Do you recollect the 1988 album, Under Milk Wood, produced by George Martin? For this Dylan Thomas homage, Bonnie Tyler sang I Loved a Man, composed by Elton.
And now Elton is part of another literary endeavour, joining Pete Townshend and his wife, Rachel Fuller Townshend, for a reinterpretation of Hermann Hesse‘s Siddhartha.
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The project is called The Seeker, with an album, as well as an illustrated novel planned for the seventh of November. A day earlier, the cast is to perform in the UK, at Theatre Royal on Drury Lane, accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and choir. Tickets go on sale in September.
Other notable members of The Seeker cast are Layton Williams, who was the 9th Billy in Elton and Lee Hall‘s Billy Elliot musical; singer and actor Nakhane, who was a Rocket Hour guest in 2018; and Emile Sande. We remember the latter’s rendition of All The Girls Love Alice, part of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road‘s 40th anniversary edition. And in 2012, she performed at the Grey Goose Winter Ball to benefit Elton’s AIDS foundation.
The EJAF founder recently teamed up with Helen Clark, who used to be Prime Minister of New Zealand, and is currently Chair of the Global Commission on Drug Policy. They co-authored an article for The Telegraph. Elton and Helen discuss how marginalised communities get left behind, and the need for a global focus on funding. Both believe that harm reduction measures, rather than criminalisation, would be a more effective means of saving lives and preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS.
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This comes as the Elton John AIDS Foundation is extending their RADIAN partnership with Gilead Sciences to help vulnerable populations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. They are investing $25 million over the next five years, which should make a ”profound and lasting impact,” says Elton.
A man who was a huge part of Bernie Taupin‘s life has died. Daniel Crosby, who shared his passion for family, food, and music, was a close friend who managed and directed Bernie’s art career. The artist says he feels lost without Daniel, who ”had my back” and was ”by my side, steering me in the right direction.”
Daniel, who previously assisted Ronnie Wood, co-founded the SPS (Sports Placement Services) Limelight Agency, which represents Taupin and other celebrity artists. In addition, he was a principal in the Art of the Game gallery chain, located in sporting venues on the West Coast.
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Across the pond, as mentioned in Elton Blog 82, the producer Stuart Epps will discuss his work with Elton during an appearance, on 30 August, at Upstairs at the Gatehouse in London, England. The presentation also features the intro from Stuart’s Radio Elton John interview last year!
Saturday’s episode of Radio Elton was devoted to the late producer, Gus Dudgeon, known for LPs like Honky Chateau, Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Caribou, and Blue Moves.
Peter Kelsey was the assistant engineer on two of these classics–Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Caribou. He told the Elton Blog that he rarely saw the musician, as he tended to ”stay away from the editing process.” Peter also observed that GYBR‘s Bennie and the Jets originally didn’t have any live audience sounds.
He thinks it was Dudgeon’s idea ”for us to add the hand claps and foot stomping.
”And the whistles were added by the tea boys.”
Peter is less familiar with the Caribou outtake, Ducktail Jiver, not previously offered by Elton–until Record Store Day‘s 50th anniversary re-release in April.
But he thinks it sounds similar to other songs of that era.
