Good Morning To The Night
Visions of Sir Elton John float through the air while Pnau work their magic with the greatest of care on "Good Morning to the Night." Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes [Pnau] have been given John’s stamp of approval to "have their way" creatively with his catalog of music from 1970 to 1976. Casting a spell over already brilliant material, Pnau manages to create a cloak of stylish and, at times, musically frustrating colors. It’s best to distance those die-hard "Elton" fans as some are destined to feel slighted by the resulting eight selections.
The spin begins with "Good Morning to the Night." All laser lights set to stun as synthetic special effects in sound cascade down to Studio 54 to open this musical door in a little over three minutes. You can take Elton John out of the 1970s but Pnau can’t take the Seventies out of Elton John, especially on "Sad" where this cross-breeding hybrid of sounds is a time warp in tune. "Why do I see people doing The Hustle?" It’s all good. Back at Studio 54, Bianca Jagger just entered the club with Andy Warhol... cue "Black Icy Stare" as they head for Halston’s booth.
Emotional resonance and Sir Elton John’s majestic way with a vocal overpower "Foreign Fields" and for the first time on "Elton John vs. Pnau," the Australian duo takes a musical backseat to his magnetic talents as a supreme vocalist. Note to self: Pick up a copy of Elton John’s "Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player."
"Telegraph to the Afterlife" strikes an eerie note of sadness and isolation with Pnau’s starlit and futuristic tumble of echos wrapped in the notes of melancholia. Someone switched the Disneyland Electrical Parade lights on for "Phoenix" as disco-animatronics flare up once more. This juxtaposition of elements is the least successful combination created for the album. Yet, the symphonic and secret-spy tempo on "Karmatron" runs a close second as a mismatched mix-up. It goes in for the kill, in what could be construed as somewhat "torturous." "Sixty" brings the set to a close and beautifully stands alone with not a smidgeon of John’s voice... just the "end credits" to a unique experimentation that puts an innovative touch on the hem of Elton John’s coat of many musical colors.
"Good Morning to the Night"
Elton John and Pnau
CD/Digital Formats
Casablanca
