‘Live from Moscow 1979’ Out Now

40 years after Elton John became the first major Western pop star to venture behind the Iron Curtain and play the USSR, his seminal performance with percussionist extraordinaire, Ray Cooper, entitled ‘Live From Moscow’ is out now on 2LP vinyl, plus 2CD and digital formats.

The show was broadcast by BBC Radio 1 in 1979 and the audio has been remastered by Bob Ludwig in 2019 from the original BBC analogue tapes. This general release follows an immediately sold‐out limited pressing for Record Store Day 2019.

In 1979 Elton John had enjoyed a ten-year rise to becoming a global icon. His acclaimed A Single Man tour saw him shorn of the grandeur that had become synonymous with his live shows, choosing instead to play one set alone on his Steinway grand piano and the electric Yamaha CP80, and then, after the interval, be joined by legendary percussionist and long‐time collaborator, Ray Cooper. This stripped‐back setup offers a rare chance to witness his incredible musical talents without all the trimmings that were, at the time, both trademark and treadmill for Elton.

The final four concerts of the tour took place at the Rossiya Hall in Moscow, marking a significant thawing in East-West Cold War relations and resulting in Soviet authorities permitting the state-owned Melodiya record company to issue A Single Man, making it the first pop album to be officially released in the USSR. Elton’s second concert in Moscow was broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on May 28th 1979, with DJ Andy Peebles noting that the “Russian audience is a great deal more restrained than the audiences in Britain.” However, by the end of a performance that saw Elton thoroughly enjoying himself through a 12-minute version of I Heard It Through The Grapevine, an incendiary Bennie and The Jets and a closing medley of Crocodile Rock/Get Back/Back In The USSR, they had become full‐throated participants at a rock concert. As the Daily Telegraph, Sydney wrote: “They knew they were breaking new ground and knew that if rock music were ever to penetrate the iron curtain with any consistency then the impression they left behind had to be indelible. Surely, it was. It was the pair at their very best, blazing a trail.”