E048 | The 1975 Brown Vinyl “Captain Fantastic” (Limited, Signed) (Grail-mania Pt. 2)

In this episode, a collector’s dream comes true as he unboxes one of the most coveted Elton grails of all-time: the limited 1975 brown vinyl “Captain Fantastic”! MCA pressed 2,000 copies of this edition exactly fifty years ago, each hand-signed by both Elton John and Bernie Taupin in its gatefold. Of those original 2,000 brown vinyl copies, how many survive today? How many survive in shape this good? And of those, how many once belonged to John Lennon? (This one might have.) And if you haven’t yet seen Part 1 of “Grail-mania”, here’s the link:    • E047 | The Blood Records “Chateau” (Grail-...  . As always, thanks for watching! If you enjoyed this video, and/or learned anything new from it, please remember to click “Like” (it helps Youtube introduce my videos to more people). And if you haven’t yet subscribed to my channel, please consider it. It’s a pleasure making these videos for you folks. Thank you to all those who’ve already subscribed! NOTES & OTHER THINGS: Two viewers have offered further background information about these brown vinyl copies (note that excerpts have been edited): @MalcolmBrown-u6d comments: “The reason [the brown vinyl copies] were shrink-wrapped was because the majority of the albums were signed at Wembley, where Elton was about to play the full album for the first time. He retained some and the others were taken away shrink-wrapped and hyper [orange hype sticker] put in place and exported back to the USA MCA group for distribution. There are pictures of Elton signing the album at the Wembley suite and the concert program on the floor with signed copies.” @goplad1 comments: “The backstory is a gentleman named Rick Frio, an MCA Records executive, came up with the idea to do a special edition of Captain Fantastic . He thought it should be on brown vinyl (to tie it in with the album's title) and if possible have it autographed. Everyone at MCA loved the idea. The biggest obstacle was to have Elton and Bernie sign it. Elton was on the road much of that year, so coordinating his availability was difficult. Over the course of a month or so, Rick was able to secure a window of time to have Elton sign. Bernie would sign when he was able. Then the albums were returned to MCA to be sealed and stickered. There were some residual copies of the brown vinyl so many were actually packaged and sent out for retail sale. Every once in a while, a brown vinyl unsigned copy will be found in the wild. By the way, I personally heard this story directly from Rick Frio...” Thank you both for sharing this information! THANK YOUs: Of course, thank you once more, Alfonso, for your generosity!! I still can’t believe I actually have a brown vinyl “Fantastic”! Thanks also to all viewers who tried guessing what this week's grail would be. I believe @shineonugrzydieman was the only one who guessed it correctly -- but a few of you came close! LINK TO GUY UNSEALING HIS SEALED BROWN VINYL “FANTASTIC”:    • Opening a Rare Vinyl of Captain Fantastic ...   CREDITS & OTHER ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: “I’m Still Standing” written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin and the original ©1983 Mercury Records Limited. The piano solo version heard in this episode, however, is performed by the YouTuber named Jazzassin; check out the full version (and his “Musicnotes – Signature Artists” channel) here:    • I’m Still Standing (Elton John) Piano Cove...  .