Background
The album consisted of Elton John's performances from his studio albums and collaborations with Bernie Taupin. [1] Apart from his solo performances,it also had duets such as "Crocodile Rock" (with Nelly Furtado) and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" (with Kiki Dee). It also featured "The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room",an official song for Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room that has been performed by Fulton Burley,The Mellomen,Thurl Ravenscroft and Wally Boag. [2] John noted that Dick Cook,former chairman at Walt Disney Studios,had suggested that he and Taupin write new songs for the film. He also enlisted James Newton Howard,his one-time arranger,and keyboard player in the Elton John Band. [3]
Two original songs for the film titled "Hello,Hello" and "Love Builds A Garden" with lyrics by Taupin were featured in the film. Taupin added that "I had to re-evaluate myself with any pop sensibilities still lurking in my decidedly un-pop brain. Cue some old Beatles circa Magical Mystery Tour and voila,that sounded like a good starting point." [2] The track "Hello,Hello" had a solo and duet performance,with Lady Gaga. Gaga recorded the track during The Monster Ball Tour;she had to record her parts separately in Scandinavia and New York City. John said that "she added so much of her own magic to the song and gave it a new life. Obviously,it was a duet and I was looking for someone to sing it with. Because she’s one of my new best friends and I love her to death,it was nice that she was so excited to do it. That was a real plus for us,and it worked out brilliantly." [3] The duet performance was not included in the soundtrack,which only had solo performances by John. [4] On May 4,2011,the duet was leaked online and made available for download on most sharing websites. [5]
Reception
Music critic Jonathan Broxton wrote "Although Gnomeo &Juliet is not going to be a big hit with traditional score fans who are looking for ‘proper’James Newton Howard material,I actually found myself enjoying this album quite a bit. As an Elton John fan,I’ve always liked his songs,and the way Bacon and Howard treat them in the score is clever and fun,which is a lot more than you can say about a lot of film music these days." [6] Kimberly Vetrano of She Scribes called it as "a great album that both adults and children can enjoy together". [7] Filmtracks.com wrote "Gnomeo &Juliet is targeted firmly at John listeners,so unless you film score collectors out there want to hear Howard and crew simply adapt John's songs into a decent but rather generic underscore,steer clear. That said,about nine minutes of that score is quite easy on the ears,the "Dandelions" suite a strong addition to any collection of lightly romantic movie music." [8]
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