Elton John & Brandi Carlile
Who Believes In Angels?
★★★★
UMUSIC
It’s not always reflected in his output so it still raises eyebrows, but for decades Elton John has been alone amongst his megastar peers in actually hearing and then championing new music. Such is his yen for transfusions of new blood, that when in 2009, up and coming Elton John maven Brandi Carlile asked him to contribute to her Tumbleweed Connection-esque album track Caroline, he made the acceptance call himself. The pair re-united in 2021, on the John-penned Lockdown Sessions track, Simple Things.
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READ MORE: Elton John’s Best Albums Ranked!
Fast forwards to 2025: Elton John is still Elton John, but Carlile is a Grammy-festooned commercial powerhouse of new country and Americana and they’ve gone all in.
John enticed producer Andrew Watt (Simple Things’ co-writer and producer), fresh from The Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds. In turn, Watt recruited past Chili Pepper Josh Klinghoffer, present Chili Pepper Chad Smith and bassist Pino Palladino. More surprisingly, Bernie Taupin agreed to contribute lyrics which Carlile would edit, and edit lyrics which Carlile had contributed.
Recorded against a backdrop of John’s eyesight issues, the sessions were tempestuous, but Who Believes In Angels? is a collaboration of equals: a career highlight for Carlile and a rejuvenation for John, at something of a loose end, albums wise, for a decade.
The lengthy opener, The Rose Of Laura Nyro, takes over two minutes before the vocals kick in. There’s timpani, swirling synthesizers reminiscent of John’s work with Pnau, a fearsome guitar solo, massed choral humming and John’s stately piano. By any yardstick, it’s a magnificent beginning and the song continues in earworm fashion with Carlile and John harmonising, as they trip through Nyro’s New York while evoking her Eli & The Thirteenth Confession album. “Eli’s coming!” hollers John, while Carlile extemporises like, well, Laura Nyro.
It’s the obvious standout, but there’s much more. A rebooted Never Too Late is familiar from John’s recent Disney documentary of that name (“to hell with Heaven’s Gate” is now the less Disney-friendly “fuck off Heaven’s Gate”), but Little Richard’s Bible is a stomper of the Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting ilk and, tellingly, Smith borrowed the actual Goodbye Yellow Brick Road drum kit from Ben Stiller for the pensive yet euphoric title track, where Carlile asks, “What does it cost to buy your soul back when you die?”
That’s not the only contemplation of mortality. Sparse, echo-drenched, piano-led and with a mournful brass coda, When This Old World Is Done With Me – clearly Taupin’s work – feels like a man mulling over his inevitable demise (“scatter me amongst the stars”) and is moving without being saccharine. If this is the closing song on Elton John’s closing album (don’t make bets though), he’s exiting with self-awareness and dignity.
Who Believes In Angels? Is Out April 4 on UMUSIC.
ORDER: Amazon | Rough Trade | HMV
Tracklist:
The Rose Of Laura Nyro
Little Richard’s Bible
Swing For The Fences
Never Too Late
You Without Me
Who Believes In Angels?
The River Man
A Little Light
Someone To Belong To
When This Old World Is Done With Me
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