Elton John V's Pnau Album Review

Good Morning To The Night                                      

****

Mercury Records

Available now

   

Pnau (pronounced Pah-Now) are an Australian dance duo who originated in Sydney.  Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes have had massive success in Australia both as Pnau and side project Empire Of The Sun but it's their work with Elton John that is getting them heard over here in the UK.

'Good Morning To The Night' sees the due take Elton John's back catalogue (from mainly the 1970's) and completely flip the songs taking a word from one, a line from another and mixed over an electronic beat to create a completely new bang up to date tune.  
This is something I don't think has been done before, especially to this degree, as most songs include between three and six different songs.  


The lead single, Say Good Morning To The Night would sit happily in an Ibiza play list with it's sexy house beat and whispered vocals.  It contains excerpts from 8 different Elton tracks including Tonight, Funeral For A Friend and Goodbye Yellow Brick road to create a single song that sounds fresh and current.  
New single Sad borrows heavily from Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word and is, again, a fantastic synth led creation that has a jaunty seventies feel to it.  
Black Icy Stare is another highlight and sounds like something the Scissor Sisters really should be making, listening to the chorus you can really see where Jake got his inspiration for their early work.
Phoenix is probably the album highlight for me as it is simply beautiful and even though it includes 9 original songs this doesn't make it heavy or bogged down, and it moves along at such a pace it's all over before you know it.   


This whole project could have been a disaster had the duo not had the vision they have, instead of making an album that is weighed down by over production or being sample heavy, it remains relatively simple in it's execution and delivery.
The only song I dislike is Telegraph To The Afterlife, it's maudlin and quite depressing but I guess offers some respite to the dance fuelled other tracks.


At only eight songs it's a relatively short album, but this is all they needed, any more could well have been overkill.


Any fan of Elton's will love this, as will anyone who enjoys good music, all in all a great album, and the duo deserve a great deal of recognition for what they have achieved here.

Good Morning To The Night;

Sad;