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Post by dougs on Aug 27, 2022 10:42:35 GMT
"Hold Me Closer" by Elton and Britney Spears:
On August 26, the new mashed-up song "Hold Me Closer" was released by Elton and Britney Spears. This was, apparently, Britney's first new music since 2016. Similar in ways that "Cold Heart" pulled together a number of earlier EJ songs, "Hold Me Closer" does the same by using "Tiny Dancer" (1971), "The One" (1992), and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" (1976) to create the final song.
Songwriting credits go to (obviously) Elton & Bernie Taupin plus also Andrew Wotman and Henry Walter. Producing credits; Wott (Andrew Wotman) and Cirkut (Henry Walter). Both Wotman & Walter played additional instruments in addition to their writing and production duties.
The initial response on certain instant streaming & sales charts such as iTunes has been an immediate jump to #1. Next week will see the official chart positions for countries around the globe.
Doug
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Post by BenandtheJets on Aug 27, 2022 23:07:34 GMT
Well, this is my very humble opinion. I thought Cold Heart was...okay, but for Hold Me Closer, anything from Victim Of Love sounds like a masterpiece. I understand that it's nice to see a new generation being introduced to Elton's music, and it's very generous of Elton to help Britney Spears make her comeback, but I hope he stops making these 'dance mixes" and goes back to recording original songs.
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Post by BiteUrLip on Aug 28, 2022 21:44:10 GMT
Yes. Doing some for the newer generations is ok, but he should also go forward with the stuff that the fans love. I hope he is preparing the next ordinary EJ studio album.
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Post by dougs on Aug 30, 2022 20:03:33 GMT
BenandtheJets:
Agreed. It is nice to have a song like "Hold Me Closer" introduce or re-introduce some classic Elton songs and also Britney Spears to a new generation of music fans. "Hold Me Closer" has a couple of real classic Elton songs ("Tiny Dancer" and "The One" and also "Don't Go Breaking My Heart") in its makeup.
I think Elton still has a desire to be a part of the "music scene" after all of these years. Mashing up old songs using other producers/mixers doesn't require any artistic input from EJ put puts his name back centre-stage on contemporary music charts.
Still, I too would rather have Elton create some new music which is actually about new music. I would rather see EJ work with excellent musicians (beyond his band) in order to create new music. Push open some doors, musically. There are so many very good guitarists, drummers, keyboardists, and so on out there who can allow EJ to push himself further musically. No more guest vocalists, please!!!!! How about some instrumentals? Recall how THE ONE album tapped effectively into using David Gilmour & Eric Clapton on guitar for "Understanding Women" and "Runaway Train." Consider co-writing with band members and other musicians which EJ did with interesting success on BLUE MOVES in 1976 - a "band" album.
We know that EJ loves all genres of music including electronic music so I was surprised to hear recently that his keyboardist Kim Bullard (self-admittedly) has little background in electronic music. This doesn't help EJ if he wanted to write something a bit out of the box - electronically. Not that many people would agree, but if EJ were to do one last album I would love to see a double album similar in braveness to BLUE MOVES and THE BEATLES WHITE album - all kinds of genres and stepping way out of the box. Get a producer that will take some chances, as well. Simply go for it and have a blast covering many genres and using all kinds of instruments...and forget worrying about chart positions!!!!!!!!! Elton, unfortunately seems to equate success with sales...
"Hold Me Closer" and "Cold Heart" have introduced EJ to a lot of younger fans but these songs are not how I want to remember Elton. Don't get me wrong, I love electronically-influenced music and really enjoyed the 2012 Elton vs. Pnau GOOD MORNING TO THE NIGHT album. But, now it is time for Elton to celebrate musically his musical (piano playing!) talents one more time and step out of the box bravely as he once did on a regular basis.
Doug
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Post by BiteUrLip on Aug 30, 2022 20:51:58 GMT
A piano instrumental album could be great, but he should not anger his fans and hire a different pianist like Billy Joel did.
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Post by dougs on Sept 2, 2022 23:00:11 GMT
1st week chart success:
"Hold Me Closer" one week after release has earned some big chart / sales success: #1 on the iTunes Canada chart, plus #1 in Australia and New Zealand, #2 in Ireland, and #3 in the UK. In the UK it was also #1 on the official download chart. Charts from other countries will follow in upcoming days.
Doug
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