Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin

Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin is a 1991 tribute album consisting of interpretations of sixteen songs written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. The title refers to a song on John's album 21 at 33, "Two Rooms at the End of the World", and to the duo's unusual collaborative style; it is also the title of a 1991 film documenting their collaboration.

Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin
Compilation album by
various artists
Released22 October 1991
RecordedVarious
GenreRock
Length78:54
LabelPolydor
Producermany
Singles from Two Rooms
  1. "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"
    Released: September 1991
  2. "Rocket Man" b/w "Candle in the Wind"
    Released: December 1991
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

Critical reception

The album gained an uneven reception,[2] though some performances were singled out for praise, including Sinéad O'Connor's interpretation of "Sacrifice",[3] Kate Bush's reggae-inflected version of "Rocket Man", which in 2007 won The Observer readers' award for Greatest Cover of all time,[4][5] and Tina Turner's Grammy-nominated version of "The Bitch Is Back".[6]

Singles

Two singles were released from the album: Oleta Adams' version of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" peaked at number 33 in the UK Singles Chart and Kate Bush's "Rocket Man" peaked at number 12 in the UK and number two in Australia. Wilson Phillips' cover of "Daniel", while not released as a single, peaked at number seven in the US Adult Contemporary chart due to strong radio airplay.[7]

Kate Bush

Kate Bush's reggae-inflected version of "Rocket Man" was released as a single and peaked at number 12 in the UK and number two in Australia (where it beat the original version's chart position by several places). In 2007, the track won The Observer readers' award for Greatest Cover of all time.[4][5]

"I was really knocked out to be asked to be involved with this project," Bush said, "because I was such a big fan of Elton's when I was little. I really loved his stuff. It's like he's my biggest hero, really. And when I was just starting to write songs, he was the only songwriter I knew of that played the piano and sang and wrote songs. So he was very much my idol, and one of my favourite songs of his was 'Rocket Man'. Now, if I had known then that I would have been asked to be involved in this project, I would have just died… They basically said, 'Would we like to be involved?' I could choose which track I wanted… 'Rocket Man' was my favourite. And I hoped it hadn't gone, actually – I hoped no one else was going to do it… I actually haven't heard the original for a very long time. 'A long, long time' (laughs). It was just that I wanted to do it differently. I do think that if you cover records, you should try and make them different. It's like remaking movies: you've got to try and give it something that makes it worth re-releasing. And the reggae treatment just seemed to happen, really. I just tried to put the chords together on the piano, and it just seemed to want to take off in the choruses. So we gave it the reggae treatment. It's even more extraordinary (that the song was a hit) because we actually recorded the track over two years ago. Probably just after my last telly appearance. We were quite astounded when they wanted to release it as a single just recently."[8]

The B-side of Bush's single was her version of "Candle in the Wind". The CD single added an instrumental version of the same song.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Elton John & Bernie Taupin

Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin track listing
No.TitlePerforming artistLength
1."Border Song"Eric Clapton4:21
2."Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time)"Kate Bush4:57
3."Come Down in Time"Sting3:38
4."Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting[9]"The Who4:32
5."Crocodile Rock"The Beach Boys4:21
6."Daniel"Wilson Phillips4:03
7."Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"Joe Cocker3:57
8."Levon"Jon Bon Jovi5:27
9."The Bitch is Back"Tina Turner3:38
10."Philadelphia Freedom"Hall & Oates5:12
11."Your Song"Rod Stewart4:49
12."Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"Oleta Adams6:02
13."Madman Across the Water"Bruce Hornsby6:10
14."Sacrifice"Sinéad O'Connor5:12
15."Burn Down the Mission"Phil Collins6:11
16."Tonight"George Michael7:23
Total length:79:53

Charts

Certifications
Certifications for Two Rooms
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[18] Platinum 70,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[19] Platinum 100,000^
France (SNEP)[20] Gold 100,000*
New Zealand (RMNZ)[21] Platinum 15,000^
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[22] Gold 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[23] Platinum 300,000^
United States (RIAA)[24] Platinum 1,000,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

References
  1. Cater, Evan. "review". AllMusic.
  2. "Elton by Others is an Uneven Enterprise". Rolling Stone. October 2, 1991.
  3. Two Rooms But One Great Songbook. September 23, 1991. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  4. "The top 50 greatest covers as voted by you". The Observer. Archived from the original on August 11, 2013.
  5. Linskey, Dorian (August 25, 2014). "The 10 best Kate Bush moments". TheGuardian.com.
  6. "Tina Turner's GRAMMY Awards history". grammy.com.
  7. "'Daniel' peaked at number seven in the US Adult Contemporary chart". Billboard.
  8. "interview". BBC Radio 1. December 14, 1991.
  9. The Who include a passage of Take Me to the Pilot in their cover of the song
  10. "Australiancharts.com – Two Rooms – Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  11. "Austriancharts.at – Two Rooms – Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  12. "Dutchcharts.nl – Two Rooms – Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  13. "Le Détail des Albums de chaque Artiste – Elton JOHN & Bernie TAUPIN" (in French). Institut français d'opinion publique. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  14. "Swedishcharts.com – Two Rooms – Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin" (in Swedish). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  15. "Hitparade.ch – Two Rooms – Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  16. "Billboard 200 Chart – Week of May 2, 1992". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 3, 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2021.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  17. "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1992". Billboard. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
  18. "Lot 98 – Bernie Taupin Elton John "Two Rooms" Australian "Platinum" CD Record Award – Julien's Auctions". Archived from the original on January 1, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  19. "Canadian album certifications – Various Artists – 2 Rooms - Celebrating Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin". Music Canada. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  20. "French album certifications – Elton John & Bernie Taupin" (in French). InfoDisc. Select ELTON JOHN & BERNIE TAUPIN and click OK. 
  21. "Lot 86 – Bernie Taupin Elton John "Two Rooms" and "The One" New Zealand "Platinum" CD Award Display – Julien's Auctions". Archived from the original on January 1, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  22. Fernando Salaverri (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. p. 929. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  23. "British album certifications – Various Artists – Two Rooms - Elton John And Bernie Taupin". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved January 1, 2021. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Two Rooms - Elton John And Bernie Taupin in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  24. "American album certifications – TWO ROOMS: CELEB. THE SONGS OF E. JOHN & B. TAUPIN". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
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