Washington: Some of the biggest artists have come together to celebrate Elton John’s musical legacy with two albums – ‘Revamp’ (Island Records) and ‘Restoration’ (Universal Music Group Nashville).
The albums, which will be out on April 6, will celebrate John’s decades of hits, which he produced with songwriter Bernie Taupin.
John said in a statement, “We have two completely different albums; Revamp being the pop one and Restoration being the country one. God, we have so many great artists doing our songs, it’s quite incredible,” Rolling Stone reported.
“On Revamp I wrote out a wish list of people that I would love and asked them,” he added. “To my surprise most of them said yes, and we have quite an astonishing eclectic crew.”
The 70-year-old singer said that ‘Restoration’ “was Bernie’s project and he’s a huge country fan,” while Revamp “was more my project.”
‘Revamp’ features songs reimagined by Mary J. Blige, Alessia Cara, Coldplay, Miley Cyrus, Florence and the Machine, Lady Gaga, The Killers, Mumford and Sons, Pink and Logic, Q-Tip and Demi Lovato, Queens of the Stone Age, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith.
The album has a pop art cover, based on a Terry O’Neil photograph of John, and it was recreated in neon.
‘Restoration’ features country covers by Dierks Bentley, Rosanne Cash and Emmylou Harris, Cyrus, Vince Gill and Don Henley, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Maren Morris, Kacey Musgraves, Willie Nelson, Brothers Osborne, Chris Stapleton, Rhonda Vincent and Dolly Parton, and Lee Ann Womack.
“Because of our love of all kinds of music, we’re not stuck in one genre. From day one we borrowed from everything that’s good about American music-whether it’s blues, country, gospel, pop, pure rock-everything got thrown in the mix. I think that’s why our music over the years has been so varied,” Taupin said. “It would be tiring if you just got stuck in one niche your entire career, especially when it’s one as long as ours.” (ANI)