Songs from the West Coast
The appearance of "Rocket Man"-era cohortsNigel OlssonandDavey Johnstoneas backing vocalists touches this CD with one of the trademark sounds of Elton John's 1969-75 LPs. John has acknowledged those records--his most typically singer-songwriterish--occasionally, if mostly to revisit audience favorites in concert (1987'sLive in Australia, a late-'90s VH1 show). But onSongs from the West Coast, his admiration ofRyan AdamsandRufus Wainwright(a guest here) inspires him to recall the stripped-down, lyric-driven sensibility of his early days. The tone of the words Bernie Taupin feeds this notorious diva is elegiac, rooted in a wearier version of the romanticism that fueled oldies as diverse as "Your Song," "Love Lies Bleeding," and "Burn Down the Mission."West Coastsidesteps bombast with a couple of exceptions; only "The Wasteland," with its invocation ofRobert Johnson, is enough to provoke a dismayed "oy." The standout track is "I Want Love," aLennonesque rumination that's their most impressive writing, separately or together, in more than a decade.--Rickey Wright