This month marks the 20th Anniversary of Elton John’s 2001 studio album “Songs From The West Coast” which was released in October 2001. This was a comeback album that had a back to the 70s
approach. The album was produced by Patrick Leonard. It featured a mix of session musicians and
Elton John’s original band members Davey Johnstone and Nigel Olsson on it. According to Jennifer
Hilliard, one of the album’s assistant engineers, the musicians who played on the album were chosen
by Elton John and producer Patrick Leonard.
The songs were written by Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin. Arranger Paul Buckmaster, who had done arrangements and conducting for Elton in the 1970s, worked on this album arranging and conducting strings on four songs & horns on the opening track. I consider “Songs From The West Coast” to be one of Elton John’s best albums. I decided to write an article about the making of the album for its 20th anniversary. I had previously written a blog post about the song “Birds” from this album.
The songs alternated with guitar and drums played by Rusty Anderson & Matt Chamberlain and Elton’s band members Davey Johnstone & Nigel Olsson. There was an interesting contrast in the playing of these two groups. Rusty & Matt’s playing was more modern and Davey & Nigel’s playing was more traditional. There were some other guitarists on this album, but Rusty & Davey were its main guitarists. Interestingly, Rusty & Davey played together on the two tracks “Dark Diamond” and “Mansfield”. Matt also played percussion on one of the seven tracks he was on which was the song “Birds”. I was wondering what percussion part he played. According to recording engineer Brian Scheuble, “he has a large array of percussion. I’m not sure exactly what he played on Birds other than some shakers & a few odd percussion. All combined to make a sound that would work for the song.”
The album was recorded mostly in Los Angeles and began its recording from September to October 2000 at Cello Studios with another set of recording sessions from January to February 2001 at Sony Studios. There were other recordings carried out during the first half of 2001 in Los Angeles with Elton’s vocals recorded at The Townhouse in London. According to Jennifer Hilliard, most of the album was recorded at the initial 2000 sessions, probably about three quarters of the album.
According to tracking and mixing engineer Joe Chiccarelli, “the songs were built from piano and guide vocals on up. The band was added after the initial songwriting piano/vocal tracks were recorded.” The guide vocals are the vocals Elton initially uses alongside his piano playing while recording. Brian Scheuble says the following on how the songs were recorded, “Elton recorded with the band. Elton was in the piano booth and would play and sing live with the band. We would do a few takes of the song & pick the best take.”
Jennifer Hilliard pointed out that each day could be very different. She says “from recording the main part of the songs on some days and then recording orchestras on some other days. When we were recording the main part of the songs it was usually a few songs a day. It was honestly the most amazing session I worked on in regards to how fast we would get songs recorded.” She further says the following of the songwriting process: “Bernie Taupin would bring in a stack of lyrics, Elton John would go through them and pick a song. Then he would sit behind the piano and play and then they would record it. 20 minutes later we’d have a mostly completed song.”
When it came to Elton’s vocals, Joe Chiccarelli mentioned that Elton provided great guide vocals in Los Angeles. He says “We all felt the initial vocals were exceptional and passionate and exciting but Elton wanted to try and beat them. He wanted to fix the little idiosyncrasies in the guide. He wanted to go back home to London. We worked at Townhouse Studios in Shepherd’s Bush near his London home.” As Elton is known to work fast, that was also the case with recording his vocals. Joe Chiccarelli who recorded them states “they were only one or two takes with some touch ups. He would then go about adding double tracks or harmonies to the vocal. It would never take more than an hour to record one song. ... He knows what is a great vocal take and is very hyper focused on achieving that quickly so he doesn’t lose the inspiration by over thinking.”
It’s interesting to note that Elton John wanted to feature banjo on this album. Joe Chiccarelli elaborates “I think he wanted to regain some of the character of the “Madman Across the Water” album. We tried overdubbing banjo on several songs on the record but none of it ever made the final cut. It just didn’t seem like the appropriate texture for the songs. Eventually one day I found the banjo in the dust bin with a note on it saying that it had 'outlived its usefulness'.” Brian Scheuble has this interesting story: “I would say the one thing that was pretty cool & I’ll never forget was that Pat the producer always wanted Elton to feel at home & inspired. So everyday there would be a new huge arrangement of flowers. One arrangement was flowers all around a bicycle & a bike basket full of flowers. Another day there was an Elton John pinball machine with flowers all around it.”
Contributors to the album have very positive experiences of working with Elton John. Joe Chiccarelli says “Elton is a true pro, focused, passionate and an absolute pleasure to work with. Always funny, in great spirits and excited to go about the process of recording.” Jennifer Hilliard had similar experiences saying “Elton John was great to work with. He was very nice and generous with everyone that worked on the session.” She also says of working on the album: “this session was such an amazing experience. ... It was truly amazing to see such high levels of talent by everybody on that album.”
The album’s singles were the songs “I Want Love”, “Original Sin” and “This Train Don’t Stop There Anymore”. I Want Love is the most popular song from the album which is famous for having the video of Robert Downey Jr. lip-synching the lyrics while walking around a house. I Want Love has the signature Elton John rock ballad sound featuring Davey Johnstone and Nigel Olsson. Davey delivers a powerful guitar solo on it. Personal highlights for me include the intense country rock song “Birds”, the blues rocker “The Wasteland” about Robert Johnson, the ballad “Dark Diamond” featuring Stevie Wonder on clavinet & harmonica and the upbeat pop rock song “Look Ma, No Hands”.
The pop rock song “Look Ma, No Hands”
Video of “I Want Love” featuring actor Robert Downey Jr.
Thank you very much to Joe Chiccarelli, Jennifer Hilliard and Brian Scheuble for your contributions to this article. You helped me to learn and write about how this album was made. Patrick Leonard did a great job with the production. He made an album that sounds fresh, doesn’t date, is unlike any other Elton John album yet so faithful to the Elton John sound. The album has an organic sound with all its different instruments mixed well into a cohesive whole and does rock. I would like to see Elton make an album with producer Patrick Leonard again. Songs From The West Coast showcases Elton’s strengths as a singer, songwriter and piano player.
