Singer Lady Gaga has just released a powerful new take on “Your Song,” by Elton John and it’s a taste of what to expect with the new album duo Revamp: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin and Restoration: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Both albums will drop on Friday, April 6, and are tributes to the legendary performer and frequent collaborator Bernie Taupin.
Cover album and tribute albums are a dime a dozen, but John and Taupin appear to have sparked new life into the format. Revamp will have covers by pop, rock and R&B artists, while Restoration will feature country artists singing their own renditions of classic songs. John, now in his 70’s, recently announced he will embark on his retirement tour, the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Farewell Tour, slated to run from 2018 to 2021.
John worked on Revamp, cultivating an interesting selection of tracks by artists and even performs on “Bennie and the Jets” with rapper Logic and songstress Pink. “I wrote out a wish list of people that I would love and asked them,” said. “To my surprise most of them said yes, and we have quite an astonishing eclectic crew.”
Taupin focused on Restoration as he’s a big country fan, and wanted to find the right mix of country versions of these classic tracks. You can see the influence of each in the visuals of the album: the Revamp album has a neon sign of John’s profile, while Restoration features a tattered American flag along with musical instruments, a choice Taupin made because he says the “flag is resilient.”
See the tracklists and cover art for both albums below.
The Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour kicks off September 8, in Allentown, Pennsylvania and will hopefully feature special guests from these new albums. For now, we just have to wait and see.