Wonderful Crazy Night

Wonderful Crazy Night
Studio album by
Elton John
Released5 February 2016
RecordedJanuary–April 2015
StudioThe Village, Los Angeles, California
Length41:15
Label
Producer
Elton John chronology
The Diving Board
(2013) 		Wonderful Crazy Night
(2016) 		Diamonds
(2017)
Singles from Wonderful Crazy Night
  1. "Looking Up"
    Released: 22 October 2015[1]
  2. "Wonderful Crazy Night"
    Released: 15 December 2015
  3. "Blue Wonderful"
    Released: 5 January 2016
  4. "In the Name of You"
    Released: 29 January 2016
  5. "A Good Heart"
    Released: 25 May 2016

Wonderful Crazy Night is the thirtieth studio album by English musician Elton John. It was released on 5 February 2016.[2] It is John's first album since 2006's The Captain & the Kid to feature the Elton John Band[3] and was written and recorded in 17 days.[4][5] John's long-standing percussionist, Ray Cooper, makes his first appearance on any of John's albums since Made in England in 1995. This is Kim Bullard's first appearance on keyboards, replacing Guy Babylon, and Matt Bissonette replaced Bob Birch on bass. The album debuted at number eight on the U.S Billboard 200 with sales of 58,000 album-equivalent units sold.[6]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic70/100[7]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
The Guardian[9]
The Independent[10]
Rolling Stone[11]

Wonderful Crazy Night received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 70, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 17 reviews.

Accolades

Publication Accolade Year Rank Ref.
Rolling Stone 50 Best Albums of 2016 2016
40
[12]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin[13]

No.TitleLength
1."Wonderful Crazy Night"3:13
2."In the Name of You"4:33
3."Claw Hammer"4:22
4."Blue Wonderful"3:37
5."I've Got 2 Wings"4:35
6."A Good Heart"4:50
7."Looking Up"4:06
8."Guilty Pleasure"3:38
9."Tambourine"4:17
10."The Open Chord"4:04
Total length:41:15
Deluxe edition bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."Free and Easy"3:55
12."England and America"3:51
Total length:49:01
Super deluxe edition bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."Free and Easy"3:55
12."Children's Song"3:49
13."No Monsters"4:58
14."England and America"3:51
Total length:57:48
Target US and Japanese Deluxe edition bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."Free and Easy"3:55
12."England and America"3:51
13."Looking Up" (live)3:22
14."Wonderful Crazy Night" (live)3:15
Total length:55:38

Personnel

Musicians

  • Elton John – acoustic piano, lead vocals
  • Kim Bullard – keyboards
  • Davey Johnstone – guitars, harmony vocals
  • Matt Bissonette – bass, harmony vocals
  • Nigel Olsson – drums, harmony vocals
  • John Mahon – percussion, harmony vocals
  • Ray Cooper – tambourine (3, 5, 8, 9)
  • Tom Peterson – baritone saxophone
  • Joe Sublett – tenor saxophone
  • Jim Thomson – tenor saxophone
  • John Grab – trombone
  • Nick Lane – trombone
  • William Roper – tuba
  • Allen Fogle – French horn
  • Dylan Hart – French horn
  • Gabe Witcher – horn arrangements and conductor
  • Ken Stacey – harmony vocals

Production

  • Producers – Elton John and T Bone Burnett
  • Associate producer – Kylie Kempster
  • Recorded and mixed by Jason Wormer
  • Second engineers – Gabriel Burch, Jeff Gartenbaum, Vanessa Parr and Alex Williams.
  • Additional engineer – Vanessa Parr
  • Digital editing – Mike Piersante
  • Mastered by Gavin Lurssen at Lurssen Mastering (Hollywood, CA).
  • Piano technician – Carl Lieberman
  • Equipment technician – Rick Salazar
  • Production coordinator and contractor – Ivy Skoff
  • Photography – Joseph Guay and Juergen Teller
  • Art direction and design – Mat Maitland
  • Creative directors – Elton John and Toby King

Charts

Chart performance for Wonderful Crazy Night
Chart (2016) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[14] 11
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[15] 8
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[16] 26
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[17] 26
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[18] 18
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[19] 32
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[20] 43
French Albums (SNEP)[21] 35
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[22] 10
Irish Albums (IRMA)[23] 41
Italian Albums (FIMI)[24] 15
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[25] 11
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[26] 17
Scottish Albums (OCC)[27] 5
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[28] 32
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[29] 15
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[30] 7
UK Albums (OCC)[31] 6
US Billboard 200[32] 8
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[33] 5

References

  1. ^ "Elton's New Album "Wonderful Crazy Night" Now Available for Pre-Order!". Elton John. 22 October 2015. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  2. ^ "Elton John Preps New Album 'Wonderful Crazy Night'". Rolling Stone. 22 October 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  3. ^ "Elton John Announces New Album 'Wonderful Crazy Night'". Billboard. 22 October 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  4. ^ Dennis, Jon (4 February 2016). "Elton John: Wonderful Crazy Night review – convincing return to his Americana roots". TheGuardian.com. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  5. ^ "On the Beat With Elton John Percussionist John Mahon: Recording Wonderful Crazy Night - Modern Drummer Magazine". 25 March 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  6. ^ "Elton John Scores 19th Top-Ten Album with "Wonderful Crazy Night" - Music News - ABC News Radio". abcnewsradioonline.com. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  7. ^ "Wonderful Crazy Night Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  8. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Wonderful Crazy Night Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  9. ^ Dennis, Jon (4 February 2016). "Elton John: Wonderful Crazy Night – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  10. ^ Gill, Andy (11 February 2016). "Album review: Elton John, Wonderful Crazy Night (Island)". The Independent. London. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  11. ^ Fricke, David (5 February 2016). "Wonderful Crazy Night Review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  12. ^ "50 Best Albums of 2016". Rolling Stone. 29 November 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  13. ^ "Elton John announces new album Wonderful Crazy Night". The Guardian. 22 October 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  14. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Elton John – Wonderful Crazy Night". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  15. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Elton John – Wonderful Crazy Night" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  16. ^ "Ultratop.be – Elton John – Wonderful Crazy Night" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  17. ^ "Ultratop.be – Elton John – Wonderful Crazy Night" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  18. ^ "Elton John Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  19. ^ "Danishcharts.dk – Elton John – Wonderful Crazy Night". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  20. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Elton John – Wonderful Crazy Night" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  21. ^ "Lescharts.com – Elton John – Wonderful Crazy Night". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  22. ^ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  23. ^ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 6, 2016". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  24. ^ "Italiancharts.com – Elton John – Wonderful Crazy Night". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  25. ^ "Charts.nz – Elton John – Wonderful Crazy Night". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  26. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Elton John – Wonderful Crazy Night". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  27. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  28. ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Elton John – Wonderful Crazy Night". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  29. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Elton John – Wonderful Crazy Night". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  30. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Elton John – Wonderful Crazy Night". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  31. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  32. ^ "Elton John Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  33. ^ "Elton John Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 20 July 2024.