tell me what the papers say ...
(giornali esteri)
andate qui per
RECENSIONI GIORNALI ITALIANI
www.musicweek.com
Paul Williams
23/08/2010
The resulting album is something quite special, displaying a real
intensity between the pair as they rediscover each other after so long.
Elton’s game is clearly raised by being in the presence again of
Russell, while the older man replies in kind with a performance that
shows years away from the limelight have not diminished his talents. The
performance captured is helped by the decision to record the album as
live, providing a level of emotion and interaction between the players
that would not have occurred if it had been made layer by layer, but the
quality of the songwriting also stands up, shared between Elton, his
long-time lyricist Bernie Taupin, Russell and T Bone Burnett, an
inspired choice as producer.
Though the quality holds up
throughout, it is on the slower numbers where the magic is most evident.
“I hear you singing I Shall Be Released like a chain saw running
through a masterpiece,” Elton sings directly to Russell at the beginning
of The Best Part Of The Day as the album reaches its first climax then
hits further peaks on When Love Is Dying and Never Too Old (To Hold
Somebody) with the two talents singing with a depth of emotion and
feeling that can only come from individuals with this number of years of
experience and who have lived these lives.
Elton has gone on
record as saying his main objective with this project is to bring to
life again Russell’s incredible back catalogue and in trying to achieve
that he could not have done a better job. With an all-star cast
including Booker T, Brian Wilson and Neil Young, this is the kind of
album you can imagine figuring very prominently at the Grammy Awards and
quite rightly, too.
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A happy reunion indeed
Manawatu Standard; Palmerston North, New Zealand, Sep 15, 2010
REVIEW * * * * 1/2 The Union - Elton John And Leon Russell
W
hen Leon Russell began his musical career, it was as a session
keyboardist. A specialist blues boogie player, he was part of Phil
Spector's studio team in the 1960s. Then he struck out on his own,
building his own studio and crafting his own songs.
His first hit
was Delta Lady, performed by Joe Cocker. After that, he had success
with the song Superstar, which was made famous by the Carpenters and
later revived by Sonic Youth.
When Elton John visited New York
for the first time, his idol was Russell, a piano-playing singer who he
says influenced him more than any other.
After Elton John's show at the famous Troubadour club in 1970, and after just one meeting, the pair decided to tour together.
The
Union is an album where they reunite after decades of differing
fortunes. The project has contributions from lyricist Bernie Taupin,
Brian Wilson, Neil Young, producer T-Bone Burnett and many of the top
session players in American music.
The production talents of
Burnett are showcased by the interaction between players, the
arrangements and the crystal-clear vision shown with each track.
What
impresses me about The Union is that it seems to bring out the best in
both Russell and John, and Young's vocal performance on the track on
which he sings is brilliant too.
It's as if everyone is raising the level of their playing because of those around them.
With
a vocal style that is understated, almost effortless, Russell contrasts
with Elton John, who sings with an ever-present emotive gusto.
The
tracks that stand out the best are those that have gospel choir
backing, horn sections and full accompanying stomping rhythm,
complemented by duelling pianos and the overall musicianship of the
band.
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Recensione da allmusic.com, tre stelle e mezza
On the inaugural
episode of Elvis Costello’s talk show Spectacle in 2008, Elton John —
who just happened to be a producer on the show — rhapsodized at length
about Leon Russell, hauling out a note-perfect impression of Russell’s
piano style and Oklahoma drawl. It was enough of a tease to whet the
appetite for more but nothing suggested something like The Union, a
full-fledged duet album with Russell designed to raise the profile of
the rock & roll maverick. Like all lifers, Russell never disappeared
— he just faded, playing small clubs throughout the U.S., spitting out
bewildering self-released albums of MIDI-synth boogie, never quite
connecting with the spirit of his wonderful early-‘70s albums for his
Shelter label. The Union quite deliberately evokes the spirit of 1970,
splicing Russell’s terrific eponymous LP with Elton’s own self-titled
record and Tumbleweed Connection. In that sense, it’s a kissing cousin
to John’s last album, 2006’s The Captain and the Kid, which was designed
as an explicit sequel to 1975’s golden era-capping Captain Fantastic
and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, but thanks to producer T-Bone Burnett, The
Union dials down Bernie Taupin’s inherent pomp and ratchets up the
roots. Burnett had John and Russell record live in the studio, trading
verses and solos, letting the supporting band breathe and follow their
loping lead. This relaxed, natural interplay cuts through the soft haze
of Burnett’s analog impressionism, giving the record a foundation of
true grit. If there are no immediate knockouts among this collection of
14 original songs, the tunes are slow, steady growers, taking root with
repeated spins, with the sound of John and Russell’s piano-and-voice
duets providing ample reason to return to The Union after its first
play. And even once the songs take hold, what lingers with The Union is
that natural interplay, how John and Russell easily connect with their
past without painstakingly re-creating it. Surely, it’s a revival for
Leon Russell, who has spent decades in the wilderness, but it’s not a
stretch to say The Union revitalizes Elton John just as much as it does
his idol: he hasn’t sounded this soulful in years.
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da Uncut di novembre
cliccare per ingrandire
|
da www.showbiz411.com
Elton John Gives Leon Russell Lead Single on Great New CD
di Roger Friedman in Music 8 ottobre, 2010
I’m
kind of kvelling (which is Yiddish for tweeting, I think) about Elton
John and Leon Russell’s album, “The Union,” set to be released on
October 19th.
Sorry I can’t wait ten more days. And also, it’s a
collaboration among Elton, Leon, and Bernie Taupin, the lyricist who
must be given dollops of credit. This trio has fashioned a landmark album, the kind of thing we used to take for granted in the good old Seventies and even Eighties.
“The
Union” is indeed a union of these remarkable talents, but not only
them. The group of musicians included comprises Neil Young on a surprise
vocal, Rose Stone (sister of Sly) on backing vocals, and a group of
legendary vets like Jim Keltner, Marc Ribot, George Bohanon, Robert
Randolph, and Don Was. The whole package is produced by T Bone
Burnett with wit, grace, intelligence, and a true understanding of all
these musicians’ artistry.
First of all, how cool is
Elton John? He’s given the lead single to Leon Russell. “If It Wasn’t
for Bad” just made this year’s eligibility date for the Grammys—the
album comes out 19 days too late. But if the NARAS voters don’t put this
in Best Song and Best Record, then the whole awards process is a waste.
With no less than Booker T. Jones on B3 organ and trombones wailing
away—and a tuba!—“If It Wasn’t for Bad” is real music. It’s a glorious
slice of authentic Southern sweet potato pie dripping with melted
English toffee.
And then “The Union” begins. There are some of the best Elton John-Bernie Taupin songs ever,
like “Monkey Suit” and “When Love Is Dying” as well as an unexpected
hit from Leon and Bernie, a couple of great Russell numbers, and an
Elton-Leon knockout called “A Dream Come True.” Neil Young sings on
“Shiloh,” which is sort of the title track. And there’s a magnificent track called “There’s No Tomorrow,” composed by Elton, Leon, T Bone Burnett and James Timothy Shaw.
Elton
told me about this project last winter, and we talked about how much
Leon Russell had influenced his early records like “Tumbleweed
Connection” and “Honky Chateau.” Coming back to this inspiration now, Elton sounds rejuvenated.
I can only hope that he gets to sing Russell’s “Tightrope” when they
perform in concert, and Russell can break loose on “Honky Cat.”
By
the way, neither Leon Russell nor Bernie Taupin is in that ridiculous
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But Donna Summer is on this year’s list of
induction nominees. So that tells you how much that group’s reputation
has been diminished.
Don’t hesitate—go now to Amazon or ITunes or wherever and pre-order “The Union.” It’s the best album that will be released in 2010, and maybe 2011 as well. (Certainly including 2009 and some of those other years.)
|
da www.contactmusic.com
Review of Elton John's album The Union featuring Leon Russell released through Mercury Records
Elton John
needs no introduction. In his four-decade career John has sold more
than 250 million records, had more than 50 Top 40 hits, won five Grammy
awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Tony Award. Now
releasing his thirtieth (yes thirtieth!) album, talking about his
collaboration with legend Leon Russell, Elton states 'I don't have to
make pop records anymore.' True enough, Elton proves on this album why
he is still around making music with such vindication.
The album kicks off with If it Wasn't for Bad, a gentle
track that strolls along with jazzy influences - the best analogy to
describe this track would be a melancholic cocktail party. Elton
continues in this quite bitter tone throughout the album, especially
with Gone to Shiloh, which really does highlight the perfect union
between John and Russell. Tragic and haunting, Shiloh is reminiscent of a
late Johnny Cash as the two men stand 'shoulder by shoulder, side by
side'.
Russell's country-folk influences are definitely evident
here. Elton turns to blues in Eight Hundred Dollar Shoes, where there is
a great combination of the epic and the simple as they are able to
successfully combine a very early Elton sound with blues influences.
Similarly, Jimmy Rodgers' Dream, as the title suggests, is a very 60s
Americana country western track that you would probably expect to hear
on the Brokeback Mountain Soundtrack. But this doesn't mean that Leon
Russell dominates the record. In There's No Tomorrow, the signature
'Elton' sound returns with conviction with a nice guitar solo in tow
that is a highlight of the entire LP. Similarly Hey Ahab, by far the
best track off the album, allows Elton to show off his piano techniques
whilst creating a very seductive and flirtatious single. The use of a
gospel choir is also a nice touch too.
One cannot criticise Elton or Russell. Although many of
the tracks sound quite similar and thus becomes quite monotonous after a
while; this is Elton John we are talking about. After 40 years in the
business, he is able to still keep fresh and create some great music.
Using various techniques to transgress across music genres and
attempting to still seem relevant, it is obvious that Elton is far from
laying his piano to rest.
4 /5
Nima Baniamer
|
da Rolling Stone USA
***** (nessun album di Elton ha mai ricevuto 5 stelle da Rolling Stone)
David Fricke
2010 10 19
The Union is a rare gesture in a dying business: an act of gratitude.
Elton John repays a long-standing debt of inspiration to Leon Russell —
particularly the rowdy merger of soul, country and gospel rapture
Russell perfected as a writer, pianist and arranger on 1969 and '70
albums by Joe Cocker and Delaney and Bonnie — by putting Russell in
front of a classy big band, on his first major-label album in a decade.
"Your songs have all the hooks/You're seven wonders rolled into one,"
John sings, ever the fan, in "Eight Hundred Dollar Shoes."
The
song, actually about grand entrances and past glories, is almost
Russell's story in miniature. It could be about John too. Both men are a
long way from their early flamboyance, when Russell ran the R&B big
band on Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour and John was leaping from
clubs to arenas in oversize glasses. The Union often feels like a
conversation: the two trading sober and grateful reflections, in songs
like "The Best Part of the Day" and "A Dream Come True," on the costs
and prizes of a life at the top.
That exchange runs through
the music. Singing in a strong, elastic growl and matching John's piano
work with low-end rolls and top-note sparkle, Russell jars the younger
man from his routine sheen, back to the natural fiber and grandeur of
1970's Elton John and Tumbleweed Connection. On The Union, produced by T
Bone Burnett, John and Russell share the resurrection. Each goes back
to what he first did best. Then they do it together.
As a
songwriter, Russell is as eccentric as his voice. His love songs hurt
far more than they show at first. "If It Wasn't for Bad" is finely tuned
deception: pop strut, Sunday-service glow and mounting bitterness in
that gnarled drawl. Bernie Taupin wrote the words to the Stax-heartbreak
shuffle "I Should Have Sent Roses," but the chewy vocal agony is
Russell's. When he and John trade lines in "When Love Is Dying," against
a choral arrangement by Brian Wilson, John goes for the wrenching high
notes. Russell sticks to his odd gritty register, heavy with turmoil.
Russell
first became famous for his sharp mischief inside the churn on those
Cocker and Delaney and Bonnie LPs, and he works for John the same way:
salting the vocal choruses and piano-funk exchanges in "Hey Ahab";
ringing John's earnest rounded tenor with gravelly warmth in the dusky
country song "Jimmie Rodgers' Dream." John, in turn, drives this
alliance like the eager version of himself that first played with
Russell on a 1970 tour. The Civil War tale and Band hommage "Gone to
Shiloh" could have come from Tumbleweed Connection; the brassy romp
"Monkey Suit" would have fit on 1972's Honky Château.
There
is an urgency here too, as if John and Russell know they almost waited
too long to bond. "There's No Tomorrow" is built, with new words, on a
1966 grim blues march, "Hymn No. 5" by the Mighty Hannibal. John takes
the sober verses; a pedal steel guitar lines the track like gilt on a
coffin. But Russell brings the light and common sense. "There's no
tomorrow/There's only today," he sings in that rough, eerie voice, just
in front of the choir, like a man back from the brink and glad to be at
work.
|
da thehurstreview.wordpress.com
Elton John and Leon Russell: “The Union”
October 13, 2010 by Josh Hurst
There’s a lot of love on this one– not only does Sir Elton sound like
he’s trying harder than he has in years, generally speaking, but he’s
pulling out all the stops not for the sake of his ego, but his idol. The
story goes that the impetus for The Union was for John to use
his celebrity to restore his all-time musical hero, Leon Russell, to the
public eye, but what those noble ambitions rolled into is a full-blown
duet album, complete with dueling pianos and trade-offs on vocal and
songwriting duty (the latter is also split with Benie Taupin).
John’s taking this one seriously, and his ambitions– for this to be a
monstrously successful album, mostly for Leon’s sake– haven’t been very
veiled. His vision of the project extends to his choice of producer; he
put in a call to T-Bone Burnett,
despite having never worked with the man before, simply out of the hope
that this record might blossom into something as high-profile and
celebrated as Raising Sand. Burnett’s not a bad choice for this
rootsy, country-infused, but still very mainstream affair, though I’m
inclined to say that, for the next go-around, Joe Henry or Buddy Miller might make for favorable alternatives. The good news: It isn’t as sleepy as Raising Sand. The bad news is that T-Bone is in a bit of a rut as of late, and The Union carries
with it all the baggage that a T-Bone production entails in 2010. The
edges of this thing are so rounded, the atmosphere so hazy, that nothing
here really pops, sonically speaking– something that’s a little bit of a
problem when you come to a rocker like “Hey Ahab,” which never catches
fire the way recent John bangers like “Just Like Noah’s Ark” did, or
when you realize that the blazing inferno of Robert Randolph‘s
steel guitar cameo is somewhat lost in the mix. It’s also a rather
overlong project– 14 songs, which is about two ballads too many– though
in truth, I’d rather this one be a little on the lengthy side: It’s a
good omen that this creative rejuvenation, for both Russell and John,
isn’t a minor or a temporary thing.
And it is– make no mistake of this– a creative rejuvenation; it’s not
an all-cylinders-firing masterpiece on the level of, say, a Love & Theft, not as daring as Paul Simon’s Surprise or as vital as Neil Young’s Le Noise,
offering not new contexts so much as reminders of why the old stuff was
so good. It is, in other words, very much a wheelhouse album, sounding
like the common ground between Russell’s 70s albums and John in his
country/Western mode, as per Tumbleweed Connection. The
distance between those two isn’t that far, so the feeling of this record
is one of comfort, but not of complacency. Both men are writing,
singing, and playing with vigor. T-Bone’s production emphasizes the
country leanings with steel guitar and gospel choirs; his obtrusive
touch can do nothing to sand down the grit or dampen the warmth that
comes from the chemistry between the two musicians, the the simple joy
they’re obviously finding in playing together, their mutual respect and
affection making this feel like a perfectly gracious, generous
collaboration. It’s a comeback for Russel by simple virtue of the fact
that he’s making vital music for what will probably be a respectable
audience, after literally decades of being lost in the woods. For John,
it at least equals, and perhaps slightly bests, his own excellent,
albeit minor, comeback album from 2006, The Captain and the Kid.
The record’s greatest charms come from how laid-back and low-key it
is; the album never calls attention to the fact that it’s actually the
most varied thing John has been involved with in quite some time, nor
does it play up the bluesier aspects of “The Best Part of the Day” the
way that the more cinematic Tumbleweed may have. Really, that
song could almost pass as a ballad from John’s more adult contemporary
days, its country-ish melody being the thing that saves it and makes it
fit here. The low-intensity vibe of this thing means that some of the
best songs take some time to really distinguish themselves– I’m
thinking, in particular, of the steel-drenched country shuffle “Jimmie
Rodgers’ Dream,” the jaunty handclap beat of “A Dream Come True,” the
minor-key, metaphysical blues tune “There’s No Tomorrow.” It also means
that some of the most addictive material here is also the least flashy;
the two most durable cuts on the album, it seems to me, are a pair of
sturdy country-rockers– “If It Wasn’t For Bad” and “I Should Have Sent
Roses”– which impress with their sheer craft, the gentle propulsion and
forward momentum implicit to the music and the lyrics.
What else? Neil Young stops by to cameo in “Gone to Shiloh,” a
ghostly Civil War ballad in which he, Russell, and John each take a
verse. “When Love is Dying”– which hits even closer to John’s
AC days than “Best Part of the Day” does– is nevertheless winsome for
its totally low-key sincerity, and for the nice, natural vocal
trade-offs from the two singers. “Monkey Suit,” drenched in horns, is a
welcome chance for John to rock out a bit. And even if it’s no “Noah’s
Ark,” I do rather like “Hey Ahab,” its lyrical concerns of obsession and
failure sounding like a nice metaphor for the artistic life and the
pursuit of the muse– good, slightly meta- themes for an album like this.
Other than that, the only direct references to The Union‘s
origins are in “Eight Hundred Dollar Shoes,” a handsome little ballad on
the bluesy tip. John sings it, and its lyric is one of admiration for a
man who was once heralded as a visionary, but was all but forgotten
while he was still in his prime. As a reverent, affectionate nod to
Russell, it’s fairly obvious, but no less touching because of it. It’s a
modest and heartfelt moment, perfectly befitting a record of this sort–
one that isn’t perfect, but is certainly warm, charming, and easy to
embrace.
|
da blogcritics.org
Music Review: Elton John and Leon Russell - The Union
di Mindy Peterman 12 ottobre 2010
Leon
Russell has been missed! Elton John must have voiced a similar
sentiment when he sought him out for this wondrous collaborative effort.
A bit of history here: way back in the early ‘70s, when Elton was
just beginning his ascent to superstardom, he was Leon Russell's opening
act. Leon was his hero and Elton's never lost his admiration and
respect for him.
Fast forward to 2010. Sixty-eight-year-old Leon hadn’t been in the
limelight for many years. Poor health had kept him from actively keeping
up with his career. After he recovered from a brain operation, Elton
(who has always been an advocate for underappreciated artists new and
old) thought it would be an excellent time to get the great man
recording again.
The Union is an even better effort than their fans might have hoped for. Both men sound assured, energized and, yes, young again.
Despite all he’s been through, Leon’s voice hasn’t changed. That
gritty drawl is unmistakable and as vital as ever. He rocks the upbeat
“Hearts Have Turned To Stone.” Horns wail in the background, a soulful
chorus providing the backup, along with Elton’s enthusiastic "yeah,
yeah, yeahs."
The ballad “Gone To Shiloh” tells the story of a Northern soldier
going off to fight in the Civil War–nice to see that lyricist Bernie
Taupin still holds a fascination with Americana after all these years.
Neil Young lends a hand with the vocals, which is a fine treat. With its
wails and moans, the dirge-like ballad “There’s No Tomorrow” sounds
like the melancholy opening of a New Orleans funeral march.
The rocker “Monkey Suit” sounds suspiciously like an outtake from Elton’s last studio album, The Captain and the Kid.
The same holds true for "The Best Part of the Day," a song of a
longtime friendship (“You’re my best friend/You shared my crazy ways").
But there is nothing wrong with that. Kid was one of Elton and Bernie’s best efforts, and these songs are as good as anything on that record.
Probably my favorite cuts on The Union
are the gorgeous “When Love Is Dying” and the chug-a-long rocker, “A
Dream Come True,” where Elton and Leon trade verses and piano licks,
backed again by a gospel choir. It’s a rollicking, joyful piece, which
harkens back to those touring days of their youth. It is no surprise
they wrote it together.
The album was produced by T-Bone Burnett and features Jim Keltner on
drums, Jim Thompson on tenor sax, Marc Ribot on guitars, Robert Randolph
on steel guitar, along with contributions from Brian Wilson, Don Was,
and Booker T. Jones. It marks the first time since his late seventies
disco fiasco, Victim of Love, that Elton has recorded an album without his band. The end result here is monumentally better than that old disco snoozer.
The final song on The Union,“The Hands of Angels,” is Leon’s thanks to those who helped him return to the business of making music:
“Johnny
and the Governor came and brought me to my senses/They made me feel
just like a king/Made me lose all my bad defenses.”
Thank you, Leon. And welcome back.
The Union is on Decca Records. It will be available on Oct.19th.
|
www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/rnzb
BBC Review
"A sincere collaboration between artists who complement each other well."
Paul Whitelaw 2010-10-15
When
musicians of a certain age collaborate on a duets album, the results
often reek of creative stagnation and the sound of mutual back-slapping.
Not so with The Union, a sincere collaboration between Elton John and
an artist to whom he owes an avowed debt, Leon Russell.
Their
relationship stretches back 40 years, to when Russell attended Elton’s
(calling him ‘John’ feels wrong) first US solo show. A veteran session
player for legends such as Phil Spector and Bob Dylan, by 1970 Russell
was an established solo star and bandleader for Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs
and Englishmen tour. His raspy fusion of piano-based gospel, blues,
country, rock and pop influenced Elton’s breakthrough albums.
Since
engineering a return to his earlier sound with 2001’s Songs from the
West Coast, Elton has focused on restoring his reputation as a craftsman
of ersatz Americana. Working alongside Russell – making his first major
label recording in a decade – brings him full circle.
Recorded
live in the studio with acclaimed producer T Bone Burnett, the album
radiates a kind of arid warmth; two old timers trading hard-won lessons
in the dying sunlight. Burnett’s barebones arrangements are garnished
only with a ten-piece gospel choir and a barely noticeable choral
arrangement from Brian Wilson on the melancholy When Love is Dying.
Elton
and Russell’s vocals and piano playing complement each other, neither
overcooking the stew. The timbre of their voices is so similar it’s
often difficult to tell them apart. They don’t harmonise, they duet,
swapping chops and verses conversationally, Russell supplying hoodoo
trills to Elton’s country honk.
Most of the songs are written by
Elton and long-time lyricist Bernie Taupin, with occasional
contributions from Russell and Burnett. Russell’s funky fingerprints are
legible on the Stones-clad boogie of Monkey Suit and the antsy stomp of
Hey Ahab. Other standouts include the funereal gospel of There’s No
Tomorrow, the unabashed train-whistle rockabilly, A Dream Come True, and
the haunting, Band-esque Gone to Shiloh, a Civil War lament featuring a
vocal cameo from Neil Young.
But the strength of these tracks
highlights the album’s weaknesses: too many mid-tempo ballads, too many
generic melodies. At 14 tracks stretched just over an hour, it’s simply
too long; shorn of its more forgettable songs, it could’ve been a
glancing contender.
As it stands, The Union is a blot on neither man’s legacy, just a mature bout with flashes of former glory.
|
da www.philly.com
Elton John and Leon Russell
The Union
(Decca ***)
Forty
years after they first toured together, Elton John throws new light on
the talents of one of his heroes: Leon Russell, the hirsute, often
top-hatted session player and author of "Tight Rope" and "Delta Lady."
For
The Union, John drafted producer T Bone Burnett, who brought some of
his usual collaborators (such as guitarist Marc Ribot) to back John and
Russell, who duet on vocals and/or piano. The result: a collection of
new Russell and/or John songs, many with lyrics from John's longtime
collaborator Bernie Taupin, that veers from spicy New Orleans honky-tonk
to earnest gospel to sentimental pop. While Taupin's platitudes bog
down "Never Too Old," nothing diminishes the lively interplay between
John, 63, and Russell, 68, on "A Dream Come True" and "Hey Ahab."
Unsurprisingly, The Union doesn't equal Russell's Carney or John's
Tumbleweed Connection, but it often does a fine job of revisiting their
spirit.
- Steve Klinge
|
da news.yahoo.com
di STEVEN WINE, Associated Press Writer Steven Wine, Associated Press Writer
–
Mon Oct 18, 7:22 am ET
Review: Sir Elton-Leon Russell pairing falls flat
Elton John and Leon Russell, "The Union" (Decca)
Elton John hails this collaboration as a chance to
restore his idol and one-time mentor Leon Russell to prominence. Sadly,
the pairing fails to rejuvenate Captain Fantastic.
"The Union" was John's idea, and it held promise. Russell's resume includes work with George Harrison,
Phil Spector and Joe Cocker, and although he fell into obscurity in
recent decades, his blend of gospel and Southern boogie influenced
John's transcendent work in the early 1970s.
Alas, there's no "Border Song" or "Burn Down the
Mission" to be found here. Instead it's mostly more middling late-period
Elton, underwritten and overproduced.
John recruited T Bone Burnett
to oversee the project, raising the enticing prospect of stripped-down
recording sessions with lots of lively piano and two-part harmonies.
Instead we get a horn section, 10-member gospel choir and parade of
guest artists. Booker T. Jones and Robert Randolph sit in, and Neil
Young and Brian Wilson contribute vocals. Even Sharon Stone drops by.
The layers of sound leave no room for any chemistry
between the co-stars. Burnett mostly buries their pianos in the moneyed
mix, and while it's good to hear Russell's distinctive voice again, he
can't turn back the clock for his former protege.
CHECK THIS OUT: John and Bernie Taupin
wrote most of the material, and their best effort is the twangy country
shuffle "Jimmie Rodgers' Dream." For a change, John sounds like he
could be singing something from "Tumbleweed Connection" rather than,
say, "Aida."
|
da www.slantmagazine.com
Elton John and Leon Russell
The Union
**
by Joseph Jon Lanthier on October 18, 2010
Was
anyone shocked to hear Elton John admit, while running down a brief
list of influences on Elvis Costello's business-casual talk show
Spectacle, that he'd engineered his early style by following Leon
Russell's blueprint? After all, his faux Russell number at the end of
that broadcast, while effectively fun, wasn't anywhere near as
immaculate a Pentecostal blues facsimile as "No Shoestrings on Louise"
(with its diphthong-heavy elocution) or "The Cage" (with its "Ah-ah,
woo-woo" gospel chorus), both from his eponymous sophomore breakthrough.
Still, if John unabashedly aped the left hand-led piano style of tracks
like "Hummingbird" and, later, the textural use of synthesizers that
characterized Russell's Will O' The Wisp, he's wisely sustained himself
through creative droughts by avoiding Russell's neurotic and often
alienating persona.
Both are consummate professionals, but where
Russell abhors the undignified and self-destructive tight-wire act of
audience whoring, John will prance about in feathers and silk singing
his early hits until your retainer is exhausted. This infectiously
joie-de-vivre—and joie-de-cash—showmanship, while limiting public
image-wise (can you imagine Russell pouting and shrieking "I'm a bitch,
I'm a bitch"?), has also proved to have rejuvenating properties; it
might simply be that John can afford more skilled plastic surgeons, but
his puckish jowls can still believably deliver jejune anthems like "Tiny
Dancer" and "Michelle's Song." Russell, on the other hand, though only
five years John's senior, looks to have confusedly wandered away from a
Civil War reenactment—or confusedly wandered into one, as might be
gleaned from the The Union's Yankee-tinged title and T-Bone
Burnett-provided roots.
Pairing off masters and apprentices,
especially when both are safely out of their heyday's earshot, can often
yield comfort zones that facilitate growth, if not immediate rewards;
Eric Clapton's collaboration with J.J. Cale, whose loping, brittle blues
he borrowed for albums like Backless, marked the end of a decade-long
succession of studio mediocrity. The trouble with The Union, though, is
that John and Russell can no longer access the pure, innocent
foundations from which they sprang—and their humble beginnings, while
fecund at the time, aren't worth attempting to duplicate. Both toiled as
session musicians and composers in the '60s (Russell was part of the
Wrecking Crew, John and lyricist Bernie Taupin wrote easy sludge for
Roger Cook) before hitting it big with slickly arranged, self-titled
albums that alternated between ersatz energy and heartwarmth. Their
respective declines haven't been the result of sellouts, but of the
naturally diminishing returns of their primary product (songwriting).
And despite some spirited work from Russell in particular, who underwent
major surgery during the LP's recording, as a rock-pop product, The
Union doesn't improve enough on the safe acoustic balladry of Peachtree
Road or the aggressively digital soul Russell's been selling on the net
for the last 15 years.
The tunes here, written by John, Russell,
Taupin, and Burnett, reek of routine, and were unshockingly cobbled
together over the course of a few studio dates. "If It Wasn't for Bad,"
the album's first single and one of the few songs unmarred by Taupin's
oddball narrative looseness, sounded genuine enough until I recognized
the verse as a simplified appropriation of Al Stewart's "Year of the
Cat"—though that's the most depressingly derivative the chord
progressions get. "I Should Have Sent Roses," the other noteworthy
Russell track, is better, built around a series of jabbing, descending
piano dyads that sound appropriately contrite, but its sturdiness is
like a nail in the coffin of the despotic bandleader who leapt from
"Quinn the Eskimo" to refrains of "Youngblood" with rallying yelps.
John's musicality, meanwhile, continues its relaxed indifference ("Hey
Ahab" and "Monkey Suit" are reluctant to wander from their unimaginative
opening riffs) and Taupin's cutely specific jokes have gotten weirder
and less funny ("I hear you singing 'I Shall Be Released'/Like a
chainsaw running through a masterpiece").
Burnett has also
assembled a slew of seasoned mercenaries to accompany the core piano
duel: Jim Keltner provides a reliable, if predictable, backbeat, and
Booker T. Jones's Hammond occasionally sneaks up to flood the background
singers' midrange. But despite the assiduous cast, only the lead vocals
occasionally transcend The Union's underwhelming tone. The timbre of
John's voice, now too mature for the thin, unconvincingly funky
inflections it once employed, has the gentle stability of an iron anchor
coming to rest against a pillow of red dirt; where Russell wavers and
cracks and the melody lines become tedious, John's effortless confidence
adds harmony.
The sonic hierarchy is a curiosity. Russell always
sounds close enough that you think you might feel his breath if you
lean in toward the speaker, and John seems to be proudly shouting from
across a field. But the variation of distance gives the impression of an
organized stage too, bolstering the few strong performances with
flamboyant drama. Brian Wilson's multi-tracked, choral cameo on "When
Love Is Dying" is almost entirely spatial and Neil Young's warbling on
the album's best track, "Gone to Shiloh," seems to invent acoustic
cavities it can reverberate throughout. The latter song is, somewhat
embarrassingly, an inane Northern answer to "The Night They Drove Old
Dixie Down," but there's something irreproducible about the combination
of Russell's throaty nearness, John's earthen tenor, and Young's
yellowing falsetto.
What Young adds, of course, is spirituality, a
numinous devoutness toward music that his careerist colleagues lack, as
does the rest of The Union. That the album is a failure despite the
authentic passion behind it only accentuates its participants'
respective ruts. And it's further proof that the most consistent
musicians are more pilgrims than they are professionals.
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da www.hitfix.com
Album Review: Elton John & Leon Russell's 'The Union'
Published on Monday, Oct 18, 2010 5:56 PM Melinda Newman
It’s no coincidence that the first voice we hear on Elton John and Leon
Russell’s new album, “The Union,” is that of Russell. The album is a
complete labor of love by John as a thank you to one of his musical
heroes. We’re so glad he didn’t decide to just send a fruit basket.
As John tells it, he and his husband, David Furnish, were on safari and
Furnish began playing some of Russell’s music. Memories came flooding
back for John, who opened for Russell in 1970 and had always been a big
fan. He reconnected with Russell, who had faded into near obscurity, and
suggested they work together.
If you don’t know who Leon Russell is, you’re John’s target audience
here. Russell is an Oklahoma singer/songwriter, who, in addition to his
solo work, has collaborated with Bob Dylan, Joe Cocker, George Harrison,
Delaney & Bonnie, Eric Clapton, John Lennon, Aretha Franklin, the
Rolling Stones and just about everyone else you can think of. He also
wrote “A Song For You,” which was a big hit for many artists including
The Carpenters and Luther Vandross, and his only major pop hit as an
artist, 1972’s “Tightrope.” His piano playing is inspired and his voice
unique--think Willie Nelson with a bit more of a nasal twist.
With “The Union,” John wanted to create an album that reminded people of
Russell’s prodigious talent and introduced Russell to a new audience.
John has been unabashed in stating that he hopes the project will
“improve” Russell’s life.
None of that would amount to anything other than a lovely sentiment if
the collaboration didn’t work. But it does...and how. Throw in producer
T Bone Burnett, whom John handpicked based on Burnett’s work on Robert
Plant/Alison Krauss’s “Raising Sand,” and the trio has created a
testament to talent that doesn’t fade even if the spotlight has shifted
elsewhere.
Written by John, his longtime partner Bernie Taupin, Russell and Burnett
in different combinations with each other, the songs--many mournful,
some rollicking--all highlight John’s and Russell’s ability to boogie
woogie on the keyboards. Under Burnett’s steady hand, the production is
kept minimalist with no unnecessary embellishments. Russell and John’s
piano playing and vocals (surrounded with stellar musicians) are all the
bells and whistles you need. In fact, we would have pared it back even
further, stripping away the female backing vocals on all but “There’s
No Tomorrow,” a dirge-like, striking tune built around “Hymn No. 5” by
the Mighty Hannibal.
The album succeeds best when Russell and John play off each other, such
as on “Hey Ahab.” John sings lead, but in the distance, Russell vamps
backing vocals that give the song extra heft and depth, or on the set’s
crowning glory, “Shiloh,” a somber ballad about the bloody Civil War
battle. Neil Young joins the twosome for lead on a verse and the sound
of the three distinctive voices wrapped around each other on the chorus
is a singular delight. The boisterous "Monkey Suit" is 100% fun.
As if a pupil showing off for his teacher, John is at the top of his
vocal form here. He sounds reinvigorated and enthusiastic. Many of the
songs, such as the chugging “Jimmie Rodgers’ Dream,” which references
the Singing Brakeman, would have easily fit in on John’s ‘70s classic
“Tumbleweed Connection.”
There’s something intoxicatingly refreshing about an album that is made
simply for the joy of making music with an old friend. The good news is
that we’re all invited to the reunion.
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da www.avclub.com
di Noel Murray
October 19, 2010
Elton John has said that The Union, his collaboration with rock/pop/R&B legend Leon Russell,
is an effort to bring Russell the attention John feels he
deserves—including entry to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. To that end,
The Union features
an all-star cast: producer T-Bone Burnett, lyricist Bernie Taupin, and
a list of guest performers that includes Neil Young, Booker T., and
Brian Wilson, all supporting John and Russell as they go piano-a-piano,
rolling through a set of rootsy soft-rock pitched halfway between
Russell’s classic early-’70s albums and John’s Tumbleweed Connection.
It’s admirable that John and Russell didn’t take the safe
route and just record an album of covers, but the songwriting on The Union
is rarely up to either man’s peak. The record has its highlights: The
album-opener “If It Wasn’t For Bad” is a swampy lament that uses the
dual-piano approach well, allowing the two men add a flourish to every
line; “Gone To Shiloh” is a moving Civil War ballad on which Young sings
one aching verse; and “Jimmie Rodgers’ Dream” practically justifies the
whole project, with steel guitar putting a spring in John and Russell’s
poignant evocations of life on the road. But too much of The Union
is blandly bluesy, using gospel choirs and bar-band guitar to add an
artificial jolt to too-tame songs. As an attempt at enshrinement, The Union over-applies the lacquer.
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da www.frontiersweb.com
Music Review: Elton John & Leon Russell - The Union
Decca
Dan Loughry 9/27/2010
Sir
Elton John has always been a bit of an American-o-phile. His best work
in the early ‘70s with lyricist Bernie Taupin was either steeped in the
mythos of the American west (Tumbleweed Connection and Honky Chateau) or
hopped up with a shot of blues that anchored his most popular tracks
(“Philadelphia Freedom,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”). He’s been trying
to fight his way back to those glory days on his last few solo releases
with mixed results (though both Songs from the West Coast and Peachtree
Road were honest failures). So even though The Union is a meeting of
equals, let’s thank good old Leon Russell for helping to keep Sir Elton
anchored to the ground for 14 earthbound songs steeped in the blues,
gospel and American swing. “Monkey Suit” sounds like a Rolling Stones
outtake from Sticky Fingers. “Eight Hundred Dollar Shoes” is a ballad
completely free of treacle. And “Jimmie Rodgers Dream” is a paean to a
journeyman songwriter from two of his most learned acolytes. The Union
isn’t perfect, but it’s the best thing either artist has put their name
on in at least two decades.
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da consequenceofsound.net
Album Review: Elton John and Leon Russell – The Union
By
E.N. May on October 19th, 2010 ****
No musician of any caliber would be anywhere without his or her
influences. No matter how prolific the artist, someone had to light that
initial fire. For Sir Elton John, it was Leon Russell,
and, like Eric Clapton did with his idol B.B. King, the two piano men
have made a record together and a fantastic one at that. But would you
expect any less when they’ve done nothing but write equally phenomenal
material for decades? The resulting record, The Union, is a
crossing of two aging piano men: John, the one who took the pop reins
from The Beatles and dominated the charts in the 1970’s, and Russell,
the muse to such pop genius, who reinvented the piano for John in the
first place. And while it may seem that the student has become the
teacher, it’s clear that Russell still has a lesson or two left in him.
Oh yeah, and he brought Neil Young too.
Russell never had anywhere near the same chart success as John in
terms of numbers, but what he does have is that same sense of
timelessness in his songwriting. It’s the way Russell plays that hits a
sweet spot with the listener, showing that true honesty can have a place
in popular music without getting lost in the production. Yes, John
ultimately took the more boisterous route, but that time has come and
gone, and, over the decades since he packed away the sequins, his music
has come back to where it began, with Russell.
This is where we find ourselves on The Union. Told with
gospel Americana piano-rock cerca 1972, the record is a reflection on a
long life lived. As to be expected, John and Russell trade vocals and
hammer out the keys with slick blues guitar to boot. A choir flanks them
throughout, and the resulting sound is truly cathedral. When it comes
to the writing, though, there’s nothing unexpected, as it’s more about
the experience of hearing two great piano men than reinventing the
wheel. It’s a treat to be able to hear the close relationship between
these two players and their music–their individual styles blending
seamlessly.
While John’s voice has grown more distinguished with age, Russell’s
has become more rugged in the way that only comes after 40 years of
banging away at the keys. The combination ends up taking both musicians
back to their country ways of the early 1970’s. Blues, gospel, country,
and pop are all part of the spectrum on this album. John takes on the
ballads with “Eight Hundred Dollar Shoes” and “When Love is Dying”,
while Russell opens things with the excellent Americana rock of “If It
Wasn’t For Bad”. After this, though, it’s not such a cut-and-dry
back-and-forth between songs. “Hey Ahab” has pieces of 1970’s glam
rock added to the gospel, with John’s voice grabbing you by the balls as
the choral section backs him up. Thinking about it, though, Russell
could have taken the lead, and it would have been just as big.
They certainly play off each other’s strengths, but there are moments
that make you feel like it’s more about Russell than the mutual
exchange. You get that on “Jimmy Rodgers’ Dream”, which is distinctly
Americana the way Russell does it with slide guitars and longing lyrics.
John’s balladry gets a hand on “There’s No Tomorrow” only to be taken
over by Russell’s pristine gospel. For these select moments, it’s
obviously Russell’s show with John along for the ride.
I’ll admit that I was surprised by how enjoyable this record is. Not
that I thought it was going to be bad, just not this good. As it turns
out, The Union brings great additions to both catalogues
with several songs suitable for repeating and turning up. This is a
record I’ll be going back to for a while.
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da www.bostonherald.com
ELTON JOHN & LEON RUSSELL
“The Union” (Decca): B
di Jed Gottlieb
On his cable talk show, Elvis Costello
asked Elton John to name forgotten singer-songwriters. He immediately
thought of Leon Russell. The comment sparked Elton’s two-year quest to
get himself in the studio with his idol, a collaboration that should
introduce Russell to a new generation. But John’s the real winner.
Russell and producer T Bone Burnett give John a much-needed artistic
kick in his designer, sequined pantaloons. With help from a few A-list
guests (Neil Young, Booker T. Jones, pedal steel god Robert Randolph),
John and Russell have conjured the Old West-meets-Tin-Pan-Alley sound of
their early ’70s heydays. As always, John and his lyricist, Bernie
Taupin, can get overly cute (“Monkey Suit”) and way too sappy (“The Best
Part of the Day”). But Russell pushes the music toward dirtier, more
earthy ground with his “If It Wasn’t for Bad” and his top co-write with
Elton, “A Dream Come True.” Download: “Gone to Shiloh” for Neil Young’s
wonderful wounded vocal.
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da www.somethingelsereviews.com
Elton John and Leon Russell - The Union (2010)
by Nick Deriso
Elton John's long and often dispiriting journey back to his 1970s muse
led him to an early idol, Leon Russell. The result is "The Union," a
sturdy new collaboration full of spiralling soul and timeless
revelations about starting over.
Produced by T Bone Burnett and set for issue by Decca on Oct. 19, the
album refurbishes John's tattered legacy even as it restores the legend
of Russell -- a consummate musician who saw his career stalled by a
stubburn refusal to play to expectations.
"I want his name written in stone," John has said
of Russell. "I want him in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I want his
name to be on everybody's lips again, like it used to be."
That sense of passage is underscored throughout "The Union," an
often-loud record with its share of quiet truths -- like thundering
boxcars sweeping past lonesome prairies.
They talk about good times and bad, about a
lover's bruising departure, about history's hard-won truths, about the
end. Maybe their time has come and gone.
But what a time it was.
The Band-influenced Civil War-era lament "Gone To Shiloh," also
featuring Neil Young, sounds like a leftover track from John's
brilliant "Tumbleweed Connection." "If It Wasn't For Bad" shambles out
with a popping gospel groove and Russell's oddly affectionate yowl --
deftly recalling his best "Carny"-era work. "Monkey Suit," this
brass-driven romp written by John and longtime collaborator Bernie
Taupin, is like "Honky Chateau" redux.
John, who first met Russell in 1970 and later opened for him on tour,
has called the legendary songwriter and pianist one of his greatest
influences -- and he sounds every bit the true fan on "Eight Hundred
Dollar Shoes": "Your songs have all the hooks," John sings. "You're
seven wonders rolled into one."
Together, they have produced an album that feels like an honest
collaboration, rather than a one-off gimmick. Listen to "Hey Ahab,"
which has the sway and sass of a country church-service hymn. Russell
adds a just-right greasy accompaniment to John's bracing, gritty vocal.
"When Love Is Dying," bolstered by a soaring choral arrangement by Brian Wilson,
could have been a radio staple for Elton John in a different time.
(That is to say, in the time of sparkly jumpsuits and oversized
sunglasses.) Russell finds a similar symmetry with his own deliciously
snarky hitmaking past on "I Should Have Sent Roses," a collaboration
with Taupin: "Well if I were you," Russell sings, "I'd throw rocks at
the moon -- and I'd say, 'Damn you, wherever you are.'"
But even as they deftly recapture the atmosphere and nerve of their best
early 1970s work, there is a newfound sense of last-act perspective --
and an emotional turmoil so often missing in Elton's glossy modern period.
Credit Russell, who reportedly underwent brain surgery just weeks before
recording commenced on "The Union." He adds a dangerous grandeur to
tracks like "Never Too Old (To Hold Somebody), "The Hands of Angels"
and, most particularly, on the majestically grim "There's No Tomorrow,"
inspired by an old blues march.
Evenings spent with old friends, even in happy times, are often built
around a sweet sense of loss -- and this one is no different.
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da www.suntimes.com
Elton John energizes his own sound while trying to help Leon Russell
***
di Thomas Conner
Writing in the liner notes of his new CD collaboration with Leon
Russell, his musical hero, Elton John details his U.S. debut in 1970
with Russell in the audience, how the two of them struck up a kinship,
toured together and enjoyed initial parallels of fame as rock 'n' roll
pianomen. "Anyway," John writes, "then I lost touch with Leon and our
paths kind of went different ways."
That's an understatement. By the mid-'70s, all the world knew of
John's crocodile rock. His body of work, it was announced last week, has
earned him an entire Elton John channel on Sirius XM satellite radio.
Russell, meanwhile, served as maestro of Joe Cocker's notorious Mad
Dogs & Englishmen tour, had a big hit with "Tightrope," knocked
everyone out with a fiery performance at the Concert for Bangladesh --
and then almost all of us lost touch with Leon. He took a hard right and
recorded a straight-up country album ("Hank Wilson's Back," 1973), then
turned left for some avant-garde self-exploration ("Stop All That
Jazz," 1974). He never stopped recording or touring, but while John
eulogized princesses, became the belle of Broadway and sold out in
Vegas, Russell was rolling his broken-down bus into tiny bars in small
cities.
After a personal revelation last year about how deeply Russell
influenced his music, John sought him out after 40 years. They
reconnected, made plans to record. It could have been just another hokey
duets album for John, 63, but to his credit "The Union" (out Tuesday)
reunites the two piano-pounders under his stated and restated intention
of injecting Russell, 68, back into at least a tributary of the
mainstream.
"There's no point doing this record if it doesn't bring his work to
light," John recently told Billboard. "I want him to be comfortable
financially. I want his life to improve a little."
Fortunately, the resulting record amounts to something significantly
greater than a charity project. It's a marriage of true love and
admiration, much like "Road to Escondido," Eric Clapton's 2006 reunion
with J.J. Cale. (Cale and Russell are both icons in their native
Oklahoma as pioneers of the easygoing "Tulsa sound," which influenced
performers from Tom Petty to Garth Brooks.) While "The Union" sags
slightly under the weight of each performer's latter-day penchants, it
ultimately succeeds because of the youthful energy they rediscover with
each other's aid.
For this union to take place, John had to step back a bit from the
obese, overwrought records he's made of late, which he seems to have
done with relief and glee. "I don't have to make pop records any more,"
he told Billboard, indicating that "The Union" marks a new, less
commercial chapter in his career. Huzzah!
Meanwhile, Russell -- frail and sometimes in ill health, including
brain surgery just as recording sessions began in January -- had to step
up his game, return to something resembling form. Russell's concerts
the last decade or more have been static, lifeless affairs. He'd sit
nearly motionless before a tinny little electric piano, a snow-white
Cousin Itt with sunglasses, and mash out a rushed string of once
beautifully arranged gems.
But he turns it around for these recordings. John, in his liner
notes, celebrates the moment Russell "suddenly got his confidence again
and started to play the grand piano instead of the electric piano, and
all this great piano playing came flooding back and we made this
incredible record."
The kick-back from real piano keys as opposed to the plastic of an
electric keyboard -- that simple physical resistance, that subtle
artistic challenge has been what Russell's needed for years. He faces it
here and comes alive again, opening the album with "If It Wasn't for
Bad," as classic a Leon track as we thought we'd never get again. Over a
touch of gospel and that moseying Tulsa pace, he seems to address his
own criticisms in the song's central pun: "I know that you could be just like you should / If it wasn't for bad you'd be good."
Eight of these songs were penned by John and his writing partner of
43 years, Bernie Taupin. The first, "Eight Hundred Dollar Shoes" voices
John's own perspective on his hero: "Your songs have all the hooks / You're seven wonders rolled into one." From
then on, the pair play piano and sing side by side, volleying like two
tennis players trained by the same coach. Russell's feline yowl adds
grit and growl to John's "Monkey Suit" (as "honky" as this cat's been in
decades), while John's creamier voice leavens the slow regret of
Russell's "I Should Have Sent Roses." For Russell, the proceedings often
return to gospel, especially near the end of "The Union" as he shuffles
through "Hearts Have Turned to Stone" with four churchy backup singers,
then closes the album with the personal, organ-driven hymn "In the
Hands of Angels."
"The Union" is filled out by a mutual admiration society of musicians
who couldn't help but drop by the studio once they heard Russell was in
town. Neil Young sings on the Civil War ballad "Gone to Shiloh." Brian
Wilson sings and arranges some of "When Love Is Dying." Jim Keltner
(another Tulsan!) plays drums throughout, and producer T Bone Burnett
expertly guides and reins in the whole asylum choir.
Look for John and Russell on the road together this fall, starting
with Tuesday's show at the Beacon Theatre in New York. Bonus: Cameron
Crowe filmed the recording of "The Union"; he plans to screen a
documentary in February at the Sundance Film Festival.
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da www.nydailynews.com
The Union
Elton John and Leon Russell's 'Union' review:
Twilight sweetness from one piano man to another
Jim Farber
Nothing brings out the best in somebody like the will to impress his idol.
Ask
Elton John. As a young hopeful, the pianist worshiped Leon Russell, a
fellow czar of the 88s whose career preceded his. The criminally
underrecognized Russell turns up on virtually every important pop
recording from the early '60s to the mid-'70s, from Phil Spector's
grandest hits to the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" to the Stones' "Let It
Bleed." He led Joe Cocker's brilliantly ragtag "Mad Dogs and
Englishmen" and stole the show at George Harrison's "Bangladesh"
concert.
As
a solo star, Russell wrote and sang standards like "A Song for You,"
"Superstar" and "This Masquerade" -- all warbled in every airport lounge
and bowling alley to this day. Russell continues to tour avidly, but he
hasn't had a high-profile platform in far too long.
That's where
Elton comes in. The pair played together on a brief tour in 1970, then
lost touch. Four decades later, Elton tracked down his old hero to
entice him into making a tandem CD. The result proves moving for more
qualities than just its backstory.
The
Elton/Leon tête-à-tête doesn't attempt to revive
either star's days of spit and vigor. There's no hot piano-on-piano
action here. Instead, "The Union" captures the men as they are now:
older, wiser and full of grace. Ballads -- good ones --
dominate, showing their mutual honed craft. "If It Wasn't for Bad," the
kickoff track, is classic Leon -- wry and rooted in American soul.
It's the sole song he wrote alone, due to medical problems just before
the recording, so it's no surprise that Elton/Bernie Taupin
compositions dominate, or that Elton seems to take more lead vocals.
Unfortunately,
at this point Elton isn't as emotive a singer as his elder. Still, he
and Taupin worked hard to make their songs sound like something Russell
would've written way back when.
Cuts like "Gone to Shiloh" or "Jimmie Rodgers'
Dream" might have turned up on mid-period Russell albums. Other
pieces have the feel of Elton's most country-leaning album, "Tumbleweed
Connection."
The lyrics make sweet use of the stars' ages. A song
like "There's No Tomorrow" takes on a more literal meaning in their
hands, since they may be starting to run low on them.
It's far
from the stars' athletic prime. But there's a twilight sweetness to this
release, forming a likable gesture of gratitude from one piano man to
one who paved the way.
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da The Denver Post
New CDs in Review, 10/19/10
di Ricardo Baca
Elton John and Leon Russell, "The Union"(Decca)
It's not the most natural collaboration, but the new Elton John/Leon
Russell record makes for a fascinating listen. It has some uplifting
songs, some clever lines, some lovely vocal interplay. And while the two
pianists' voices couldn't be more dissimilar, they make these songs
work.
The mutual admiration between John and Russell is obvious. John
spends four pages in the liner notes telling their story — from their
first meeting at the Troubadour in 1970 to the creation of this record,
which spanned multiple continents and involved the talents of
mega-Americana producer T Bone Burnett.
And it's a treat to listen to these
boys' jams, especially since their songwriting voices
are as distinctive as their physical voices. "If It Wasn't For Bad" is a
rollicking, fun-loving jaunt that benefits from Russell's signature
sense of humor. The song's key, titular line brings on a smile: "If it
wasn't for you, I'd be happy . . . If it wasn't for bad, you'd be good."
John's "The Best Part of the Day" is a memorable ballad that works
off Bernie Taupin's clever lyrics: "I hear you singing 'I Shall Be
Released'/Like a chainsaw runnin' through a masterpiece/But that's all
right, that's OK/Grab.K./Grab the bottle and slide my way."
Some songs feature the gents backing each other up. Others have them dueting. Others yet involve the talents of guests Brian
Wilson, Neil Young and Booker T. Jones.
Even if this "Union" looks strange on paper, John knew what he was
talking about when he first called Russell. These legendary piano men
needed to make a record together, and don't be surprised if this CD
spawns an expansion of their now-limited tour schedule.
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da lefsetz.com
It’s mediocre.
This album should not have been produced by T-Bone Burnett, but Rick
Rubin. Rick is famous for getting his acts to get back into the
headspace they inhabited when they did their best work and forcing them
to write and write and write until they come up with material just as
good as they composed in their heyday. Where was the editor on "The
Union"? Where was the guy saying…HEY, WE DON’T HAVE THE TUNES!
Great concept. I love both Elton and Leon. Great that Elton is now
about the music and not the hits. But if you’re about the music, it’s
got to be great.
I mean we endured all that buildup and the endless hype for THIS?
We knew
mediocrity was in the offing when the first single was released.
Huh? I don’t know anybody who liked it.
Today we only have time for great. Forty years ago, when these acts
broke, we’d buy the albums based on the rep, play them because we
possessed nothing else, and ultimately know them. Anybody who plays
this record that much is either involved or related. With so much music
at our fingertips, why listen to this?
There are too many midtempo songs that you wait to go somewhere that don’t.
Sure, there are a couple of tracks that capture a bit of magic. "Hey
Ahab" for Elton, "A Dream Comes True" for Leon. But there’s nothing
close to their strongest work. There’s no "Stranger In A Strange Land",
never mind "A Song For You" or "Delta Lady". If only Elton’s
contribution yielded something as good as the obscure but great "Can I
Put You On".
I remember dropping the needle on "Friends". The title track hooked
me immediately. There’s not one track that hooked me on "The Union".
And the mainstream blather. The reviews in every paper known to
man. How old school a selling technique for supposedly a breakthrough
concept.
Wanna know a breakthrough concept? Record an album so good that it
has legs and sells itself! Something that people hear and testify
about, play for their friends.
I remember being at my next door neighbor’s hearing Mary Chapin
Carpenter’s "Come On Come On". I didn’t think I was interested, I
certainly wasn’t a fan. But I was infected listening to this album in
the background, I had to ask what it was, I had to get it and play it
and play it and play it.
That’s not the experience anybody’s gonna have listening to "The Union".
First and foremost the material must be great. This sounds exactly
like the hype. That they found a window when both performers were
available, wrote the songs in two weeks and recorded them immediately.
I’m not saying that can’t work, maybe Elton did it that way in the old
days. But it doesn’t always work. Not every date is a success. You
may have sex, but you don’t meet your soulmate. Wasn’t there anybody in
this process who could put up his hand and say WAIT A MINUTE, WE JUST
DON’T HAVE THE MATERIAL!
Projects like this illustrate that classic rockers still live in the
old world. We don’t need an album, we don’t need fourteen so-so tracks,
we need ONE PHENOMENAL ONE!
Elton’s burned his rep here. We’re gonna be suspicious when he touts his next project.
This is how it works in the modern world. Either you put out a
limited amount of great material or you inundate your fans with a
constant stream of stuff, let them investigate and judge it, separate
the wheat from the chaff, extricate the nuggets.
DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE! This album is a dud.
And today a dud is anything that’s not great. Sorry, that’s the way
it is, I don’t make the rules, the public does. A public that’s
inundated with diversion and only has time for the very best.
P.S. It’s not about the short term, but the long haul. Otherwise,
most YouTube clips would have a lifespan longer than a day. It’s not
about the initial hype, it’s not about the first week sales, it’s about
the cumulative effect. Don’t frontload your campaign, your project will
be forgotten as quickly as last weekend’s movies. No, now the game is
to make something so good that it finds its own way in the marketplace,
doesn’t instantly die but grows and grows over time. Sure, Elton &
Leon are touring this now, but wouldn’t it be better to put out an album
that people want to hear six months or a year from now, when they’re
truly fans of the music and not just curious because of the hype?
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da www.mirror.co.uk
4 stelle
Elton John & Leon Russell - The Union: Album review
di Gavin Martin
Now
63, and with 250 million albums sold, Sir Elton John has no need to
make records for personal gain. Coffer-filling, latter-day soundtrack
and musical commissions (Lion King, Billy Elliot), and Las Vegas live
residencies leave him free to repay the sources on which he made his
reputation.
In the last decade, this has resulted in some of the
greatest music of his career. Four years ago, The Union's predecessor -
The Captain And The Kid - brought the story of Captain Fantastic (Elton)
and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (lyricist partner Bernie Taupin) brilliantly
up to date.
The theme of the past coming full circle with the present continues here.
Oklahoma-born
Leon Russell's formidable musical legacy - the stellar 60s sideman for
Phil Spector and others, who became a flamboyant, visually striking
musical legacy the stellar 60s sideman for Phil Spector and othe thers,
who became a flamboyant, visually striking 70s frontman - echoes Elton's
early career path. In recent years, pianist Russell's profile, health
(the 68-year-old had brain surgery just before this recording began) and
circumstances have been reduced, but he's remained a pivotal figure in
Elton's musical universe.
And now, together with Taupin and
producer T Bone Burnett, Elton shows Russell didn't slip off the radar
because of artistic decline.
The chemistry between the two
piano-playing titans is energising. Also, the album's 'bringing it all
back home' feel reflects the old America explored both in Russell's work
and the early Elt/Taupin classics such as Tumbleweed Connection and
Honky Chateau. Neil Young even makes a dramatic guest appearance on the
Civil War-based Gone To Shiloh.
Whether delivering snazzy rockers
(Monkey Suit) or wistful, regret-tinged romances (I Should Have Sent
Roses), Elton and Leon's shared feel for the music that inspired, and
still inspires, them is unmistakable.
The Union continues an honourable musical tradition where pupil-turned-star acknowledges and reactivates a past influence.
|
da www.guardian.co.uk
4 stelle
Elton John and Leon Russell: The Union – review
Elton's gospel-tinged team-up with pop legend Leon Russell is a credit to them both, says Alexis Petridis
It
was easy to miss Leon Russell's cameo appearance on last Saturday's X
Factor, dedicated to songs by the judges' musical heroes. For one thing,
his name wasn't mentioned. For another, it was hard not to be
distracted by news that Simon Cowell's musical heroes apparently include
Kelly Clarkson and Boney M; here was a pretty jaw-dropping insight into
his record collection. Mind whirling with the thought of what an
all-back-to-mine listening session round Simon Cowell's might entail –
you rather picture him sagely announcing he's going to hit you with an
obscure old-school dance classic ("this one's strictly for the heads")
then playing the Grease Megamix – it was easy for even the most
knowledgeable music fan to overlook Russell's contribution to the
evening: much fuss was made about the emotional power and loveliness of A
Song for You, performed by John Adeleye, but no one credited the
68-year-old Oklahoman who wrote it in 1970.
You could argue
that's Leon Russell's current standing all over. Some of his songs are
enshrined not merely within the pantheon of classics, but among the
stuff known even by people whose only interaction with music comes via
Magic FM – he also co-wrote the Carpenters' exquisite Superstar – but
hardly anyone associates them with him. It's hard to name another figure
who once seemed so central to the rock aristocracy – performing with
George Harrison and Eric Clapton, helming Joe Cocker's ascent to
superstardom, his songs covered by Bob Dylan and Ray Charles – who has
vanished so completely from the public consciousness, a victim of bad
business deals, changing times and his own reticence.
In recent
years, you could find Russell playing some pretty
unprepossessing-sounding venues: The Snail Pie Lounge, Glenville; The
Snorty Horse Saloon, Springfield; the Safeway National Barbeque
Championships. Enter Elton John, who, while Russell has been busy
rocking Gater's Sports Bar and Grill, Gun Barrel City, has been engaged
in a clearly heartfelt and largely successful attempt to claw back his
own musical credibility. There have been well-reviewed back-to-basics
albums, relentless patronage of young artists – it sometimes feels as if
no group of teenagers stumbling through Wild Thing in a garage is safe
from Sir Elton bursting in and telling them what an inspiration they are
to him – and now a chance to rescue an old hero from the environs of
the Hog Pit Pub, Midland.
John has audibly taken to the task with
relish: "You came like an invasion, all bells and whistles blowing," he
sings at his new collaborator on Eight Hundred Dollar Shoes. "Your
songs have all the hooks, you're seven wonders rolled into one." If it's
touching to hear one of the most successful artists of all time
momentarily reduced to gasping fanboy, the album works because it feels
like a partnership, rather than an indulgence on John's part or an act
of gratitude on Russell's. The sound – gospel-infused blues and country –
tends more obviously towards the latter's style than the former's,
although, in fairness, it's not that far removed from the pre-glam John
of 1970's Tumbleweed Connection. Moreover, the stellar guestlist,
including Bono and Brian Wilson, clearly has its roots in John's address
book, and there are moments when the melodies could no more obviously
be his if they turned up in a pair of sunglasses with windscreen wipers
on them. As a result, The Union finally succeeds in doing what John has
been tentatively pushing towards for the last decade, stripping his
music of the glitzy sheen that's built up over 40 years and often
threatened to consume it entirely: nothing here sounds like it could be
extravagantly staged by David LaChapelle.
In place of the
flamboyance and glitter, there are homages to Stax soul (I Should Have
Sent Roses) and The Band (Gone to Shiloh); an eeriness that's bound up
with Russell's weathered, drawling voice; dark intimations of mortality –
There's No Tomorrow borrows its funeral tone and tune from the Mighty
Hannibal's dirge-like 1966 single Hymn No 5 – and the encroaching
twilight of their careers on The Best Part of the Day. The latter, full
of show-must-go-onisms, sounds rather hokey in theory: in practice,
there's something moving about hearing two artists who've enjoyed wildly
differing fortunes coming to the same conclusion.
It's fair to
say that not many people come to an Elton John album looking for death
and eeriness: you do wonder what the people who pay to see him sing The
Bitch Is Back next to a inflatable banana that looks like a willy will
make of it, and what resuscitating effect it might have on Russell's
career – not enough to catapult him to the attention of The X Factor
crowd and supplant Boney M in Simon Cowell's affections, perhaps, but
enough to ensure the Snorty Horse Saloon is but a memory for the
foreseeable future. On those terms – and indeed on any others you'd care
to mention – The Union is quite a triumph.
|
da www.independent.co.uk
Album: Elton John & Leon Russell, Union (Mercury)
(Rated 5/ 5 )
Reviewed by Andy Gill
Back
on the cusp of the 1970s, a young Elton John was making his American
debut at Los Angeles' legendary Troubadour club, where he was thrilled
to meet his idol Leon Russell, the saturnine pianist then on the verge
of establishing his own solo career after a decade as a sought-after
session man.
Russell had been a crucial component of Phil
Spector's The Wrecking Crew, also playing on records by The Byrds, The
Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan and Joe Cocker, whose career he
revolutionised as musical director of the Mad Dogs & Englishmen
tour. Along the way, Russell devised his own style, a blend of gospel
and swamp-rock, and developed into a songwriter of note, penning
standards such as "Superstar", "Delta Lady" and "A Song For You". Stars
like the Stones, Beatles and Clapton queued up to play with him. By
contrast, Elton John was just feeling his way into the business, but
within a few years would dominate it. But while their mutual admiration
society continued throughout the decades, the two piano men didn't
collaborate until Elton heard his partner playing a Leon song while on
holiday, and was so moved by memories that he burst into tears. A phone
call later, and The Union was organised.
And hearing how well
they work together, one's only regret is that they didn't do it years
ago. The album is easily the best thing either of them has produced for
years, full of polished songwriting, rolling rock grooves and
effortlessly classy musicianship from all involved. Tracks like Jimmie
Rodgers' "Dream" and the pounding pow-wow rocker "Hey Ahab" find Elton
returning to Tumbleweed Connection territory, while the lachrymose duet
"When Love Is Dying" has the melancholy nobility of a future standard,
akin to Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me". Other highlights
include "A Dream Come True", a galloping shuffle which recalls The Band
with Levon Helm in the driving seat; the rolling New Orleans swamp-funk
of "If It Wasn't For Bad"; and "Monkey Suit", a raunch-rocker in louche
Stones style. Best of all, perhaps, is "Gone To Shiloh", a haunting
civil war tale that's like an equivalent of "The Night They Drove Old
Dixie Down", with Leon and Elton trading verses with Neil Young over
slow sea-swell waves of piano: "After all this, if we should prevail,
heaven help the South when Sherman comes their way."
A few years
ago, Don Was would have been the natural choice as producer, but he's
been irrevocably replaced as helmsman of this kind of heritage-rock
project by T-Bone Burnett, who produces another sterling result here,
demonstrating how intimately he understands what made both these
performers so individually successful in the first place, while locating
the place where their distinctive voices – Leon's deep drawl and
Elton's stentorian croon – can cohabit comfortably.
DOWNLOAD THIS Gone To Shiloh; Hey Ahab; When Love Is Dying; If It Wasn't For Bad; A Dream Come True
|
"The Improper Music", Winchester
When I first heard about Elton
John and Leon Russell teaming up for an album, I thought, what an
overdue idea. I had seen Leon two years back at a Dave Mason concert at
the North Fork Theatre in Westbury, Long Island (my first time ever!)
and was excited to hear him.
But he also didn’t look well and he
hobbled off the stage with the help of a cane. His band was simply
terrific and though it was a short set, he was awe inspiring.
John
says that when his partner David Furnish was playing some Russell music
on his iPod in Africa, of all places, it immediately reminded him of
the camaraderie the two had once shared.
Russell first met John in 1970 when he attended John’s first ever
U.S. show at Doug Weston’s famed Troubadour club in L.A.
The
meeting began a long friendship and a mutual appreciation between the
two artists. “In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, the one piano player and
vocalist who influenced me more than anybody else was Leon Russell,”
John said. “He was my idol.”
The pair went on to tour together shortly after at New York’s famed Fillmore East.
After Elton’s musical epiphany, he called Leon and the result is finally here, proudly and perfectly titled The Union.
At
first blush, it’s totally unlike anything else out there. John has
temporarily relinquished his longtime Davey Johnstone touring, in favor
of atmospheric musicians, like Doyle Bramhall II, guitarist Marc Ribot,
keyboardist Keefus Ciancia and even Don Was (aka Don Fagenson) on bass.
The atmosphere is sometimes like being at your favorite bar, familiar and calming.
T
Bone Burnett, who for my money is the producer of the moment, produced
the entire project and has delivered just a sensational album.
The instruments never override the power of the vocals and lyrics. It’s a stunning testament these two giants.
You’ve known these two voices for eons and together, they’re simply mesmerizing.
Neil Young sings on one track (“Gone To Shiloh”) and Beach
Boy Brian Wilson (“When Love Is Dying”) on another. I
It’s subtle for sure, but terrifically enjoying and remembering
what powerful artists these two have been … and, still are.
My
favorites so far are the first single “If It Wasn’t For Bad,” and “I
Should Have Sent Roses” which was written by Russell and Bernie Taupin.
Those two tracks alone are worth the price of admission. “Monkey
Suit” and “Hey Ahab” are guilty pleasures too.
This is the album that Elton has been threatening to make for years.
|
da newsok.com
Elton John/Leon Russell "The Union" (Decca/Rocket)
di Gene Triplett
The
pairing of shiny pop showman Elton John and eccentric Okie rocker Leon
Russell might seem like an odd-couple deal at first, until one gives
"The Union" a spin and discovers a match made in T Bone Burnett heaven.
That's
who produced this musical conversation between the "Rocket Man" from
Middlesex and Lawton's "Master of Space and Time," but Burnett didn't
apply the thick studio polish John is known to favor, opting for a
natural sonic environment that lets Russell's organic fusion of country,
blues and gospel fill the room, enveloping and influencing John's
playing and singing in the process. The John/Bernie Taupin-penned ballad
"Eight Hundred Dollar Shoes" with its Sunday morning piano lines and
soulful female background vocals harks back to John's early, earthier
work on "Elton John" and "Tumbleweed Connection," as does the
gospel-tinged "Hey Ahab," another John-Taupin composition.
Meanwhile,
Russell's drawling growl and his brassy, upbeat Stax-Volt arrangement
on his own "Hearts Have Turned to Stone" will sweep fans back to the
glory days of Tulsa's Shelter studios. His hair and beard are whiter,
but age has done nothing to diminish the golden gravel in Russell's
voice.
And his distinctive vocals blend surprisingly well with
John's smoother tenor on the jubilant "Monkey Suit," the melancholy
beauty "The Best Part of the Day" and the heartbreakers "I Should Have
Sent Roses" and "When Love is Dying." And when guest Neil Young's
familiar, mournfully quavering voice joins the vocal mix on the
magnificent anti-war dirge "Gone to Shiloh," the listener's day is made.
This
is John's heartfelt way of paying back Russell for the early
inspiration he provided the Englishman, and it's a handsome payment
indeed.
|
da www.seemagazine.com
Elton John & Leon RusselL
The Union
Published October 28, 2010
by Brian J. Knight
Lordy, it’s nice to see old farts making music that’s vital and
invigorating. Being a follower of Sir Elton since Tumbleweed and Leon
from Delaney and Bonnie & Friends, it’s fantastic to see them
returning together revisiting origins. This is Elton minus glam rock,
too tall shoes, multiple pairs of wild glasses and, worse, weepy maudlin
ballads, reverting to what brought him to the forefront. Joined by the
force that is Leon Russell as a writer, player and singer, back from
relative purgatory, they combine in a “Union” that’s a total treasure of
rollicking barrelhouse piano and Hammond, supported by the co-writing
talents of Bernie Taupin and T Bone Burnett — Burnett also lends his
production talent and his terrific playing abilities. If that isn’t
enough, sitting in on The Union are Neil Young, Don Was, Booker T.
Jones, Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks amongst others notables. Finding
it being a little on the slower ballady/gospel side, the full rich
lushness backing these tracks makes them as gorgeous as the faster cuts.
Five out of five stars.
|
Robert Hilburn (dal suo sito ufficiale)
This unexpected teaming
of these piano men has a lot more going for it than good karma, though
the back story is heartwarming. Recalling how much Russell’s music
influenced him 40 years ago, John phoned his hero and suggested they
make an album together. Considering Russell had been toiling in relative
obscurity for decades, it was an especially sweet, thoughtful gesture.
Rather than take the easy way out by replaying some of their old hits,
John and Russell concentrated on new songs. They also had two great
allies—tasteful, imaginative T Bone Burnett to produce the album and
longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin to write lyrics for most of
the 14 tunes. In such standouts as the evocative “Eight Hundred Dollar
Shoes” and the potential standard “When Love Is Dying,” John and Taupin
reflect the innocence and craft of their 1970s work. But things also
work well when John and Russell team up as writers on one tune and
Taupin and Russell join forces on another (the gem “I Should Have Sent
Roses”). John even lets Russell have the spotlight to himself on the
closing “In the Hands of Angels,” and the bearded wonder from Oklahoma
comes through marvelously. Russell once stood at the very center of rock
‘n’ roll, whether as ringmaster on the “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” tour
or on his own albums. “The Union” puts the spotlight back on him. But
the album, too, reminds us that Elton is more than a flashy superstar.
He and Taupin are superb pop-rock forces.
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da http://stocki.typepad.com/soulsurmise/2010...e-union.html#tp
SOUL SURMISE
The
most telling moment in the career of Leon Russell came at 1971’s
Concert For Bangladesh where ex-Beatle George Harrison introduces the
band. After naming Ringo Starr and Eric Clapton he just says, “you all
know Leon” to the biggest cheer of all. Leon Russell was at the pinnacle
of rock. As well as band leader for Harrison, at the gig of the decade
so far, Russell had made Joe Cocker a superstar with their Mad Dogs and
Englishmen Tour and produced Bob Dylan for good measure. In 1971 Leon
Russell was omnipresent and omniscient in all things musical. Within a
couple of years he had all but disappeared from the scene while a new
kid on the block Elton John had taken his mantle as the hottest ticket
in rock by pretty much following the Russell piano formula.
Elton
John has never hidden the fact that Leon Russell was his biggest
influence and it therefore only seems right that he would come up with
an idea as to how to resurrect Russell’s career three decades later. A
collaboration between the two gets even more mouth watering as T-Bone
Burnett gets added to the mix as the producer. Burnett has this ability
to know how much to do and not do, what to add and what to leave off. He
seems to have an ear called authenticity to make everything sound
exactly as it should.
The Union sounds as it should an amalgam of
Elton John’s Tumbleweed Connection and Russell’s most successful record
Carney. It fuses rock, folk, blues, country and Gospel with duelling
pianos and those two familiar voices Elton’s all strong and Leon’s all
gnarly gasp, frail but unique as a voice can be. Burnett has the players
to supplement the pianos and adds Marc Ribot’s guitar sparingly but
with full impact. The highlights are many. There are full on Monkey Suit
pumps out terrific energy , the Gospel lament When Love Is Dying is
poignantly beautiful and Neil Young’s guest vocal on the haunting
cathartic gentleness of the civil war song Gone To Shilo is rather
sensational. The train track boogie of Dreams Come True with Gospel
singing backing all sounds so Russell and The Best Part of The Day is
that John-Taupin ballad from 1970 that suggested superstardom beckoned.
The latter starts with a classic couplet, “I hear you singing I Shall be
Released/Like a chainsaw running through a masterpiece.” You gotta
laugh out loud and ponder for awhile what other song titles rhyme with
masterpiece!
Elton’s recent BBC Electric Proms show which
featured many songs off the album also saw the white haired shaggy
bearded Leon paired with the latest big new voice Rumer on an exquisite
version of Masquerade which made you understand why The Carpenters used
to cover his crafted songs. The performance also showed that Elton had
gained from “the union” too; Sad Songs hasn’t been sung with such power
and passion for some time. All in all two careers have been thrown back
into the spotlight. Leon needed this more than Elton but Elton needed it
too, for sure. Volume 2 “The ReUnion” as soon as possible!
|
http://www.theaquarian.com
Elton John/Leon Russell
The Union
Decca/Rocket
B+
di Mike Greenblatt, November 3, 2010
Elton
John deserves a hit. Reportedly, he was irked that his most excellent
Captain & The Kid (2006) stiffed after seeing one of his best
friends/competitors Rod Stewart sell millions with his tepid and almost
unlistenable standards collections. Maybe justice will prevail now as
Elton has teamed up with his musical hero Leon Russell on an album
produced by T-Bone Burnett, whose magic touch has worked wonders for
Robert Plant/Alison Krauss, Tony Bennett/k.d. lang, Los Lobos and
Counting Crows.
The gospel-tinged tracks feature a 10-voice choir,
Neil Young and Brian Wilson but it’s the two pianos and two voices of
Elton and Leon that playfully recall not only John’s 1970 Tumbleweed
Connection classic but Russell’s soul/country/rock with Joe Cocker in
1969. Most tracks feature a piano in each speaker complementing each
other with plucky resolve and whorehouse urgency. “A Dream Come True,”
for instance, could have come right off of Elton’s 1973 Honky Chateau.
Elton
sounds better than he has in years, Leon a little less so, his
signature drawl still intact, just not so pronounced. Ever the master
melodist, Elton imbues these songs with an instant memorability,
especially “The Best Part Of The Day” where he honestly gushes, “you’re
my best friend/you share my crazy ways.”
This is the sound of two
masters driving each other upwards on songs of regret and universal
longing. There’s also, in between the lines, an appreciation of time
that only age can truly divine.
What took them so long?
In A Word: Finally
|
da HI-FI MAGAZINE
di J MATTHEW COBB
Unusual pairing of Leon Russell and Elton John grants interesting experience with sweet contrast of old American musical styles
To
some, the pairing of Elton John and Leon Russell seems a bit odd and
unconventional. But John, who easily cited Russell as “his idol”
throughout his career, decided to unite with the singer-songwriter and
versatile musician on The Union. On the surface, Russell’s Santa Claus
resemblance is enough to challenge John’s Englishman look, but when you
take away all the exteriors and only compare the brilliance of both
men’s work, you will notice more similarities in terms of work history
than opaque differences. Plus both men are light years away from their
hey-day, when John donned glittery super-sized shades and outrageously
flamboyant costumes and Russell played with the heaviest of rock and
R&B stars like Joe Cocker, B.B. King, George Harrison and Eric
Clapton. Russell’s last set of albums, sounding like bitter
MIDI-sequenced offerings, never matched the brilliance and majesty of
his work from the early to mid-‘70’s. So while some may try to question
the conventions of such a odd-pairing union, both men are exercising
their blooming wisdom with their respects for each of their styles and
work history while carefully leaving all egos at the door.
The
labor of love also stands as a show-and-tell for John’s longtime
lyricist Bernie Taupin and producer T Bone Burrett, whom leave their
fingerprints heavily in the sand. The album also soars with its
supporting staff including legendary Hammond B-3 man Booker T. Jones and
the background support from Chicago singers Jason Scheff & Lou
Pardini, gospel vet Tata Vega and Beach Boy Brian Wilson. Neil Young
even makes a short stop on the Civil War-inspired ”Gone To Shiloh.” The
Union also feels like it picks up where John’s The Captain & the
Kid, an ode to 1975’s Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, left
off.. At times, John’s singing could resemble Russell’s, but his English
soul won’t allow it. Russell’s Oklahoma twangy drawl, with a Willie
Nelson temperament and with a hint of weariness, settles well on some of
these performances. With Burrett’s production, Russell comes out
sounding as if he’s being primed for a revival album.
Leon
Russell pens the opening track, the album’s first single, “If It Wasn’t
For Bad.” It’s nothing entirely dissimilar from Bernie Tauplin’s kind of
playful prose, but it conjoins bitter break-up lyrics with impudent
jabs while using an antithesis of “A Song For You.” (”If it wasn’t for
you I’d be happy/If it wasn’t for lies you’d be true/I know that you
could be just like you should/If it wasn’t for bad you’d be good”). But
all isn’t whimsical and predaceous here. The songs, at best, are
reflective pieces; refreshingly warm lyrically and are spirited
showcases of two grown men working deep in their muse. “Hey Ahab”
marches like an Andrae’ Crouch gospel selection, tweaked with a Cissy
Houston-sounding female singer showing off with her Sunday morning
vibrato. “There’s No Tomorrow” treads on those same emotions, but
bubbles up with a pedal steel guitar solo from Robert Randolph and with a
heavier blues gusto. “A Dream Come True” plays like a juke-joint entry
where Russell and John takes turns working on the hoedown-seasoned
verses. Possibly the brightest of the brighter entries, John visits
familiar territory on the midtempo gem “Monkey Suit” where he uses Jerry
Lee Lewis piano to create a rock ‘n roll spectacle akin the work of his
‘70’s workouts.
Some of the offerings get comfy in traditional
country rhythms, like “Jimmie Rodgers’ Dream,” which places John feels
as if he’s performing in a small Nashville bar. But The Union is a
wisely executed collection that mends all of their musical influences
into one digestible mix.
Towards the back of the album after the
mood has reached its creative peak by the tenth track , the album
delivers a set of encores (”Hearts Should Have Turned to Stone,” “Never
Too Old (To Hold Somebody)”) that gives listeners a little more to
fumble with.
Certainly John’s decision to sew together a duet
album with Russell brings a cloud of suspicion filled with interior
motives. Perhaps it’s to secure Russell his place with the pantheon of
rock gods or to get him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame…or to get
him into better venues. The Union, with its unique swagger of country
blues, hillbilly soul and gospel, will certainly allow those aspirations
to take flight.
HIFI DETAILS
- Release Date: 19 October 2010
- Label: Decca Records
- Producers: T Bone Burrett
- Track Favs: I Should Have Sent Roses, Monkey Suit, Hey Ahab, If It Wasn’t For Bad, There’s No Tomorrow
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da http://bighollywood.breitbart.com
‘The Union’ Music Review: Elton John and Leon Russell Undone by Auto-Tune, Pacing
by Ezra Dulis
So
I know we’re all hating on NPR right now, but for a fledgling music
critic who has absolutely no clout getting advance copies of albums,
their “First Listen” feature is a godsend. So if we can target just,
like, 98% of the org for defunding, let’s leave this part alone.* Being
able to stream whole albums before their release really helps me look
semi-pro.
For instance, I’m checking the First Listen site for
the debut solo album of Animal Collective’s Avey Tare (it’s excellent,
by the way), and I see right next to it that Elton John is releasing a
collaboration with Leon Russell– whoa! (Click)
“The Union… two
classic pop singer-songwriter pianists combining their talents, awesome…
Elton John being a super classy guy and trying to elevate Russell’s
celebrity, sweet… some top-tier production on those lead-in instruments…
Wait, what the heck is Daft Punk doing in here???”
And here I
find one of the two fatal flaws of the album: TOO MUCH AUTO-TUNE. I’m
not averse to using this effect as a tool for pitch correction or as an
instrument unto itself (the sad robot voice used by Bon Iver, Kanye
West, and, recently, Sufjan Stevens can be perfectly appropriate), but
if you’re using it as the former, at least be a little subtle about it!
Obviously,
John and Russell probably don’t have the pipes they once had. Russell’s
singing style was always about dancing around the periphery of perfect
notes (and the man underwent brain surgery only weeks before
recording!). So they’re bound to have some less-than-perfect vocal
tracks. When you face that problem, you can either re-record for a
better take, leave the track alone and allow that roughness to flavor
the performance, or make your singer sound like he’s gargling. Legendary
producer/songwriter (and recent Oscar winner) T-Bone Burnett chose
Option #3. Why? It’s cheaper and faster than Option #1, and it’s more
marketable than Option #2.**
It’s more sad than anything, because
that cheapo decision mars some really great contempo-jazz-gospel-rock.
Opener “If It Wasn’t For Bad” has Russell robo-crooning (the necessary
neologism for that being “chrooning”) over a playfully dark indictment
of a false lover. Within the first phrase his voice has already become
grating; at the end of the song it turns the natural quiver of his aged
voice into totally unnatural-sounding modulation. Things get even worse
on some of the slower ballads like “The Best Part of the Day” and the
sullen “There’s No Tomorrow.” During the latter, the two singers
harmonize, and there’s some phase cancellation on sustained notes since
the sound waves for their vocals have been made practically identical.
It takes you right out of the song.
I can’t stress enough how I’m
not complaining about the writing or arrangements here. The veteran
stars don’t take themselves too seriously, and they don’t goof around
too much either. The album’s two best songs come consecutively; “Hey
Ahab” pounds along with a driving rock piano riff and gruff, aggressive
vocals from John, and the Civil War-inspired dirge “Gone to Shiloh”
finds powerful resonance through the sorrowful guest vocals of Neil
Diamond. And unfortunately, their strength turns out to be the undoing
of the album; as tracks 3 and 4 out of 14, the album comes front-loaded
with power and fizzles out through the remainder of its hour-long
runtime.
The majority of The Union’s other songs are serviceable,
catchy, etc., but they lack that same immediacy and profundity. What’s
more, everything chugs to a halt with the seventh track, “Monkey Suit,” a
peppy big-band tribute to Chuck Berry that goes on at least two minutes
too long, and we, the listeners, have to slog through seven more tracks
after that. Had Burnett, John, and Russell decided to cut the album
down to ten songs, tighten up the editing on a few of them, and saved
“Shiloh” for the climax, it could’ve been a great album, even despite
the lazy pitch-straightening.
There’s no doubt Elton John is a
super-cool guy who’s completely unafraid of PC establishment journalists
(though he does carry the ultimate trump card ever if they turn on
him). Both he and Leon Russell are extremely talented and creative, and
it’s great to see Russell get some belated recognition for his
contributions to pop music in the ’60s and ’70s. But as with any
creative endeavor, your final product is only as good as its weakest
link. For the inevitable ReUnion album, they’ve only got to do two
things to smash it out of the park: don’t overproduce it, and hire an
editor with acute ADD.
*I kid, I kid. I would wholeheartedly
welcome this feature on private companies’ websites which are bound to
be designed a billion times better. Since when does “Pause” mean “I
really don’t want to pause but want to be taken back to the start of
this hour-long album”?
**There is a fourth option: hide the robot
voice with distortion and other effects. As my singing is about as good
as New York’s rent is too damn low, I tend to over-do it with this
choice.
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