Elton John, a songwriter from the mid-seventies and mid-eighties, ended up collaborating with Brandi Carlile, another folk songwriter from the same era on a new album called “Who Believes in Angels?”
The album was released on April 4 with 10 new songs, and every song seemed to have a different sound throughout it.
The first song titled, “The Rose of Laura Nyro” felt underwhelming. It sounded like Elton John’s voice had been drowned out by Brandi Carlile’s. The song was overproduced and it sounded like John kept mumbling.
I didn’t care that much for this specific song as the introduction of the song kept me waiting for a long minute for the voices to start singing. I’m okay with introductions but not one that stays the same the whole time.
The second song called “Little Richard’s Bible” was fun and upbeat.
Although, I didn’t like the reverb or distortion on their voices and the guitar. The background piano reminded me of classic Elton John music from when he was younger, although, again John’s voice felt drowned out. The equalizer seemed off and I had a few issues with it since it was super noticeable to me.
The third song “Swing For The Fences” reminded me of a Kelly Clarkson song.
The harmonies on this one were good and I felt like there was better mixing on this song. The words were also pretty catchy and it seemed like the album was starting to get better.
The bridge honestly I think was my favorite part of the song due to the harmonies that just made both of their voices sound better.
“Never Too Late” right from the beginning sounded like an Elton John song.
Although, it did remind me of the soundtrack that he wrote for a musical called “Aida.” The piano was a good chord progression and Brandi Carlile’s harmonies made the song more full. However, the echoes of their voices really bothered me and again this song is supposed to feature more of Elton John but Brandi Carlile’s voice is ten times louder than his. I wanted to hear more of him.
I had to kinda skip over the song “You Without Me” since it sounded like nothing more than a pop song, and I didn’t care for it as much and again was left wanting more.
I kind of liked the beginning of the song “Who Believe in Angels” since it reminded me of Coldplay due to the chord progressions. Although, once it got to the chorus I started to enjoy it more due to the mixing of their voices at least being better.
However, this time the instrumental was 10 times louder than their voices which made me a little frustrated.
The song “The River Man” reminded me of a gospel version of a country song. I don’t like country music but I did find myself liking the guitar in it, although that was the only thing I liked.
Another song called “A Little Light” I didn’t really like from the beginning and personally it sounded just like another song once it got to the chorus. It felt like a cover of a different song I know but with the words rephrased.
In the song “Someone to Belong to” I also didn’t like the instrumental right from the gecko and it seemed a bit generic. Especially compared to former Elton John’s music.
Lastly, the song “When This Old World Is Done With Me” seemed like a classic Elton John song. I thought it was pretty okay. Even that song wasn’t my favorite. His voice was very good in this song and seemed more powerful but, it once again kept me wanting more.
Overall, the truth is I was so disappointed with this album. I wish that there was more of a beautiful orchestra that wasn’t a super overproduced beat backing them.
I also wish that the overall music didn’t have electronic synthesizers. The only reason why the last song was better was due to it only having a piano but even that song would have been beautiful if they added some violins and cello to add more to a classical effect.
In my opinion, I would have liked all the songs to have mixing on them and not just the last one because it either sounded like they had distortion, reverb, or even an echo always on their voice and it stopped me from allowing myself to become immersed into the actual album.
This album could have been something great if the mixing and instrumentals had stepped up, but overall the album was just a disappointment nearly the whole time.
