The Union
3/5
The story is that Dame Elton was on safari in Africa last year and, after scrolling through his iPod (why would you be gazing at wildebeest if an MP3 player was to hand, eh?), chose Leon Russell’s greatest hits. On listening, he began to weep. EJ later called up his old pal and suggested dinner. Aw.
The pair first met in 1970 in LA’s Troubadour, two years before EJ hit number one with Honky Château and LR peaked with his Tight Rope. The symbiosis between this pair of honky-tonk piano-driven, gospelrooted, country-rock LPs is plain, and EJ revisited that period with both his Songs from the West Coast and The Captain and the Kid, so going there again with his dear friend was a great idea, yes? Well, in part.
On the strongest tracks (‘A Dream Come True’, ‘Hearts Have Turned to Stone’, ‘The Hands of Angels’) LR’s fruity rasp leads; the worst (eg the grittily straining ‘Hey Ahab’) are when EJ is at the mic. Despite their individual vocal differences, both can be blamed for the syrupy ‘I Should Have Sent Roses’. Such a ‘going home’ may have been great fun for this pair, but their Union is rather slight and patchily blessed.
