Good Morning To The Night is credited to Elton John vs Pnau, but the ‘vs’ is actually pretty redundant. The English pop star and the Aussie dance duo’s respective styles mesh so easily that this collaboration sounds as if it was always meant to be. The story goes that on a trip to Sydney, Elton John became so enamoured with Pnau’s music that he more or less adopted the pair, taking them back to London and signing them to his management company. Perhaps seeing the potential to reinvent himself as a dance artist, or perhaps just for a bit of a laugh, he set the lads loose on the master tapes of his ‘70s recordings, and told them to make a remix album – any kind that they wanted. Pnau broke the recordings down into numerous instrumental and vocal samples, and then rebuilt the songs from the ground up, fitting elements of dozens of different recordings together into eight all-new tracks. The resulting album is the perfect blend of Pnau’s loved-up dance tracks and Elton John’s melancholy pop.
Pnau haven’t worked this freely with samples since their Sambanova days, and they’re seemingly in their element here. The arrangements pulse and shimmer, drawing on disco and Balearic sounds with hands-in-the-air abandon. John’s vocals are rearranged and reconfigured, verses and choruses from various different sources blurring together into all-new shapes. It’s better not to even think about the level of studio skill that went into creating this, as doing so will probably make your head hurt. Better just to let songs like Sad and Phoenix wash over you and be glad this happened.
BY ALASDAIR DUNCAN
Best Track: Sad
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: Soft Universe PNAU, Nightlife PET SHOP BOYS
In A Word: Fabulous
