Elton John "Songs From The West Coast"

Songs from the West Coast is the twenty-sixth studio album by British singer-songwriter Elton John, released worldwide on 1 October 2001. Many critics have said that this album brought John back to his piano-based musical roots.

For this album, John once again collaborated with long-time lyricist Bernie Taupin, marking the first time the pair had written together in person. 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. 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. Stevie Wonder, who previously worked with John for 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". Guy Babylon, Bob Birch and John Mahon, three of John's band members at the time, do not appear on this album.

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.

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. The album was dedicated to Shepard and Oliver Johnstone, band member Davey Johnstone's late son.

John has said that the inspiration for many of the songs on this album came from when he listened to Heartbreaker by Ryan Adams.

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".

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.

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. 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.

Track listing

All songs written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

1. "The Emperor's New Clothes" – 4:28
2. "Dark Diamond" – 4:26
3. "Look Ma, No Hands" – 4:22
4. "American Triangle" – 4:49
5. "Original Sin" – 4:49
6. "Birds" – 3:51
7. "I Want Love" – 4:35
8. "The Wasteland" – 4:21
9. "Ballad of the Boy in the Red Shoes" – 4:52
10. "Love Her Like Me" – 3:58
11. "Mansfield" – 4:56
12. "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore" – 4:39

Produced by Patrick Leonard

Mixed by Bill Bottrell with Alan Sanderson assisting.

Mixed at Cello Studios (Hollywood, CA).

Mastered by Stephen Marcussen

Engineered by David Channing, Joe Chiccarelli, Brian Scheuble and Ralph Sutton.

Assistant engineers: Andy Green, Jennifer Hilliard, Steve Jones, Katrina Leigh, Johnathan Merritt, Alan Sanderson, Todd Shoemaker, Tom Stanley and Darrell Thorp.

Photography by Sam Taylor-Wood