Elton John and Brandi Carlile release their acclaimed collaborative studio album Who Believes In Angels?, out now via Island EMI Records. Listen here. The highly anticipated album comes the week after Elton and Brandi debuted several tracks live during a magical evening of music and conversation at The London Palladium. The show, which received widespread 5* reviews from critics, will air on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player on Saturday 19th April and on CBS on Sunday 6th April.
One of the tracks debuted live was album focus track ‘Little Richard’s Bible’. A meditation on the rock and roll legend’s journey from outrageous gay rock star to devout Christian gospel singer and back again, set to frantic piano, a blasting brass riff and a bassline inspired by T Rex, ’Little Richard’s Bible’ turned out to be the key to an extraordinary album.
Speaking on the track Elton says: “I played ’Little Richard’s Bible’ just accompanied by Chad Smith hitting the hi-hat. Then Andrew put the band on it. When I heard it, I thought ‘God Almighty, this is incredible.’ The frost melted. It was a breakthrough: it had so much energy, and it was exactly the energy I wanted. I suddenly thought ‘yeah, this album’s going to be great.’”
“Who Believes In Angels? Stories From The Edge Of Creation” is a 30-minute film series that encapsulates the creative brilliance and unbridled talent of all the musicians who worked on the record. Static cameras positioned around the studio captured thousands of hours of raw footage and ultimately documented the album’s entire creation. Offering fans an unprecedented, searingly honest insight into the emotionally turbulent creative process – breakdowns, breakthroughs, tears, torn up lyric sheets and all. “Stories From The Edge Of Creation” marks the first time that Elton has allowed cameras to film his writing and recording sessions while creating an album.
The results of this creative friction are stunning, and the kaleidoscopic scope of Who Believes In Angels? draws comparisons with some of Elton’s very finest works. Ballads co-exist with raw rock and roll, pop songs and country-hued Americana rub shoulders with synth-heavy psychedelia. It’s an album as unexpected as it is triumphant. Elton sounds utterly revitalized. Brandi sounds like a singer-songwriter at the absolute top of her game, her voice melding with Elton’s like a hand in a glove. The resulting songs somehow manage to be unequivocally the work of Elton John and Brandi Carlile, while sounding unlike any album either have made befor
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