#Elton john album cover songs from the west coast professional
John's partner David Furnish and his Director of Operations Bob Halley appear on the album cover: Furnish as a cowboy at the bar and Halley as the man getting handcuffed.Ĭritical reception Professional ratings Review scoresįor the most part, Songs from the West Coast was warmly received by music critics. The restaurant shown on the album's cover is Rae's Restaurant, which is frequently used as a location for many Los Angeles-based film shoots, including 1993's True Romance and 2005's Lords of Dogtown. None of the songs from this album hit the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, which froze John's record of 31 years with at least one song in the Billboard Hot 100 (30 with at least one in the top 40).
" This Train Don't Stop There Anymore" and " Original Sin" also became hit singles. 110 on the US Billboard Bubbling Under chart and No. " I Want Love" was the first single to be released from the album, later going on to be nominated for a Grammy Award. In 2002, the album was repackaged as a special edition containing a bonus disc with remixes, B-sides and non-album singles from the time of its release. In an interview with Jon Wiederhorn in 2001, John revealed that the album was recorded using analogue tape, as he believes "the voice and instruments sound warmer". John has said that the inspiration for many of the songs on this album came from when he listened to Heartbreaker by Ryan Adams. The album was dedicated to Shepard and Oliver Johnstone, band member Davey Johnstone's late son.
Rufus Wainwright sings backing vocals on the track "American Triangle", which is about Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was brutally murdered in 1998. It was the first non-soundtrack studio album from John to be released after PolyGram and Universal Music Group merged, consolidating distribution rights to his entire catalogue. Guy Babylon, Bob Birch and John Mahon, three of John's band members at the time, do not appear on this album. Stevie Wonder, who previously worked with John on the songs " I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" and " That's What Friends Are For", played harmonica and clavinet on " Dark Diamond". Drummer Nigel Olsson returned to the Elton John Band full-time and Tata Vega makes an early appearance as a backup vocalist, joining the band later. Patrick Leonard produced the album and played keyboards on several songs, as was the case for The Road to El Dorado soundtrack, released the year before. For this album, John once again collaborated with long-time lyricist Bernie Taupin, marking the first time the pair had written together in person.