Back to his best, Elton’s on a retro rock trip
ElToN JoHN’S rise to stardom is a tale accompanied by tantrums, tiaras, sparkly specs and all the superficial glamour of the Seventies. These days, he prefers the quieter life with husband david Furnish and their two young sons, Zachary and elijah.
But domestic bliss has done little to diminish elton John’s drive. He played more than 100 concerts last year, hosts a regular online radio show and today releases a new album that maintains a career renaissance that began with 2001’s Songs From The west Coast.
like most of his best work since then, it takes his Seventies heyday as a template. The ten new songs here, underpinned by rolling piano and cleverly nuanced melodies, have a rousing yet graceful quality that would have seen them sit effortlessly on Tumbleweed Connection or Goodbye yellow Brick Road.
with Furnish now in charge of his business interests, there have been changes behind the scenes in the run-up to this release, with many of the aides who have been with elton for decades now gone.
on the artistic side, though, the key is continuity. John’ s relationships with lyricist Bernie Taupin and producer T-Bone Burnett remain, while drummer Nigel olsson, guitarist davey Johnstone and percussionist Ray Cooper have been backing him since the early Seventies.
Reiterating the retro feel for which T-Bone is famous, this album was recorded on old-fashioned equipment in a Californian studio.
Just like Goodbye yellow Brick Road, the record that made him a household name, wonderful Crazy Night was finished in just 17 days, with elton, 68, writing tunes to Taupin’s lyrics in the morning, rehearsing with his band in the afternoon and completing a track before the close of play.
The upshot is a breezy collection of pop and soul played with wit, warmth and spontaneity. elton’s claim that he has made ‘a raucous rock ’n’ roll record’ is wide of the mark, but the lively, mid-tempo songs here should transfer well on to the live stage when he tours the uK in June.
In opening with its upbeat title track, wonderful Crazy Night immediately strikes a different chord to its reflective predecessor The diving Board, released three years ago, and 2010’s The union, an album of jazzy duets with leon
Russell. With no demons being exorcised, this is Elton enjoying himself.
Allusions to his new family are made only in passing. The elegant ballad A Good Heart is about kinship. It could be a comment on the singer’s home life, though its inspiration could just as easily be his ongoing partnership with Taupin: the pair met in London in 1967, and Elton si ngs Bernie’s lyrics with such conviction it’s hard to think of them as anything other than his own.
With guitarist Johnstone providing subtle touches, I’ve Got 2 Wings is a hymn of praise to a travelling musician at the end of his days. Blue Wonderful is a love song that avoids being overly sentimental, while Looking Up is a pounding piano rocker reminiscent of Elton’s old touring buddy Billy Joel.
The only thing missing here is an obvious mega-hit single. The countrified Claw Hammer is bluesy and moody, Guilty Pleasure a cajun rocker about being unl ucky in love a nd Tambourine an acoustic ballad. There is no Candle In The Wind or Don’t Go Breaking My Heart — to which Elton would probably retort that he has now moved beyond the point of writing ditties for daytime radio.
But, as his work ethic shows, his enthusiasm for making and playing new music remains as strong as ever. And Wonderful Crazy Night, superbly sung and played, is a worthwhile addition to his already weighty catalogue.