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The first thing you will hear on Songs From The West Coast is the sound of a piano, followed by that unmistakable voice. This was how �Your Song� introduced him to the world. And now, here he is again, back doing what he does best - writing unforgettable melodies and singing them as only he can... the legendary, Elton John.
His first album of new material for the 21st Century, Songs From The West Coast looks certain to cement itself alongside the acknowledged Elton classics. �We start off with �The Emperor�s New Clothes��, he explains, �just me, piano and voice - and that sets the tone for the whole album, which is very much in the vein of Tumbleweed Connection or Madman Across The Water.�
Songs From The West Coast was written in collaboration with long-time lyricist Bernie Taupin. Last summer the two men sat down together at Elton�s home in the South of France, and took a long, hard look at the album they wanted to make. �We talked about how important this album was,� Elton remembers, �and the challenge was that we wanted to make something as good as any of the albums we�d made, from Elton John right up to Captain Fantastic.�
Recorded in just two sessions in Los Angeles during December last year, the spontaneous stripped-back approach can be heard on all twelve tracks. Songs From The West Coast is the album fans have been wanting to hear for years; and an album Elton himself has been longing to make. �We had to be really harsh on ourselves,� Elton admits, �we drew a line in the sand and said: by the time this album comes out, I�m going to be 54. I want to make it really strong, the best album I can do. And I think we�ve really achieved that.�
Songs From The West Coast hit the ground running. The first track they recorded was �American Triangle�, a song about the murder of a young gay man in Wyoming: �Bernie gave me the lyric, and I thought I�m so passionate about this, I�ve got to write it - because if I can�t write a decent song to this lyric and about this subject matter, then I�m in real big trouble!�
�That was the first song we nailed; and the second was �This Train Don�t Stop There Anymore� - so we were off to a really good start. I think. �This Train Don�t Stop There Anymore� is the closest we�ve got to writing a Burt Bacharach/Hal David song - we decided to make that the last track, because that way, you start with �The Emperor�s New Clothes� and the album just builds and builds and builds.�
Even to Elton�s ultra-critical ear the quality of the new material he and Bernie had written was outstanding. �I think there are five or six really classic Elton John/Bernie Taupin songs on this album - and that�s a high percentage for any album! �The Ballad Of The Boy In The Red Shoes� is a �Tiny Dancer� kind of melody, a sad song, about a man dying of AIDS. But it�s also about the Reagan administration and how little they did about AIDS during the 1980s.�
��The Wasteland� is the most traditional up-tempo song on the album. I haven�t played piano like that on record for ages. I loved the lyrics, and looking at them you think this has got to be a bluesy song - but it�s actually more gospel blues.�
��Birds� is just me sitting at the piano, playing and doing the vocal at the same time. We didn�t change a thing. I�m sitting there at the piano, singing these songs as we were putting down the rough tracks and thinking �God, this sounds really good...� It was how we used to do it years ago at the Chateau with the old band.�
By his own reckoning, Songs From The West Coast is �round about� Elton�s 40th album, and already it�s being hailed as one of his best ever. Maybe because, as everyone knows, Elton John is pretty good at sitting down at a piano, writing a melody and singing it like no-one else in the world...
�You listen to something you really like,� acknowledges Elton, �like Groove Armada or Underworld. And that influences you, and you want to try it yourself. But you know, I�m not Groove Armada, I�m Elton John... and on this album, I�m just going to be as Elton as I can!�
