Album Review: Leon Russell, Elton John / The Union

Artist: Elton John and Leon Russell
Title: The Union

While it would be a stretch to say this is a rock n’ roll album, it would be an even greater stretch to say this is a blues album. However, undoubtedly Oklahoma’s Leon Russell’s career is based upon many a blues flavor and if, as he purports it, Russell is John’s biggest icon, perhaps there is sufficient room for Elton John to rest awhile under the big tent of blues music. That being said, this is an album which could fit nicely in some roots music radio playlists… so perhaps Blueswax readers will already familiar with this album.

In the late ‘80’s and into the 1990’s rock hierarchies of performers were coupling up to energize flagging careers. As radio melted down into the gloppy, highly niched audio conundrum that we hear today, artists that had sold millions of albums were being dropped by labels no longer interested in artist development. These labels needed sales and anything on the cusp soon found itself sans label in an industry that was being nullified by advancing technology. So artists like Santana recorded with Rob Thomas and gandered the massive album, ‘Supernatural.’ Usually these all star outings were big on glimmer and low on critical content. They were crap. Around the change of the millennium Elton John teamed up with a very soused Billy Joel and together they toured the world keeping alive a flame that seemed to be rapidly diminishing. Times seemed dire. Today “Ellie” has used his slightly tarnished career to team up with an idol from his youth, Leon Russell, whose career had seen better days. Together they have compiled an album that is fated to earn hills of accolades while invigorating each individual career.

If the quality of art is compounded by its complication, as noted thinker and PBS commentator Mortimer Adler suggests it is, then this really could have been a beautiful outing. While the roles between saved and savior blur, together Leon Russell and Elton John’s album, produced by today’s soup d’jour uber-producer T-Bone Burnett is okay. The album’s 14 songs are four songs too many and would have made two very nice ‘solo w/guest records.’ However, for reasons that defy overt simplicity, this is near arduous length of oblique yet interesting collection of over-produced songs. Said simply, it’s good but it is not great. Will these songs ripen? Only time will tell.

The opening track, “If It Wasn’t for Bad” is a classic piece of Elton John arranging that harkens to his noted ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ period. This song feature Stax star Booker T. Jones and was written by Russell. ‘Eight Hundred Dollar Shoes’ features Taupin’s somewhat vapid temporal lyrics disguised as meaningful. I mean, really, a song using $800 shoes as a metaphor; yawn. On ‘Hey Ahab’ John gives his go at being guttural, giving the listener his best blues growl. It is not until the album’s fourth track, the Civil War expedition, ‘Gone to Shiloh’ that the music nears honesty in its roots and feel. Neil Young lends his vocals and sings the second verse of this ballad. The vocals of Russell and Young mix well. When John’s vocals sing the 3rd verse the listener is set in a wonderful audio landscape. Each man’s vocal adding a depth and contrast that works quite well. ‘Monkey Suit’ is an up tempo ‘Rod Stewart’ boogie that provides a level of energy to the album while giving it an obligatory sing-along.

This is a nice Sunday morning album by mature songwriters that are beyond looking for success while relying a bit too hard on sentimental clichés. For some listeners this is going to be a touchstone of pure brilliance; an audio landscape that ties together nostalgia with the contemporary. Like many musical outings the listener has to agree to believe. Roots radio might consider ‘A Dream Come True’ for airplay. Once again though, what starts out as promising eventually gives way to over-layered production that all but smites the song amid background vocals, cowbells and tap-dancing percussion and a regretful tempo shift. Ugh. It is an album you want to enjoy, badly, but Sir Elton is like an enabling spouse that sickens the music by forcing his presence into each and every crevice. Perhaps Sir George Martin could de-Spector this album someday.

You can take the boy out of Vegas but…

Album Review: Mitch Woods, Gumbo Blues

Artist: Mitch Woods
Title: Gumbo Blues

On his tribute album to “Smiley Lewis and the pioneers of New Orleans Rhythm & Blues” piano player Mitch Woods employs the formidable talents of a terrific band to highlight a wonderful niche of American music. When we look at the many greats that emerged from the New Orleans market, the line of R n’ B piano players is long including; Professor Longhair, James Booker, Art Neville, Dr. John, Fats Domino and Allen Toussaint. It is an area of music that seems to define pure delight by immediately getting fingers and toes tapping. Much like Chuck Berry’s form of blues, the New Orleans R&B piano sound is easily digested and continues to lend its vibrancy to many contemporary players including; Bob Malone, Jon Cleary and Mitch Woods. When it comes down to technical definitions, this sound is firmly rooted in the blues BUT defies the form by being inherently danceable and overwhelmingly joyous.

The latest outing by Mitch Woods is clearly focused on this genre. Titled ‘Gumbo Blues’ Woods and band wheel through some of the genres finest covers including; ‘Lil’ Liza Jane’, ‘Blue Monday,’ ‘I Hear You Knockin’ and ‘Shame, Shame, Shame: ’ a veritable songbook of the legendary Dave Bartholomew. This is a terrific album albeit it all covers.

Throughout his career Woods has looked backwards for inspiration. His interpretations and arrangements are delightful but solidly retrospective. Like all of us, Woods and his band needs to eat – so his efforts to pull the artform forward may have earned less overt reward than this caliber of talent deserves. With a deep catalogue of albums out, Woods, like Taj Mahal, has defined himself as a credible progenitor and musicological preservationist of the first caliber. Unfortunately it is a choice that presents a set of challenges including lower levels of recognition and commercial reward. Radio programmers can virtually “drop the needle” on any track and elevate energy levels with sounds and textures that harkens to the very dawn of rock n’ roll while remaining true to the blues. If there is a god of music, than surely Mitch Woods will receive radio support if for no other reason than the music does the talking and it speaks well.

Album Review: Kirsten Thien, Delicious

Artist: Kirsten Thien
Title: Delicious

By mandate it seems that every white woman in the blues genre is compared to Bonnie Raitt. While the yardstick is immense, the expectation has become a cliché. On her third album, Delicious, Kirsten Thien, another redheaded blues woman, proffers an exceptional album that has immense commercial potential. The production, playing and vocal lines are more suburban than urban but the textures and performances make for a world class blues album. Of the albums eleven tracks, eight are co-written by singer and guitarist Thien. Covers include; Willie Dixon’s ‘I Ain’t Superstitious,’ Ida Cox’s, ‘Wild Women Don’t Get the Blues,’ and ‘Taxi Love’ by Charlie Feldman and Jon Tiven. While ‘Taxi Love’ is the weak link in an otherwise excellent record, the songs ‘Ain’t That the Truth’ and ‘A Woman Knows’ are brilliant ballads that programmers may want to investigate for broadcast. For a more up tempo romp ‘Treat ‘Im Like a Man’ is a powerful ‘morning after’ response to the genres abundance of cheating songs. ‘Get Outta the Funk, Get into the Groove’ is a song that broadens the records reach. The record’s opening track, a horn driven, groove laden ‘’Love That’s Made to Shame’ is tasty and intelligent as the production and arrangements give the singer room to move amid: legendary Chess Records player Hubert Sumlin provides a guitar solo along with Andy Snitzer on Tenor Sax and the albums producer Erik Boyd on backing vocals.

This is a very solid, immediately enjoyable album that a wide base of blues fans should readily embrace. Those looking backwards may not connect as readily with this contemporary offering which showcases Thien building a sound upon the genres offerings from the era of Little Feat up until the present. This album is at least six songs deep for radio airplay. If one is able to judge a book by its cover, or in this case a Compact Disc, this is a well thought out, emotionally pure effort that shows the blues in, potentially, its most viable resurgence. Thien is an artist worth watching, closely.

Album Review: Robert Cray, Cookin' in Mobile

Artist: Robert Cray
Title: Cookin’ in Mobile

In many ways Robert Cray walks the thin dividing line between blues in the credible sense and blues in the popular sense. While he has found commercial success over the years, I have often struggled to appreciate his artistic methodology many times. The allure of his near Sam Cooke voice pulled me in but the redundant lyrical themes wore me out. So it is with mix emotions that I open each release.

In a blues world where the guitar seems to rule, Robert Cray is a tasty but adequate player. His distinction lies not in the fretwork wizardry that so many rely on but, rather, in the way he melds his voice and guitar playing. The rough edges are smoothed out and the precision is precise. His is a mixture of classic soul vocal lines and pop-blues instrumentation. We all recognize the sound but often, for me, the songwriting is the weak link.

On his latest release, a live album entitled, ‘Cookin’ in Mobile’ Robert Cray has, finally, released the complete album. The band is in the “pocket” and perfectly grooves to Cray’s crooning. The song selection is near perfect: as a record store clerk in the very early 1980’s I bought a 12” vinyl release of ‘’Phone Booth’ which, in many ways, sealed by adoration for the electric blues. Whether it is his cover of ‘Sitting on Top of the World’ or the up tempo, ‘That’s What Keeps Me Rockin’ Cray and band are in fine form on this Vanguard release.

Radio hosts might look at either of the songs mentioned as well as the opening track, “Our Last Time” or “Right Next Door” (a/k/a Strong Persuader). On some level an affection for Robert Cray’s music is perhaps a mandate as a contemporary blues fan… but on the other hand I wish he would, ‘buy a new book’ and sing about something other than, “the back door slam.” But then he didn’t ask… and his success is surely his own hard earn achievement.

Political Editorial: Taxing Internet Sales

This Op-Ed piece was printed initially in the Omaha World Herald, 2009


I say it is time to collect internet sales taxes.

This call to arms may be anathema to a fiscal conservative but let’s inject some facts into the discussion.

State and local government budgets are, in some part, based upon the collection of sales tax revenues. Basic epistemology of fiscally conservative thought is that fewer taxes equate to smaller government and that is usually perceived as a good thing. However maintaining functional government budgets is inarguable.

As we look at the evolution of technology and its impact on the retail industry, we are seeing a growing shift to online sales of everyday goods. For the most part this shift towards online sales does not capture sales taxes – negatively impacting State and local government budgets. The shift is also creating an unlevel playing field that favors online retailers against local ‘brick’ retailers since a tax free purchase may equate to as much as a 12% discount in some markets [ 7% here in Omaha].

Put another way, the immediate effect of a discount on tax-free online purchases sends wealth out of the Omaha market and, as a community; we lose the benefit of the economic multiplier effect created by that money circulating throughout our state and community. In the long term we may also risk losing retail jobs and, as we all know, the retail industry is a significant employer.

It is a fact that small business is the engine that drives the American economy. The Maryland based Tischler & Associates, Inc. (now d/b/a Tischler Bise) reported that “Big Box retailers generate a net annual deficit of $468 per 1,000 square feet (to taxpayers)…Fast food restaurants have a net annual cost of $5,168 per 1,000 sq. ft…In contrast, specialty retail has a positive impact on public revenue of $326 per 1,000 sq. ft.” (Tischler & Associates) When you weigh in the actual employment impact as well as the economic multiplier effect, government should be strongly incentivized to support the local retail economy.

According to the Wall Street Journal, several states, including North Carolina, Hawaii, California, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Minnesota and Tennessee, have decided to level the playing field through recent legislation. Online behemoth Amazon has threatened to “clip local affiliates” rather than pay their currently defined legal share of sales taxes. (Fowler, 2009). The University of Tennessee estimates that “uncollected Internet Sales taxes will cost state and local governments more than $11,000,000,000 a year by 2012.”

In its early guise, government nurtured the viability of online companies by allowing this issue to go unnoticed. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in the First Quarter of 2009 online sales were $31,717,000,000. (Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales, 1st Quarter 2009, 2009) By any standards the online retail industry has been sufficiently incubated and it is time to level the playing field as well as increase State and local revenues through the appropriate application of existing and needed sales tax collection laws.

Studies indicate that 8% - 12% of retail sales have moved online; the impact on government budgets is apparent. Because of the disparity of various state and local taxation levels, the process of collecting and submitting levies of online sales would be a significant burden to retailers. A suggested method could be to have a uniform nationwide taxation level for online sales thus simplifying the collection and submission process for retailers. Another “level playing field” consideration could be to reduce in-store sales tax levels as a result of collecting sales taxes on all retail sales once again.

Finally, this is not an advocation for a new tax. Nor can a reasonable person misconstrue this to be a call to increase taxes. If we are going to tax retail sales, and history shows we are, isn’t it about time that Nebraska, and Omaha, join in the processes to balance the playing field? At the very least this is an existing loophole that needs to be debated.

Richard ‘Rick’ Galusha

SOURCES:

Fowler, G. A. (2009, June 19). Amazon Threatens Cuts Over State Taxes. Wall Street Journal , p. B3.

Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales, 1st Quarter 2009. (2009, May 15). Retrieved June 24 , 2009, from U.S. Census Bureau News: http://www.census.gov/mrts/www/data/html/09Q1.html

Tischler & Associates. (n.d.). Retrieved September 18 , 2003, from http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/bystate.asp?state-ID

Political Editorial: Whiteclay

Published Sunday August 29, 2010
Omaha World Herald newspaper

Midlands Voices: Act urgently on Whiteclay
By Rick Galusha

The writer is an assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at Bellevue University. He is assistant director for the university’s Center for American Visions and Values.

Nebraskans are shocked to learn that a portion of the second-poorest area in the entire Western Hemisphere lies within our state, in the area that includes the Pine Ridge Reservation. Consider the following figures from the 2002-03 edition of Regional Differences in Indian Health, published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:

>> The age-adjusted alcoholism death rates in the Reservation area are nearly 17 times higher than the national population mean (108.7 per 100,000 people versus 6.7 nationally).

>> The age-adjusted tuberculosis death rates in the Reservation area are eight times higher than the national population mean (2.4 per 100,000 versus 0.3 nationally).

>> The age-adjusted diabetes mellitus death rates in the Reservation area are more than five times higher than the national population mean (68.7 per 100,000 versus 13.3 nationally).

>> The age-adjusted suicide rates in the Reservation area are nearly three times higher than the national population mean (29.7 per 100,000 versus 11.2 nationally).

Because a majority of the Pine Ridge Reservation lands are located within the borders of South Dakota, some suggest that this is a state sovereignty issue. However, the effects spill into our state, including the numerous medical and legal concerns that define Whiteclay, Neb., (population 14).

Whiteclay’s four package stores sell the equivalent of more than 3 million cans of beer annually. Adult alcoholism rates on Pine Ridge have been estimated to exceed 65 percent.

In an era when bitterness can define the political landscape, our Legislature passed a modest bill this year. In July, the Douglas County Republican Party passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a committee to seek viable solutions for the extreme poverty on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Independently, later that month, the Nebraska Democratic Party passed an identical resolution. This solution-seeking-committee would consist of the governors of Nebraska and South Dakota as well as the president of the Lakota Sioux Nation.

While the choice of sobriety is an individual decision, there are several things Nebraskans can do to provide hope:

>> Demand enforcement of existing Nebraska laws in Whiteclay, Neb.

>> Empower our elected officials to begin seeking long-term solutions to this extreme poverty, including calling upon the government of South Dakota to participate.

>> Create awareness by sharing this commentary with family members, friends, co-workers and congregants.

>> Take specific action by sending letters and e-mails and placing telephone calls to elected officials.

>> Use social networking to enhance awareness.

>> Contact the Whiteclay awareness committee (WhiteclayAwareness@gmail.com) to schedule a speaker and-or show the film “The Battle for Whiteclay.” (Include schools, civic or business organizations, churches, synagogues, mosques or living rooms.)

This nonpartisan issue is gaining momentum. Readers of the New Testament will recognize the passage, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me.” It would be a moral failure for Nebraskans to allow this misery to continue.

To quote Edmund Burke, “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?”

Rick Derringer Album Review

Artist: Rick Derringer
Title: The Three Kings of the Blues
Writer: Rick Galusha

It was hard to grow up in the ‘70’s and not know about Rick ‘Rock n’ Roll Hoochie Koo’ Derringer. Whether it was his band, ‘The McCoy’s’ 1965 #1 hit, ‘Hang on Sloopy’ (The Official Rock Song for the State of Ohio) or his self titled band’s FM flash, ‘Let Me In,’ Rick Derringer was a household name among avid music fans. Perhaps best known for his able support of Edgar and Johnny Winter, Derringer’s star diminished by the mid-1980s.

Down but never out Rick Derringer is back with a compilation on Shrapnel Records which pay homage to the three kings of the blues… B. B., Albert and Freddie. With tracks taken from previous Derringer solo efforts, this album is Derringer at his best. Like brass knuckles on a peroxide blonde Derringer takes ten blues standards, revs up his chainsaw guitar and double-times past any semblance of musical nuisance… and yet fun pervades this guilty pleasure. With songs like, ‘Key to the Highway,’ ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’ and ‘Let the Good Times Roll’ Derringer delivers these tracks right between your eyes.

Purists will roll over and groan but contemporary blues fans (IE: Rock n’ Rollers) are going to eat this album with a fork and spoon. Programmers will want to use this CD like grease on a spitball when they reach up, caress the bill of their cap, and jumpstart listeners with a familiar sounding cover track. It ain’t art but then art never was a parameter for mass appeal. Look to Derringer’s version of Freddie King’s, ‘You’ve Got to Love Her With a Feeling’ as the gateway to the easily accessible sonnets of this record.