Tag: Elton John

BBC Music – God Only Knows

“It’s not Perfect Day.”

Tim: You may or may not remember Perfect Day, the Lou Reed cover that the BBC put together back in 1997 that had just about every artist in the world in it.

Tom: Remember it? I think it was the first single I bought. Charity and all.

Tim: Well, they’ve gone and done something similar with this Beach Boys track seventeen years later. This got broadcast on every channel and station last night (except Radio 3, who were busy playing Brahms) both to promote the new BBC Music thing and to raise money for Comic Relief. Shall we?

Tim: Hmm.

Tom: “Hmm” is right.

Tim: Well, I think the first question we should all be asking is what on Earth is going on with Louis and Niall’s hair –

Tom: I was going to mention that.

Tim: – but musically I’m going to say…ehhh. It’s a track, certainly, and it’s musical, for the most part it’s very enjoyable.

Tom: But it’s not Perfect Day. Am I looking back with rose-tinted spectacles? Possibly, but I can remember being absolutely blown away by Perfect Day when it first appeared on TV — here, they seem to be dazzling with ridiculous CGI rather than just good music.

Tim: The only criticism I have is that I’m really not sure the orchestral/chorus break sounds right. I get that they want to indicate that it’s about all types of music, but I think if you want to do that, make it longer.

Tom: Right! Yes! Perfect Day is busy, but it never approaches anywhere near “cacophony”. There’s not room enough to breathe in here. The instrumental break of Perfect Day was one very good solo: here, we’ve got loads of instruments and vocalists, and each one gets a pause to itself. And Brian May crowbars his trademark guitar sound in. It doesn’t work.

Tim: I’m usually the first to complain that a track’s too long, but you’re barely pushing two and a half minutes there, and I don’t think anyone’d begrudge you an extra minute to fit it together better.

Tom: Also, let’s be clear about that video: Brian Wilson has the haunted look of someone who has no idea what’s going on.

Tim: Still, gets the point across, and it’s good enough to listen to. Makes the right point about how important music is to them, and at a time when people are having a go at the BBC right, right and further right, it’s nice to have them showing off what they can do. And beg for our support, which I suppose is a more cynical and probably unfair way of looking at the lyrics. So I’ll close by saying: great idea, not quite so great execution, but good enough for me.

Saturday Flashback: Fall Out Boy feat. Elton John – Save Rock and Roll

“Barnstormer.”

Tom: We’ve covered a couple of tracks from their latest album before, but not this one — it’s the title track, and it’s a barnstormer.

(There’s also the full music video here, with two warnings: one, that it’s part of a concept video, and two, that’s it’s rather splatter-gory.)

Tim: ​Hmm. You say spatter-heavy, I say typical episode of Hannibal or The Following. Though has Elton ever done a video where he doesn’t play the piano?

Tom: Some critics derided this track as ‘cheesy’, which is probably fair when compared to other tracks from a punkish-rock band like Fall Out Boy.

Tim: Yes, but every heavy band typically puts a couple of more radio-friendly tracks in each album – we’ve featured a couple before. Keeps them accessible to everyone; an excellent idea, I reckon.

Tom: I mean, that’s a glorious key change, and Elton John’s happily singing along with it — yep, it’s pretty cheesy. But you know what? It’s also pretty damn good.

Tim: It really is. And that video’s pretty special too.

Bright Light Bright Light feat. Elton John – I Wish We Were Leaving

“Drum-and-bass & dreamlike instrumentation”

Tim: Following on from last weeks current and old collaboration, have another.

Tom: “Feat. Elton John” is a pretty good credit to have.

Tim: Elton, allegedly, phoned up Mr Light Bright Light to inform him that he was a bit of a fan; inspiration struck Rod, and he rewrote this track as duet, called Elton and asked him to sing. Nice, isn’t it?

Tom: It is: it’s unusual to hear what sounds almost like drum-and-bass underneath dreamlike instrumentation, but it works well.

Tim: Apparently, Elton taking lead vocals on the second verse is “a reminder that every relationship has two sides and two voices”, which if you think about it is slightly unfair and denigrating of couples in which one person is mute, but never mind.

Tom: I think you can have a “voice” without actually having a voice. But leaving your pedantry aside: wow, Elton’s got a voice.

Tim: It’s a lovely track, and the voices complement each other well, though that may have something to do with Elton’s singing being toned down somewhat for this genre: “I had to sing in a completely different way which I really enjoyed.”

Tom: That chorus does remind me a bit of the Beach Boys’ God Only Knows, mind.

Tim: As with so many of his tracks, this has a slight mix of the downbeat and the happiness, with the whole “breaking up but you’ll be fine” thing going on. It’s lovely, and, if either of you are reading, since you both enjoyed it perhaps it could be a regular thing? I wouldn’t be complaining.

Elton John vs Pnau – Foreign Fields

“I can’t call it a “remix”, because it’s an entirely new track.”

Tom: I’ve tried to write about this album a few times over the last few months, as various singles from it have come out. And each time I’m failed, because I find it difficult to come to any coherent view of it.

Tom: Do excuse the dodgy fan-video: the official one is locked down on YouTube for some reason.

Pnau are two suitably-weird Australian dance music producers, who were mentored by and signed by Elton John. They’ve released an album taking some of his lesser-known tracks and… well, I can’t call it a “remix”, because it’s an entirely new track. I can’t claim to have heard the original of this before, despite rather liking Elton John. Listening to that original shows just how much has been changed.

Tim: I’d not heard it either, but I don’t think it’s a necessary prerequisite to liking this.

Tom: And the remix is… well, I don’t think it’s an improvement on the original, but that’s because I’m a sucker for that kind of piano-melody gospel-choir track. As a reinterpretation it’s lovely, isn’t it?

Tim: It is lovely, yes. Not so sure about the weird vocoding effect at the end, but otherwise this is fine.

Tom: Granted, the out-of-nowhere ending on the remix sucks, and it doesn’t really seem to go anywhere: but I can’t help but like it.

Saturday Flashback: Elton John – Someday Out Of The Blue

Many years ago, when I was a kid, I went to the cinema…

Tom: Many years ago, when I was a kid, I went to the cinema to see… something-or-other. And when I got home, and my folks asked me if the film was any good, I’ve no idea what I said. But I do remember mentioning this – because for whatever reason, they played this video in its entirety as one of the trailers. I don’t know why: but it clearly stuck with me.

Tom: A four-minute trailer that’s actually an Elton John music video. And what a video: they didn’t need to go to the expense of animating special scenes, let alone rotoscoping a cartoon Elton into it – but they did. And that’s just be a useless gimmick, if it wasn’t also a brilliant song.

Tim: Brilliant is one word to use; another word would be standard Elton John fare.

Tom: The thing is, standard Elton John fare – at least for his singles – is “brilliant”. He’s got ‘great hits’ albums that are two CDs long, and you’ll recognise most of the tracks on them.

Tim: Yes – I suppose I’m coming across slightly negative because, well, it’s an Elton John soundtrack song and I want it to be properly great.

Tom: I say brilliant because, well, it’s your quintessential Elton John soundtrack song. Everything about it is predictable in the best possible way: it’s catchy, it’s uplifting, and it’s got a key change at the end. It made me smile.

Tim: The key change made me smile as well, but mostly for the “ah yes, there it is” factor. Again, though, I can’t help feeling I’m being unreasonably negative. Sorry.

Tom: Well, like I say: it stuck with me.

Elton John and Leon Russell – When Love Is Dying

Soulful, melancholic Elton.

Tom: I’m not doubting that Elton John is a genius. If I could have seen the Red Piano tour when I was in Vegas a few years ago, I would have been there; he’s brilliant. But like the Pet Shop Boys and many other artists, he’s put out a lot of singles in his time – and a lot of them have sunk without trace. The reason he can put a double CD ‘Greatest Hits’ out isn’t necessarily representative of his hit rate, but testament to just how many songs he’s written and sung.

Leon Russell may be less familiar to you; he’s just been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and has a biography that is essentially the history of modern popular music.

And so last year, the two of them brought out an album called The Union – and a single is eventually making it out to give it a post-release boost. I’m glad of that – because if it’s anything to go by I may well have to get the full album. This is textbook soulful, melancholic Elton – “Your Song” or “Sacrifice” rather than “Crocodile Rock”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY3vg2wgE_Y

Tim: Not bad, really. Halfway through each verse I want to jump in with ‘I’ll stand by you’, but it’s decent enough.

Tom: I don’t think it’s going to enter the public consciousness in the same way as those earlier songs, but it’s still making me sway in my seat and hold my metaphorical lighter in the air. To still be releasing music this good after forty years of releasing and performing? That’s amazing right there. Cliff Richard could only manage the bloody “Millennium Prayer” after forty years.

I do wish the bloke with the bass drum would tone it down a bit though – and I’m sure there’s a bit more autotune-tweaking than there really needs to be in there, which is a bit of a shame.