Album puts John on right 'road'

Maybe it was Ryan White's, Giovanni Versace's or Princess Diana's death, but something made Elton John despondent and slowed-down for the entire duration of the '90s. Sure, we got Made in England, but this is the man that wrote "Saturday Night's Alright," who wrote albums like Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Honky Chateau. His discography is about as formidable as you can imagine, so what happened?\nWell, it looks as though something positive has happened: he's produced his own album for the first time, and it sounds the way Gus Dudgeon used to do it when Elton's material sounded fresh. "Answer in the Sky" will ring familiar if you remember the "Lion King's" "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," but that doesn't mean it's not any good -- most of Elton's best work in the past 14 years has come from soundtracks. "They Call Her the Cat" is a funky paen to a drag queen with a high-profile steel guitar; it's upbeat and catchy, which is fine enough. "I Stop and I Breathe," "Too Many Tears" and "It's Getting Dark in Here" are soaring ballads, though they're more of what you'd expect on a new Elton John CD.\nAll things considered, I can't imagine this CD yielding anything stellar, but at least it's a positive swing in Elton's career. He and David Bowie are facing a similar situation -- their best days are behind them, and they can't seem to stop making records -- but it seems like Elton has become the less cringeworthy of the two.