Elton John
standout track. Years & Years (‘It’s a Sin’)
A worthy update of the 1987 Pet Shop Boys club hit. The simple piano and vocal arrangement from John and Years & Years (aka British singer Olly Alexander) allows for searing new insight into the lyrics. But then the synth and pulse kick in and Sir Elton blasts into Mirror Ball Land.
Rina Sawayama (‘Chosen Family’)
The Japanese-British singer resembles Lady Gaga in tone and delivery and she takes the lead on this lovely mid-tempo song about the people we select as our partners in the foxhole. As the pair sings, “We don’t need to be related/We don’t need to share genes or a surname/So what if we don’t look the same, we’ve been going through the same thing,” their message is clear: Family has nothing to do with blood.
Stevie Wonder (‘Finish Line’)
John teams with his “That’s What Friends Are For” buddy for an uplifting message paired with an easy groove. These titans of music history revel in the big choral action in the background of the song, while Wonder’s distinctive voice and his trademark harmonica make the duet a noteworthy musical footnote.
Glen Campbell (‘I’m Not Gonna Miss You’)
The late country great recorded this weepie for his final album in 2014, the soundtrack for the documentary “I’ll Be Me.” Campbell’s team reached out to John to see if he would be interested in rerecording it along with Campbell’s vocal and the result is an emotional knockout. “I’m still here, but yet I’m gone/I don’t play guitar or sing my song,” Campbell offers in a weathered voice. It’s both a gentle tribute to Campbell and a knowing nod to John’s own mortality.