A Thread For Elton John-Leon Russell's "The Union"

I don't own it, but I'm curious about who does: it's already Elton's highest charting album in decades, surprisingly positive reviews, and so on.

it's my favorite thing either of them has been involved with for a long time, and i love elton for getting it made. i talked with some guy at the airport about gram parsons for an hour and he recommended this album and it does not disappoint.

haven't really given the album a chance yet, though i watched the televised performance of the full album on fuse, with marc ribot on guitar, which shoulda/coulda been amazing, but was just kinda flat. but i love me some elton (love me a lot of elton in fact) and i sort of like me some leon so i'm definitely gonna give it s serious try.

but anyway i'm writing here 'cause what i really love is the story behind the album -- david furnish putting a bunch of leon russell music on elton's ipod after hearing elton tell elvis costello how much leon meant to him ... leon popping up on the ipod when elton was in the middle of a safari ... elton calling up leon out of the blue (after not having spoken for 35 years) to ask him to do an album ... and elton then going around saying that if he can use his fame to bring a little recognition and money to leon, then "i will have done something decent with my music." kinda awesome.

story of the album here, by the way:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/arts/music/19leon.html

I got to see them play together at the Bridge Benefit a couple of weeks ago...definitely one of the best shows of my life. They had the whole nine: full band, horn section, 3 backup singers and their two huge pianos on stage... The sound was so big! Bloody marvellous to witness. I'd never seen either of them play live before, so it was a really overwhelming thing to see them both right there, together.

The songs are terrific, just a perfect blend of the two, and they stayed in my head for the rest of the night, so much so that I went out & bought the album the next day. Love it, love it, love it.

It's really a great thing they've done here.

I'd love to hear this, big fan of both. Is there an LP available or just CD? i've seen ads for this around too.

OTM about story of the album...in the liner notes, there's a point early in the story after Elton has made contact with him, he calls Russell back to ask him if he would like to do a record. Russell asks "Do you think I can?" Elton says "Of course you can."

The sweetness of that moment...that's the whole album right there.