With renewed creativity after 1988's
Reg Strikes Back, Elton John and
Bernie Taupin sought to create a cohesive album that had maintained a consistent theme. Inspired by the success of
Billy Joel's 1983 album
An Innocent Man, they decided to pay a similar tribute to the
R&B sound of the 1960s and 1970s that inspired them as youths. Taupin would listen to '60s
soul songs and use those songs from the past to inspire new lyrics for their album. He would then write down which artists or songs influenced him. John would then use Taupin's lyrics as a guide to write a soul-influenced song based on the original source of inspiration. As Taupin described to rock historian Steven P. Wheeler, "I said [to Elton] that we have to sit down and decide what we want to make, and make a cohesive album with a collection of songs that sound like they all fit together. So, we came up with the idea of going back and listening to the songs that inspired us when we first started writing songs, the time when R&B records were really great – the
Chess days, the
Stax records, and when
Motown was at its peak. … So, I started dragging out all these old records and listening to them to get a feel, and we decided to basically make a
white-soul album for the late ‘80s, and I think that’s what we’ve done.”
Sleeping with the Past is the second of John's albums where he plays a
Roland RD-1000 digital piano, which he used on all the songs except "Blue Avenue," on which he played the
Bösendorfer acoustic piano at Puk Studios. John used the Roland Digital on promotional appearances associated with the album and the subsequent
Sleeping with the Past Tour.
Davey Johnstone is the only member of the "classic"
Elton John Band who appeared on the album—
Dee Murray and
Nigel Olsson being notable absences. Keyboardist
Guy Babylon made his first appearance on an Elton John album, and also joined his touring band at the same time. Months after the album's completion, John attributed its creative success to the certainty that some unpleasant chapters in his life, such as his battle with
The Sun, were drawing to a close. In 1989 he said: "This is the first album I've made where I didn't have any pressures hanging over me...When I started it, I knew my personal life was going to be sorted out". Some years later he said: "I was sober when I recorded
Sleeping with the Past - just". but that changed soon after: "I went off the rails when I did the tour afterwards". During the tour's first week, he collapsed onstage. In addition to "
Sacrifice", "
Healing Hands" and "
Club at the End of the Street", which were singles in both the UK and US, the songs "Whispers" and "Blue Avenue" were released as singles in parts of
Continental Europe. "Whispers" reached No. 11 in France, whilst "Blue Avenue" managed to reach the Top 75 in the Netherlands. "Blue Avenue" described his failed marriage to Renate Blauel. Three other songs were recorded during the sessions: "Dancing in the End Zone" and "Love is a Cannibal," both with Davey Johnstone as a co-writer, were released as B-sides to two of the album's singles, and were later included as bonus tracks on CD re-issues of the album. "Love Is Worth Waiting For" had been demoed during the
Reg Strikes Back sessions the year before and was further worked on at Puk but has never been released. This song, however, was performed live at an Athletes and Entertainers for Kids event in
Los Angeles in July 1988, making one of only two Elton John/Bernie Taupin songs to be performed live but never officially issued. Another song, "Sugar And Fire," also did not make it past the demo stage.
Wynonna Judd recorded a contemporary
country music cover version of "Stone's Throw from Hurtin" which was featured in the 1992 film
Leap of Faith starring
Steve Martin. The album was later re-mastered (by John's longtime producer
Gus Dudgeon) as part of the
Elton John: The Classic Years series in 1998; and the rerelease included the aforementioned "Dancing in the End Zone" and "Love is a Cannibal" as bonus tracks. ==Reception==