New York, NY (Top40 Charts) You may know Pnau from their breakthrough side-project 'Empire Of The Sun';
Elton John signed the pair after listening to their record, and now with his blessing, a selection of Elton's old masters will be re-imagined into an album featuring their recreations of his classic songs between 1970 and 1976.
Lead track 'Good Morning To The Night' (out June 25th) was leaked, initially airing on Pete Tong's BBC
Radio 1 show last month and has already been tipped as the anthem of the summer. The awesome yet almost unrecognisable reinvention of Elton's 1972 song 'Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters' will also feature as one of eight tracks on the album, released on July 2nd.
Some of the songs on the album draw from as many as six different early Elton tracks and added loops, samples and their own material, creating an altogether revolutionary new style of music reinterpretation.
Elton himself is a huge fan of Pnau's work and gave his blessing as well as access to his original works from that era to allow them to create this revolutionary new collection of compositions. Elton's summer tour of
Europe will include an appearance in Ibiza to promote the project with Pnau including the single 'Good Morning To The Night' out on June 25th.
Pnau - Nick Littlemore and
Peter Mayes - have known each other since they bonded over Meat Beat Manifesto and Altern-8 when were both ten-year-olds growing up in Sydney; there was a shed in Nick's back yard which became their first studio after they stole an amp from their school and wired it up. The duo's first endeavours involved soundtracking Super 8 films they'd made. "We didn't know what we were doing," Nick laughs. "I didn't even know where Middle C was on the keyboard!"
In the years that followed Nick and
Peter developed together as musicians. Their first album as Pnau was never properly released but their second, 2000's 'Sambanova', went on to win Dance Release Of The Year at the ARIAs. Four years passed before their third album 'Again' appeared, but it was their fourth, self-titled album another four years later that blew the doors open for Pnau. The band found themselves championed by Elton John. Elton's fought their corner ever since and has taken on a low-key A&R role for 'Soft Universe', their first album for Ministry Of Sound in the UK. His role, the band agree, feels more like a mentorship. "To have had Elton's support has been incredible," Nick explains, "it's about having an opportunity to exist in the world. Making music in Australia, it often feels like you don't have any connection with the rest of the world."
The monumental career of international singer/songwriter and performer
Elton John has spanned more than five decades. He is one of the top-selling solo artists of all time, achieving 35 gold and 25 platinum albums, and he has had 29 consecutive US Top 40 hits. Elton has sold more than 250-million records worldwide, and holds the record for the biggest selling single of all time, 'Candle in the Wind '97', which sold over 33 million copies. Since his career began in 1969, Elton has played over 3,000 concerts worldwide.
Elton remains committed to his music and to touring, becoming more, rather than less, busy as time passes. In 2011 Elton returned to The Colosseum,
Caesars Palace, Las
Vegas with his all-new show, 'The Million Dollar Piano'. In 2012 he returned to the recording studio with producer T Bone Burnett and toured North, Central and South America.
Elton Versus Pnau - Good Morning To The Night by Elton Versus Pnau
https://www.facebook.com/EltonVersusPNAU
Pre-order link: https://bit.ly/Inp2gH
Full Track listing:
1. Good Morning To The Night
Includes Elements from the following original
Elton John Sound Recordings:
Philadelphia Freedom
Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
Funeral for a Friend
Tonight
Gulliver/It's Hay Chewed
Sixty Years On (Live in Australia)
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Someone Saved my Life Tonight
2. Sad
Includes Elements from the following original
Elton John Sound Recordings:
Nice and Slow
Crazy Water
Curtains
Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word
Friends
3.
Black Icy Stare
Includes Elements from the following original
Elton John Sound Recordings:
Cold Highway
You're So Static
Solar Prestige a Gammon
4. Foreign Fields
Includes Elements from the following original
Elton John Sound Recordings:
Pinky
Someone Saved My Life Tonight
High Flying Bird
Sweet Painted Lady
Cage the Songbird
Chameleon
5. Telegraph to the Afterlife
Includes Elements from the following original
Elton John Sound Recordings:
Harmony
We All Fall in Love Sometimes
Funeral for a Friend
Sweet Painted Lady
I've Seen That Movie Too
Love Song
Indian Sunset
6. Phoenix
Includes Elements from the following original
Elton John Sound Recordings:
Grey Seal
Are You Ready for Love
Benny and the Jets
Someone Saved My Life Tonight
Where to Now St Peter?
Love Lies Bleeding
Border Song
Country Love Song
Three Way Love Affair
7. Karmatron
Includes Elements from the following original
Elton John Sound Recordings:
Madman Across The Water
Funeral for a Friend
Stinker
The Ballad of
Danny Bailey (1909-1934)
Tonight
One Horse Town
Screw You
8. Sixty
Includes Elements from the following original
Elton John Sound Recordings:
Sixty Years On
Sixty Years On (Live in Australia)
Sixty Years On (Live 17-11-70)
Indian Sunset
