As the artist once actually known as plain old Reg Dwight starts one of the longest lap of honour farewells in musical history, the celebrations and appraisals of the somewhat unlikely collaboration of the latter Elton Hercules John - pudgy, bespectacled, but quite serviceable bar band pianist from suburban London's Pinner and the equally nondescript midlands town of Sleaford's wordsmith Bernie Taupin - have already started.
With a back catalogue of songs perhaps only challenged by The Beatles and The Stones, the now 50-year songwriting partnership founded via a classified ad in back pages of the NME was a weird one. Often by cassettes back and forth in the post, John and Taupin morphed into Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy - with many songs rooted in sepia-coloured Americana fantasyland that owed more to The Band or Gram Parsons than Lennon & McCartney - or anything else around their actual localities.
Those western vistas, their sheer melodic pop sense, and Elton's increasingly flamboyant piano-pounding antics had them embraced in the US as much as Britain or here, and their songs became part of the firmament: whether as wedding waltzes, on movie soundtracks, as radio staples, or even mourning a dead princess.
This is actually only half the story of this first official retrospective: reflecting that inspiration and idiosyncratic view of the old west they manifested, there's also a country-flavoured collection as companion piece to this. Restoration might lack the mainstream star power, but its takes on some overlapping (and some not) songs of the canon by the likes of Willie, Dolly, Emmylou, and current critical rave Kacey Musgraves might be more to some viewers' tastes.
But Revamp is about finding that difficult balance between honouring the originals, and injecting some of the big-names' personalities into what might be already so recognisable. As is usually the case on such collections, some work well - and some, not so much.
1. Bennie And The Jets - Elton John, P!nk, Logic
Oddly, the first voice heard on Revamp is Eltie's own. That identifiable falsetto battlecry into Bennie's glam stomp then supplanted by Logic's beats and layers before Pink overlays it all with her typical shouty enthusiasm. Thing is, there's almost too much going on at some points, and her cheerleading can end up sounding a little strident. It's actually best when most of the noise drops away and Alecia's voice is left to carry things. Hey, how about a remix of the revamp?
2. We All Fall in Love Sometimes - Coldplay
Then there's playing maybe a bit too safe. While band-billed, it's basically Chrisso doing the late-night piano bar ballady thing. All very pleasant, which is pretty much another word for bland. It's not 'bad' - it's obviously done with affection, but will probably be the one the AM easy-listening radio stations go with thinking they're being all 'down with the kids'.
3. I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues - Alessia Cara
The Canadian soulster's run at this starts a bit like it an audition piece for The Voice, but then the brass kicks in and it begins to roll along quite handsomely with a slightly retro edge to it. Pretty good in its way, but you're left with the regret that Amy Winehouse isn't around to contribute, because she would have stormed into something like Honky Cat or All The Girls Love Alice.
4. Candle In The Wind - Ed Sheeran
Of course, it's become the most iconic - and most overplayed - of all. The song, not Ed. The ginger wizard has the guts to take it on, although giving it a third life is a big ask. He adds his slightly celtic lighter lilt to what a tune that's often now delivered as a funeral dirge. Similarly, Diana is supplanted by the original Marilyn, and Ed gives also gives the song back its young man's bittersweet sentimentality of sitting in a darkened cinema.
5. Tiny Dancer - Florence & The Machine
After a couple of plays, you don't even want to sing 'Tony Danza' at all. In her style, Ms Welch starts off gently before the ever-bigger choral harmonies kick in. But even as the keyboards stack up, this most gentle song of falling in love with the "Seamstress for the band..." retains the sincere intimacy of Taupin's original confession of affection for that girl.
6. Someone Saved My Life Tonight - Mumford & Sons
The glow of John's & Taupin's first flush of mega-success began to dim when they started getting self-referential. The autobiographical Captain Fantastic album was two now-rich men trying to make their earlier life struggles interesting enough to make a concept album. In parts, it worked - this song probably the highlight, even if it was centred round a half-hearted head-in-an-oven suicide attempt. Mumford and his accursed children land somewhere between their original diddly-eye folksiness and the middle-of-the-road rock of their later era for this. And then you go onto the next track.
7. Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word - Mary J Blige
Blige remains the model of the modern R&B singer, and records they put out. The samples and beats cut in and out, as the emotions get bigger as the regrets are wallowed in. But, as is the way in the style and form, if there were visuals to go with the vocal histrionics there would be lots of what we might call 'hand singing' as she clutches for the for the skies and the high notes simultaneously.
8. Don't Go Breaking My Heart - Q-Tip & Demi Lovato
What can you do with one of the most gloriously awkward and whitest singalong boy-girl duets ever written? Turn it into a funky reggae party, of course.
9. Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters - The Killers
While the John-Taupin catalogue is full of BIG songs, whether your Crocodile Rocks or Saturday Night's All Right For Fighting-type rave-ups or the heartbreaker ballads - some of their best are the ones a little less bombastic. Mona Lisas is a maybe underrated bit of observational character study of a big city rather than the high plains. It's not the first tune you'd expect Vegas' finest to take a run at, let along having Brandon retaining its subtlety.
10. Daniel - Sam Smith
The Smith kiddie really is too good at goodbyes. That break in his voice and emotions occurs exactly at the right moment as those "Red tail-lights heading for Spain..." fade into the distance. Sometimes you don't need a gimmick.
11. Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me - Miley Cyrus
Billy Ray's girl gets to be the overlap in the Venn Diagram between Revamp and Restoration. Her little bit country side gets to have a rip at The Bitch Is Back's pugnacious greeting, and she puts a suitable amount of sass and twang in it. But here, it's nice Miley - you know, the one that goes out with one of those nice Hemsworth boys. But the most overlooked point about her? Girl can really sing.
12. Your Song - Lady Gaga
The Gaga has long admitted the admiration and inspiration Elton has given her. Your Song is one of their songs utterly without the artifice she'd normally revel in. Her take is stately, if not reverential. Like the man she's tributing, you can sometimes forget there is a real gift behind the flash.
13. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Queens Of The Stone Age
Bludgeoning, pompous, utterly lacking in nuance. For some, that exactly what they'll want and expect from the QOTSA banner. For the rest of us - maybe find someone else next time, who might actually try and find the world-weary meaning in the song rather than just shouting the words.
Revamp is out this Friday (6 April) via EMI Music Australia.
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