Tell me your story and I'll tell you mine

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts

29/10/21 : Lockdown Sessions - Elton John



I don't mind a bit of Elton and I don't mind a bit of various people on this album - particularly Dua Lipa.  But that single is super, super annoying - and hung around in the charts for half a year, which didn't help matters either.  So I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this...

...and hmmm.  Yes, it's totally a vanity project but it's quite an interesting vanity project with a lot more variety and also a lot less eye-rolling on my part than I was expecting - fair play to lad at the tender age of 75 (in a month or so, but we'll celebrate early).  I think "Chosen Family" with Rini Sawayama was probably by favourite - she always makes "interesting" choices and Elton's voice is surprisingly strong on this.  "Nothing Else Matters" is also a fine version and certainly has an interesting cast - Miley, Elton and Yo-Yo Ma amongst others.  And I liked "It's A Sin" as well - his and Olly's voices work well together.  One other track jumped out at me "Orbit" but only because I misheard "Romantic illusion, lighting up sparks" was misheard as "Romantic illusion, lighting our farts".  I like the album cover as well - it's very much of the time but still upbeat, which is definitely what we need.

We're back at #1 in the charts this week - a new entry in its first week of release.  Which was also true at #2 (Lana Del Rey), #3 (Duran Duran) and #4 (Biffy Clyro) - all of which I'd have been happy enough to listen to (although I did have a sneaking listen to Lana and it was a bit meh).  Elton's been hanging around in the charts ever since - 14 weeks now, but he was at #91 last week so that could well be it, I suspect.

Wikipedia has quite a lot of the album but very little of any actual use - although it did point out to me that "Chosen Family" was on Rina's Sawayama album so I had heard it before, but don't think I was aware it was Elton on it.  NME described the album as an "all-bets-off stylistic game of spin-the-bottle" which seems a fair description to me and it was generally well received both critically and commercially (#10 in the US to go with #1 over here).

"Customers also listened to" Adele, Ed, George Michael, Dua Lipa - pop royalty along with Elton the lot of them.  For me, this isn't going to go down as one of Elton's most vital albums, but it's an interesting listen and worth checking out if you've not cast your ears over it.

22/10/21- Not enough to interest me, unfortunately
05/11/21 - Was it you that asked for this?

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