Thirty-two albums in, you probably know where you stand on Elton. The fan’s need-to-know is that songs like the title track, Looking Up and Guilty Pleasure find John and band rolling in jaunty, vintage mood. But even Elton-sceptics can take solace in how producer T-Bone Burnett continues to improve the veteran piano man by filling the interstices of his work with detail, rendering songs such as the rather good Claw Hammer at least 43% more nuanced. Although no one sounds quite like Elton John, that sound sometimes feels smug. And when lyricist Bernie Taupin puts sexy drivel in the mouth of the sexagenarian father-of-two (“Ice cubes on the back of your neck”), it’s enough to have you praying for the dawn.
