“Jewel Box” Super Deluxe Edition

Clocking in at a whopping nine hours and 58 minutes, this voluminous set was personally curated by Elton John with multiple goals in mind. A sweeping musical statement that comes on the heels of his Oscar-winning biopic, “Rocketman,” and autobiography, “Me” — both released in 2019 — “Jewel Box” is designed for dedicated fans, not casual listeners.

No fewer than 65 of the 148 songs on this eight-cd set are released here for the first time, including a panoply of demo recordings John made between 1965 and 1971. Among them is his maiden voyage studio session with Bluesology, John’s first band of note. He mixes these with a generous assortment of solo hits, deep album cuts and two complete discs of B-sides from his many singles.

“Scarecrow,” from 1967, is the first song John and lyricist Bernie Taupin wrote together. It lays the foundation for a remarkable partnership whose global success and longevity neither could have imagined. Selections from an abandoned album project, “Regimental Sgt. Zippo,” indicate just how influenced John and Taupin were by The Beatles during that band’s most psychedelic period. Other pieces, such as the zippy “Sing Me No Sad Songs” and the baroque ballad “Tartan Coloured Lady,” find John confidently working through different musical phases as he finds and hones his musical identity. Wisely, his earnest but remarkably illsuited 1970 version of Nina Simone’s “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” is nowhere to be found in this “Jewel Box.”

Mercury; eight CDS, plus a 100-page book; $101.81