The lockdown sessions
Elton John: A kettle of color and three minutes of goose bumps
Elton John survived the lockdown with music. Photo: Julian Smith / AAP / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Boredom in lockdown – doesn’t have to be. Elton John thought so too and tried to make the most of the excess time. His new album is a showcase of young and older music stars.
TV streaming in series, more often out into nature, voluntary overtime in the home office, maybe just enjoying the boredom: everyone develops their own methods to cope with the corona restrictions.
Elton John, one of the biggest superstars in the pop business, has invited guests to get to know each other, to be creative and to make music over the past 18 months via Zoom or in the studio. The album, which was created under pandemic conditions, is appropriately called “The Lockdown Sessions”.
And as is so often the case when people somehow have to make the best of difficult times, light and shadow lie close together on the album, which is lush with 16 pieces. The mixture of dance-pop, hip-hop, ballads, indie and senior rock sometimes sounds like an arbitrary kettle of color. But what the listener always senses: The Querbeet collaborations were great fun for Sir Elton.
This record, although certainly not one of his best, was for the singer, songwriter and pianist more than just a pastime for subsequent commercial exploitation.
At the Zoom interview for a small group of international music journalists, the Brit can hardly get out of the raptures. He feels “magic and happiness” about these recordings born out of lockdown, some of which resulted from his own “Rocket Hour” show (Apple Music). These include cover versions such as the famous “It’s A Sin” by the Pet Shop Boys (presented by Elton John here with Years & Years) and Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” (with Miley Cyrus), but also ten new compositions.
“We are now friends,” says Elton John several times about his new musician acquaintances – and emphasizes that he was particularly enthusiastic about working with up-and-coming artists such as Charlie Puth, Lil Nas X, Rina Sawayama, Jimmie Allen and SG Lewis. This was “kick” and “thrill” at the same time, and he was still learning.
The joint single “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)” with Dua Lipa (26) is the first hit on an album that could well have a few more in store. The patchwork of several Elton John classics such as “Rocket Man”, spiced up with beats, has only just helped him to a British chart record: He was the first artist to be in the top ten at least once per decade over a period of six decades to hit the UK charts.
The catchy duet – Sir Elton’s first number one in the United Kingdom in 16 years – replaced Ed Sheeran’s “Shivers” at the top of the chart. The 30-year-old had previously called on his fans to help out – also a sign of the appreciation that the pop veteran enjoys in future generations.
«I have built and expanded friendships with young musicians for years. And it still makes me very excited when I hear something new from a new artist, ”says Elton John in the Zoom conversation, credibly euphoric. With his fame, he is happy to offer the youngsters “a hand of friendship”.
And he does this not least from his own positive experience: “When I came to America at the time, stars like Neil Diamond, The Beach Boys, Leon Russell, The Band and George Harrison approached me, and it made me very happy that they liked my music. ” It was 50 years ago – with over 50 top 40 hits, over 300 million albums, Grammys and Oscars sold, Elton John is now one of the greatest icons in the music world.
He would like to do something with US shooting star Billie Eilish soon, about whom he says: “It’s wonderful to see this little flower grow into a beautiful tree.” But of course Elton John also exhausted his good contacts to the middle and older pop generation for “The Lockdown Sessions” – songs with Damon Albarn’s cartoon band Gorillaz, Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam), Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac) and Soul bear witness to this – Legend Stevie Wonder.
After a lot of lightweight pop and some classic rock, Elton John saved the album’s only real goosebumps moment for the end. It is a three-minute “recreation” of “I’m Not Gonna Miss You”, the very last song that country pop world star Glen Campbell – already severely affected by Alzheimer’s disease – wrote before his death in 2017.
On this subject Sir Elton shows his melancholy side in an interview: “It is such a beautiful text about the heartbreaking dementia. That was one of the hardest pieces on the new album because I had to get it right. I had to put exactly those emotions into my singing that Glen himself had. ” He succeeded: The duet of the wonderful voices of Glen Campbell and Elton John in a great farewell ballad – it is deeply moving.