Elton & Brandi: Songs on Fire
When you combine a legend who was sitting at the piano before autotune was even invented and a songwriter who carries the soul of an entire generation on her back, the result can either be a total fiasco or an album that breaks your heart and glues it back together. Who Believes in Angels? is the latter. What's more, it's a manifesto.
In ten songs, Elton John and Brandi Carlile serve us a cocktail of rock history, queer pride, American folk and personal courage. And yet it's neither a nostalgia trip nor a pop spectacle. It's a living, breathing organism – raw, urgent and tender all at once. And it was all created in twenty days in the studio. To be honest, this album has more soul than most catalogues, which take years to make and cost millions.
The opening "The Rose of Laura Nyro" is not only a tribute to one of the underappreciated icons of the American songwriting pantheon but also a reflection of the underdog status both artists share. In "Little Richard's Bible", Elton dusts off his rock'n'roll groove with such vigour that you realise youth is not a matter of age, but of attitude.
But the album's real centerpiece is its soul: the title track, "Who Believes in Angels?", and the hymn-like "Swing for the Fences" –songs that are not only beautiful but also much needed. At a time when the world is once again questioning what is normal and who is entitled to be heard, John and Brandi come with the message, "We are here. And we are singing out loud." In "A Little Light", written in the shadow of war, Carlile reaches deep – not into political commentary, but into the human need for light. Even in the dark.
In terms of production, there is not a single weak move here – Andrew Watt holds the reins firmly but with feeling. No excesses, no flash effects. Just space for songs that deserve it. Musical guests like Chad Smith or Pino Palladino aren't just good-sounding names for the press release – every note, every beat makes sense.
And the lyrics? Bernie Taupin and Carlile, a combination like wine and rain – each different, but together they create fertile ground for powerful stories. "When This Old World Is Done with Me", the closing ballad, is like a farewell letter, but one that ends on a note of hope. And that brings us back to the beginning: who still believes in angels?
Who Believes in Angels? is an extraordinary album by two extraordinary people. It's not just a collection of songs. It's a dialogue. It's a confession. It's a question and an answer at the same time. Elton John proves once again that retirement never suited him. And Brandi Carlile? She's exactly what Elton was in 1973. The voice of the era. The voice of the heart.
What can musicians appreciate about the album?
The record doesn't feel overproduced, even though it features top-notch players (Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, bassist Pino Palladino and multi-instrumentalist Josh Klinghoffer). Who Believes in Angels? is not a textbook on technique, but a vivid reminder that songs are not made in a lab, but in life. In sweat, in arguments, in the silence between words. Don't look for perfection – look for the courage to say things out loud. Elton and Brandi don't write for likes, they write because something has to come out. And that's what a musician can take away from the record – an honesty that doesn't glow like neon but burns like a candle. This is music that knows that every note only makes sense when someone really feels it.
Elton John & Brandi Carlile – Who Believes in Angels?
EMI 00:44:09
pop/folk/rock
80 %
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