“I still love him to death”: The modern producer that Elton John adored
The biggest part of being a professional musician is to never stop listening. Although most people can get by playing the same kind of music that they did as kids, they are only a few steps away from looking out of touch once the new school comes in and starts building a legacy of their own. Elton John always took pride in keeping up with the charts, though, and he still considered the production guru to be one of his favourites of the modern age.
Because looking at John’s music, it’s as much about the arrangements as it is about the song itself. As many could probably tell, this is a man who clearly liked to dress up in all senses of the word, so that meant giving the song a proper string section or one of the most grandiose backing tracks that anyone could ask for if the tune called for it.
But John also was a stickler for knowing one’s place in the mix. It’s one thing to play like a madman, but trying to make something fit into the mix in a way no one had thought about it is the reason why he’s been able to work with some of the most diverse artists on the planet as of late.
People may have pictured him contributing piano parts to a Tony Bennett album, but seeing him work with everyone from Gorillaz to Queens of the Stone Age to Kanye West to Alice in Chains is still one of the most insane runs of session work anyone has ever done. For him, music is about one universal language, and no producer epitomised that kind of sound better than Timbaland.
Throughout his production discography, Timbaland has been known for some of the most off-the-wall samples ever created, whether that means on a remix of a Missy Elliot song sampling Bjork or throwing as many synthesisers into the mix as he possibly could on Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/Love Sounds.
Although John admitted having a rough time working with him on the song ‘Two Man Show’, he hasn’t stopped admiring what he could do, telling The Guardian, “The funny thing is, the finished song’s got him going I like that… yeah… don’t it sound good to you, don’t you agree?’ over my piano part. So it was fine in the end. I still love him to death.”
At the same time, what Timbaland did isn’t all that different from what many modern producers are capable of. Most musicians probably don’t like the sound of their parts getting thrown into the background, but sometimes the key to a song becoming a massive hit is having one instrument absolutely perfectly in the mix, even if it’s tucked away rather than put in the front.
Then again, John probably doesn’t look at Timbaland and see another hotshot producer looking for a gigantic smash. He sees a visionary trying to warp music into different shapes the same way the biggest names of the 1970s experimented with different pieces.
