As I said yesterday, I do not really buy many albums anymore. But back in the day, (I can't believe I just said that), I accumulated my fair share of CD's. Most of the time, it was just so I would have a song or two at best. It was rare to find a whole album that I would just put in and listen to all the way through. I guess for me to choose a "Favorite Album", that would be one of my criteria. Thinking on those terms, narrowed my list a great deal. I decided to rule out the Broadway soundtracks that I listen to on long road trips because they tell a story and kill a couple hundred miles at the same time. That narrowed my list even further. What I finally decided on using was actually a compilation CD I found back in the early 90's.
The album is called Two Rooms...Celebrating the Songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin. It is a great collection of covers of some of this duo's most memorable songs sung by some of the biggest heavy hitters of the late 80's and early 90's. I discovered the album quite by accident. I do not remember who I was calling at the time, but I got the inevitable "Please Hold" and found myself listening to the music. It was the song Daniel but it was not Elton John singing it. It really sounded like Wilson Phillips. I liked it! So I finished my call and set out to track down the Wilson Phillips CD. The song was not on it. Hmmmmm.
This was before the days where I could tap it into my smart phone and find the answer, so I kept looking. It took a few weeks, and then there it was, in the used rack at the CD store. I bought it and took it home (my car had a cassette player still...how embarrassing) and plugged it in. Kate Bush (from Day 7) does an excellent Rocket Man, Jon Bon Jovi tears up Levon, Oleta Adams adds her own familiar touch to Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me, and Tina Turner shows up on, of course, The Bitch is Back. Phil Collins, The Beach Boys, Hall and Oates, Rod Stewart, The Who, and several others appear on the album and it is quite a tribute to the works of Elton and Bernie.
By far my favorite songs on the disc were by Sinead OConnor and George Michael. This was before both of them lost their minds. O'Connor's cover of Sacrifice is just incredibly haunting. It is a good sad day song or maybe bed time tune. I have used it for both. George Michael's cover of Tonight, lacks the haunting part, but the desperation seems to just flow from the speakers as he conveys the weariness and frustration of a relationship that seems doomed, and yet has not ended. I wonder if there was autobiographical relevance for either Elton and Bernie, or for that matter George and Andrew Ridgely. Considering that while listening adds some wrenching depth to the song.
I could not choose between the two so you get both. I hope you like them.
Sacrifice
Tonight
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