus digital. Analog just feels and sounds so much richer. Off to watch the video with Caleb! Keep up the good work!
Thank you for the kind words! I’m so glad you enjoyed the video. What did you think of the Caleb interview?
@@JonBlackstone I really enjoyed it!! His enthusiasm is really infectious. I must admit that I always kind of held a grudge against him and the rest of that band for replacing Dee and Nigel. I only recently (through your videos/interviews) realized that he was there at the beginning. Seems like everyone came through Dick James Music!! Although I did like Rock of the Westies and Blue Moves, I never really liked the band. Your interview with Caleb changed my mind about that. What he said about being a musician rather than a "star" really resonated with me. I think that is another contributing factor to the decline of music we're experiencing. I was really blown away to hear the bit about "Sweet Home Alabama" being influenced by Caleb on "Ballad of a Well Known Gun". I can totally hear it now that he mentioned it. Not a big fan of Lynyrd Skynyrd but I do live in Birmingham Alabama, so.... you know. Blue Moves was such a departure for EJ. It yielded three of my very favorite EJ songs though - "Between Seventeen and Twenty" (I always remembered my Grandparents birthdays by this song as my Granddad was born in 1917 and my Grandmom was born in '20), "The Wide Eyed & Laughing" and "Idol". I liked pretty much the whole album with a couple of exceptions, but those three just got to me. Then to hear about Caleb's disappointment after receiving that pink slip made me think about Dee & Nigel. You're a very good interviewer. Probably because you're such a fan. I'm looking forward to more, Jon!
Sweet guy, and what an awesome interview
Thanx Jon, fantastic
Thank you again Jon for an awesome interview/video. Like you, I am in the midst of a huge Elton/Bernie deep dive!
Fantastic interview Jon!🔥🙏🏽💨
Thank you for watching! Cheers!
Jon, once again a superlative interview my friend! Thank you for sharing this with us. I am looking forward to whatever you do next. 🫡🫡
Thank you so much, Richard! I really appreciate the encouragement. These videos are labor-intensive and take a lot of work; so your kind words go along way in keeping me going! Stay tuned!
Just thinking about songwriters that are my all time favorites I think of listening to their albums and the people that I consider my favorite are Elton John, Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, and Carol king. I even consider Babyface on my list. For me, these artists have albums that can be listened to throughout the entire album. Don’t get me wrong not every song is my cup of tea but the vast majority of them are outstanding. They also have certain parts of their recording career that I like more than others.
Elton John 1970’s
Laura Nyro throughout
Joni Mitchell 1960’s and 1970’s
Carole King 1960’sband 1970’s
Babyface 1980 and 1990
Thanks for watching! I’d be curious to hear what your favorite songs are by Babyface? I really like all the other artists you listed, but I’ve never cared for his stuff.
@@JonBlackstone get ready……Babyface wrote the soundtrack to Waiting to Exhale, Breathe Again ( Toni Braxton ), Every Time I close my Eyes ( Mariah Carey and Kenny G ) , When You Believe ( Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey ), Someone to Love ( Jon B ), Every Little Step ( Bobby Brown ), Another Sad Love Song ( Toni Braxton ) etc, etc.
I love r&b and he has been such a hit maker for so long. He has such a large catalog of songs.
Very enjoyable, Jon! Great work!
Thank you for watching and the kind words! Hope you’re having a wonderful Christmas season!
Your work is the best, Jon! Love watching. I have two weeks off upcoming and I plan to do some catching up as I know I missed a few things. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to You!@@JonBlackstone
@@lillianhalden1408 Thank you Lillian! It means more to me than you can know. I just released a video a few minutes ago and I have 2 more coming before the end of the month. Sorry to give you more! 😂 I hope you're having a lovely Christmas season!
Great interview. Hadn't heard of
Stuart until a few weeks ago. He was spot on about Nikita but then again lots of people liked it.
He was also right about Slow Rivers, in my opinion it was the best song on Plastic Jackets ( a bit of British humour, yes a very small piece).
Saw your great interview with Caleb. About 3 months ago Caleb was interviewed on Rock History Music channel about Paul Buckmaster.
I left my first ever comment about Take me to the Pilot. If you want to see an explanation for the song check it out.
It's one big block !
Thank you Philip! If you wrote more than a paragraph about Take Me To The Pilot you’re my kind of music fan! As you can probably tell I’m not short on words! I’m going to see if I can find your comment. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed new year ahead!
I know it will be an exciting video like all of your others...I'll watch it tonight and look forward to it...thank you
Hope you like it!
You did it again! Thank you for the brilliance of this video: the interview, the montage the stories.... Great work, I really enjoyed it!
Thank you so much for the kind words! It’s so great to hear from people like you; who really appreciate what I’m trying to do with these videos. I feel that these people are important in the history of music; and I’m trying to make each interview like a mini documentary about their part in the story. I think it’s so important that the stories are captured for future generations. I hope my videos do them the honor they deserve. Thanks again!
This interview/ video is bloody awesome. So good, thank you!
Thank you so much for the kind words! It means a lot to me to hear from people who dig what I’m doing. These videos are labor-intensive and I need all the encouragement I can get. Thank you!
I remember getting my import album of Empty Sky. It was ok and there were a couple songs I liked like Empty Sky and Skyline Pigeon.
Thanks for watching!
Great interview, thank you 😊
Thank you so much! It’s so great to get these positive responses. These videos take a long time and a lot of hard work; so I really appreciate the encouragement. Cheers!
Oh your are so welcome!! Only takes a minute to praise 😊. I’ve enjoyed all of your ‘views. Thank you for asking awesome questions
Sorry Jon, this is the third time I've watched this video and I forgot to click like 😅You have done another fantastic interview. Stuart Epps is someone new to me. He is so sweet, I see how proud he is of Elton and understand that he had to do with a genius musician and he could enjoy that. Unlike Elton's manager, I guess for him, Elton was just a sexy pop superstar. That's why he didn't record Elton's live concerts, but he did have a lot of photos taken of Elton. I am grateful for these photos. At least he did that.
Thanks so much for watching and for the kind words! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the interview with Stuart. He’s a great guy to talk to, and he really brings forth the excitement and the innocence of those times. I’ve also interviewed Caleb in case you’re interested. He was right there at the beginning as well, and has some amazing stories to tell. So far a lot of my videos are about Elton John so I hope you’ll check them out. Cheers!
Que lindo sería grabar mi música! Se que es caro por eso, solo es un sueño.
Great video Jon. Thanks for interviewing Stuart and sharing your work. I'm in the middle of creating a tribute song to Elton right now. When I get it finished, would you mind me sending you a copy of it?
Of course! You can contact me through my website www.Jonblackstone.com
Did you grow up in the Finn Hill area near Kirkland?
Great point Stuart makes about the genius of Beatles and EJ being the teamwork. As great as Elton was, his 70s albums have incredible arrangements, where each instrument contributes to the overall emotional effect. For me, this is the biggest negative of Billy Joel albums. Great tunes, but very little arrangement benefit; in other words, the song sounds about as good just piano and voice. Team-work! Interesting take on Fred’s keys solo on Nikita ‘going on forever and forever’ as it’s the one most obvious misstep I can hear in EJ’s recordings. The solo literally goes on too long covering up Elton’s first few words of his next phrase. I can only believe EJ never bothered to critically review the final mix. He was onto something new …
Another great video, thank you
Thank you Joe! You’re the very first person to comment! I really appreciate the kudos as the videos take a long time to make. There’s no better compliment than those from fellow fans!