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.
[youtube DGMcizrhs1I nolink]
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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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