Elton John, “The Lockdown Sessions.”

Like many of us, Elton John found some extra time in 2020 after his plans came crashing down. At the time, the iconic musician and singer was in the middle of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour. After shows were halted, he still had his Apple Music show “Rocket Hour,” which brought him together virtually with other artists, many of whom were outside his typical genres. Those experiences provided opportunities to work with them for a handful of one-off collaborations, which have been combined into 16-track album The Lockdown Sessions.

A handful of these songs have previously been released, such as a collaboration with Miley Cyrus, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Trujillo, Chad Smith and producer Andrew Watt for a cover of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters,” for Metallica cover record The Metallica Blacklist. The majority, 10 songs, are getting their first proper release. Of those, some are either covers or songs integrating John’s catalog into remakes, of sorts.

Album opener “Cold Heart” has Dua Lipa singing lines from “Rocket Man” over a club beat and shimmering synths provided by Australian dance trio PNAU, as John himself provides snippets of his own songs like “Sacrifice,” “Kiss the Bride” and “Where’s The Shoorah?” It’s a kitschy example of an artist essentially mashing up himself, but it’s an effective dance-floor tune.

The most unique cuts on the album see Elton John collaborate with hip-hop artists. For example, Young Thug and Nicki Minaj star on “Always Love You.” They sing and rap over traditional dramatic and slightly operatic lines by John. It’s jarring but still a lot of fun. On the previously released Gorillaz cut “The Pink Phantom,” off the group’s 2020 album Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, 6LACK and John trade downcast lines. Lil Nas X holds center court on “One of Me,” which came out just a few weeks ago on Nas’ album Montero. John plays more of a session musician role here, and he’s described the entire compilation project as going back to his session musician roots in the 1960s.

The Lockdown Sessions shines on the songs where the collaborations doesn’t distract from the musicality. The back end of the album is loaded with these tracks. In the rollicking piano and guitar rock tune “E-Ticket,” a duet with Eddie Vedder, the two artists blend their talents seamlessly. It sounds like something from the E Street Band, or even Huey Lewis and the News. It also bodes well for an announced but as-yet unnamed partnership between the two artists for Vedder’s upcoming solo album.

“Finish Line,” a duet with Stevie Wonder, could pass as a classic song from either of the two artists’ catalogs. The soulful and gospel-tinged song, which also includes The Sunday Service Choir (made famous by Kanye West) is drenched in mid-’80s gloss. Similarly, a duet with Stevie Nicks on “Stolen Car” feels like it should have existed for decades. The album ends on a touching new version of the late Glen Campbell’s “I’m Not Gonna Miss You,” which was originally released in 2014—the last song Campbell recorded.

The album is not without some filler. A cover of the Pet Shop Boys’ “It’s a Sin” with Years & Years doesn’t add much the original didn’t have, though it was probably included here to add another dance song to the album. It’s a similar story with “Orbit,” a disco tune with SG Lewis that churns but doesn’t seem to get anywhere. Power ballads “Beauty in the Bones” and “After All,” recorded with Jimmie Allen and Charlie Puth, respectively, highlight those artists over Elton John. The Allen collaboration, an EDM-tinged tune, is especially jolting, as the country artist keeps his twangy voice high in the mix.

Yet a duet with Rina Sawayama on “Chosen Family” is striking even though it is Elton John himself who sounds a bit twangy on this song. It’s more of a modern pop ballad, hitting all the right notes and emphasis without sounding dated to a previous decade.  John’s voice also fits surprisingly well on country tune “Simple Things,” with Brandi Carlile.

While the premise of the album may be capitalizing on a seemingly random collection of projects John embarked on in 2020, he still found a way to stretch himself musically into unexpected directions, making it both experimental and worthwhile.

Follow editor Roman Gokhman at Twitter.com/RomiTheWriter.