Today's Song You Should Know: Chris Stapleton - 'I Want Love'

Compilation albums that feature currently popular artists "re-imagining" the classic hits of someone else tend to be pretty bad ideas. Either the new versions don't add much to the original or they are reworked so much they become convoluted and unlistenable disasters.

There are two new albums out this week that feature reworked versions of songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin. "Restoration" features primarily current country music performers while "Revamp" includes primarily current pop and hip-hop musicians. Both sets include a lot of clunkers, from the "so-quirky-it-loses-all-meaning" version of "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" from Q-Tip & Demi Lovato to the plodding and bad bar band-worthy take of "Sad Songs (Say So Much) by Dierks Bentley.

Still, there are some really imaginative tracks on the two sets and Chris Stapleton's version of "I Want Love" is one of my favorites. The song comes from the 2001 Elton John album "Songs From The West Coast." At the time, the album was seen as a return to the John's piano-heavy roots and it received generally good reviews. "I Want Love" was the album's lead-off single and like the two follow-ups from the album, it failed to break into the Billboard Top 100. Making it the first time in 31 years John hadn't placed at least one song on that chart. But the song did receive a Grammy nomination and it also inspired a haunting video which featured actor Robert Downey Jr. walking around a silent house by himself.

The Chris Stapleton version isn't wildly different from the original. But his world-weary vocals and the sparse instrumentation really make for a hunting track. It's one of the few from the two albums I've listened to more than once and I suspect you'll enjoy it even if you don't care for most country music. It transcends the original version, which is tough to do when the original comes from Elton John.