Elton John

Sleeping With The Past (1989)

1.Durban Deep
2.Healing Hands
3.Whispers
4.Club at the End of the Street
5.Sleeping with the Past
6.Stones Throw From Hurtin'
7.Sacrifice
8.I Never Knew Her Name
9.Amazes Me
10.Blue Avenue

Elton John closed the turbulent 1980s with a rare and unexpected flourish. Sleeping with the Past is not merely a return to form—it is, by many measures, one of the finest albums of his career. Unlike the patchwork efforts of the earlier part of the decade, this release finds coherence, consistency, and, above all, confidence. It’s the sound of an artist reconnecting with his roots while simultaneously refining his craft.

Written entirely with Bernie Taupin, the album is framed explicitly as a tribute to the soul greats of the ’60s and ’70s—the very artists who had, in turn, embraced Elton’s own music during his meteoric rise. It’s a bold homage, and it works, largely because Elton doesn’t try to impersonate the past. Instead, he filters those influences through his own distinctive melodic sensibility, resulting in a set of songs that sound familiar and fresh all at once.

The lead single, Healing Hands, is a gospel-tinged anthem complete with swelling choruses and a quasi-religious fervor that belies its pop structure. Amazes Me mines similar territory, its spiritual undertone carried by Elton’s renewed vocal clarity and a robust arrangement that feels simultaneously grounded and transcendent. Pop perfection arrives in the form of Club at the End of the Street and the title track, both propelled by punchy rhythm sections and tasteful saxophone flourishes. These are songs that shimmer with radio polish without ever veering into the synthetic excesses of earlier efforts.

Then there’s Sacrifice—a quiet triumph. Understated, graceful, and emotionally devastating, it became Elton’s first solo number one in the UK. Lyrically and melodically, it recalls the timelessness of Your Song, but without the wide-eyed innocence. Here, the wisdom is hard-won. Other highlights abound. I Never Knew Her Name carries echoes of Kiss the Bride, but with a subtler, more mature approach. Stones Throw from Hurtin’ sees Elton reaching into his upper register with near-falsetto conviction, while Durban Deep and Whispers are rhythmically driven and thematically intense—proof that even late in the decade, he wasn’t afraid to push into darker, more soulful terrain. The album closes with Blue Avenue, a moody and introspective piece that functions almost as a summary—its tone reflective, its structure elegantly understated. It’s a fitting farewell to an album that is, at its core, about musical memory, emotional maturity, and the quiet dignity of craft.

The musicianship throughout is faultless. With Davey Johnstone back on guitar, joined by Romeo Williams, Jonathan Moffett, Fred Mandel, and keyboardist Guy Babylon, there’s a balance of the familiar and the fresh. The playing is tight, tasteful, and—crucially—cohesive. There’s a sense of unity here that had been missing in many of Elton’s recent records, and the result is an album that doesn’t just sound good—it feels whole.

Sleeping with the Past is that rarest of things: a late-career masterpiece that neither panders to nostalgia nor chases trend. It’s confident, consistent, and quietly revelatory. Elton, at last, wasn’t just looking back. He was listening—and he delivered.

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