Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin

Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin is a 1991 tribute album consisting of interpretations of sixteen songs written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. The title refers to a song on John's album 21 at 33, "Two Rooms at the End of the World", and to the duo's unusual collaborative style; it is also the title of a 1991 film documenting their collaboration.

Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin
Compilation album by various artists
Released	22 October 1991
Recorded	Various
Genre	Rock
Length	78:54
Label	Polydor
Producer	Many
Singles from Two Rooms
"Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" Released: September 1991 "Rocket Man" b/w "Candle in the Wind" Released: December 1991

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Chicago Tribune	[2]
Philadelphia Inquirer	[3]

Critical reception

The album gained an uneven reception,^[4] though some performances were singled out for praise, including Sinéad O'Connor's interpretation of "Sacrifice",^[5] Kate Bush's reggae-inflected version of "Rocket Man" (which won The Observer readers' award for Greatest Cover of all time in 2007),^[6][7] and Tina Turner's Grammy-nominated version of "The Bitch Is Back".^[8]

Singles

Two singles were released from the album: Oleta Adams' version of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" peaked at number 33 in the UK Singles Chart and Kate Bush's "Rocket Man" peaked at number 12 in the UK and number two in Australia. Wilson Phillips' cover of "Daniel", while not released as a single, peaked at number seven in the US Adult Contemporary chart due to strong radio airplay.^[9]

Kate Bush

Kate Bush's reggae-inflected version of "Rocket Man" was released as a single and peaked at number 12 in the UK and number two in Australia (where it beat the original version's chart position by several places). In 2007, the track won The Observer readers' award for Greatest Cover of all time.^[6][7]

The B-side of Bush's single was her version of "Candle in the Wind". The CD single added an instrumental version of the same song.

Track listing

Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin track listing

No.	Title	Performing artist	Length
1.	"Border Song"	Eric Clapton	4:21
2.	"Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time)"	Kate Bush	4:57
3.	"Come Down in Time"	Sting	3:38
4.	"Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting[10]"	The Who	4:32
5.	"Crocodile Rock"	The Beach Boys	4:21
6.	"Daniel"	Wilson Phillips	4:03
7.	"Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"	Joe Cocker	3:57
8.	"Levon"	Jon Bon Jovi	5:27
9.	"The Bitch is Back"	Tina Turner	3:38
10.	"Philadelphia Freedom"	Hall & Oates	5:12
11.	"Your Song"	Rod Stewart	4:49
12.	"Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"	Oleta Adams	6:02
13.	"Madman Across the Water"	Bruce Hornsby	6:10
14.	"Sacrifice"	Sinéad O'Connor	5:12
15.	"Burn Down the Mission"	Phil Collins	6:11
16.	"Tonight"	George Michael	7:23
Total length:			79:53

All tracks are written by Elton John & Bernie Taupin

Charts

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for Two Rooms Chart (1991–1992) Peak position Australian Compilations (ARIA)[11] 15 Austrian Compilations (Ö3 Austria)[12] 5 Dutch Compilations (MegaCharts)[13] 13 French Compilations (IFOP)[14] 18 Swedish Compilations (Topplistan)[15] 31 Swiss Compilations (Schweizer Hitparade)[16] 2 US Billboard 200[17] 18

Year-end charts Year-end chart performance for Two Rooms Chart (1992) Position US Billboard 200[18] 49

Certifications

Certifications for Two Rooms

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[19]	Platinum	70,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[20]	Platinum	100,000^
France (SNEP)[21]	Gold	100,000*
New Zealand (RMNZ)[22]	Platinum	15,000^
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[23]	Gold	50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[24]	Platinum	300,000^
United States (RIAA)[25]	Platinum	1,000,000^
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

• Revamp & Restoration

References

1. Cater, Evan. "review". AllMusic.
2. Caro, Mark (October 31, 1991). "Various artists: Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin". Chicago Tribune. p. 7.
3. Moon, Tom (November 10, 1991). "N.Y. Rock and Soul Revue, Von Weber, Johnny Shines". Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 10-G.
4. "Elton by Others is an Uneven Enterprise". Rolling Stone. October 2, 1991.
5. Two Rooms But One Great Songbook. September 23, 1991. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
6. "The top 50 greatest covers as voted by you". The Observer. Archived from the original on August 11, 2013.
7. Linskey, Dorian (August 25, 2014). "The 10 best Kate Bush moments". TheGuardian.com.
8. "Tina Turner's GRAMMY Awards history". grammy.com.
9. "'Daniel' peaked at number seven in the US Adult Contemporary chart". Billboard.
10. The Who include a passage of Take Me to the Pilot in their cover of the song
11. "Australiancharts.com – Two Rooms – Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
12. "Austriancharts.at – Two Rooms – Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
13. "Dutchcharts.nl – Two Rooms – Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
14. "Le Détail des Albums de chaque Artiste – Elton JOHN & Bernie TAUPIN" (in French). Institut français d'opinion publique. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
15. "Swedishcharts.com – Two Rooms – Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin" (in Swedish). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
16. "Hitparade.ch – Two Rooms – Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
17. "Billboard 200 Chart – Week of May 2, 1992". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 3, 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2021.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
18. "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1992". Billboard. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
19. "Lot 98 – Bernie Taupin Elton John "Two Rooms" Australian "Platinum" CD Record Award – Julien's Auctions". Archived from the original on January 1, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
20. "Canadian album certifications – Various Artists – 2 Rooms - Celebrating Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin". Music Canada. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
21. "French album certifications – Elton John & Bernie Taupin" (in French). InfoDisc. Select ELTON JOHN & BERNIE TAUPIN and click OK. 
22. "Lot 86 – Bernie Taupin Elton John "Two Rooms" and "The One" New Zealand "Platinum" CD Award Display – Julien's Auctions". Archived from the original on January 1, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
23. Fernando Salaverri (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. p. 929. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
24. "British album certifications – Various Artists – Two Rooms - Elton John And Bernie Taupin". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved January 1, 2021. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Two Rooms - Elton John And Bernie Taupin in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
25. "American album certifications – TWO ROOMS: CELEB. THE SONGS OF E. JOHN & B. TAUPIN". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved January 1, 2021.