Duets

Personnel includes: Elton John (vocals, piano, keyboards); Stevie Wonder (various instruments, programming, background vocals); Nik Kershaw (various instruments); Marcella Detroit (vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards); Chris Rea (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Bonnie Raitt (vocals, slide guitar); K.D. Lang, P.M. Dawn, Little Richard, Don Henley, Kiki Dee, Tammy Wynette, Gladys Knight, Rupaul, Paul Young, Leonard Cohen, George Michael (vocals); Don Potter (acoustic guitar); Dan Huff (electric guitar); Dean Parks (guitar, lap steel); Danny Jacob, Martin Bliss, Mike Thompson, Paul Jackson, Jr., Mark Goldenberg (guitar); Paul Franklin (steel guitar); Corrado Rustici (mandolin); Andy Hamilton, Plas Johnson (saxophone); Nathan East (bass).
Producers include: Greg Penny, P.M. Dawn, Elton John, Don Henley, Narada Michael Walden.
Engineers include: Van Arden, Stuart Epps, Gabe Veltri.
It is a credit to Elton John's gregarious nature and artistic malleability that DUETS works on so many different levels despite having a line-up of partners that appear to have been picked by someone throwing darts at a list of names. Some appear to make sense whereas others seem unfathomable. It's only proper that EJ's first and most successful partner Kiki Dee returns on a lush remake of Cole Porter's "True Love," while drag superstar RuPaul kitschs it up in Dee's place during a high energy reading of "Don't Go Breaking My Heart."
Bonnie Raitt helps our hero take the standard "Love Letters" to church with some aid from Billy Preston's sanctified piano playing, whereas the faux countrypolitan pacing of "Born To Lose" works surprisingly well in accommodating both John's supple tenor and Leonard Cohen's low rumble of a voice. Elton John's solo singing is given excellent representation by "Duets For One," an amazingly upbeat song co-written with Squeeze's Chris Difford that features Chris Rea's twangy slide guitar. Rea does double-duty, getting his turn at the mike with John on the guitarist's self-penned "If You Were Me."