Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down R. L. Burnside Fat Possum Records, 2000 Buy it online Tracks 1: Hard Time Killing Floor 2: Got Messed Up 3: Miss Maybelle 4: Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down 5: Too Many Ups 6: Nothin' Man 7: See What My Buddy Done 8: My Eyes Keep Me in Trouble 9: Bad Luck City 10: Chain of Fools 11: R.L.'s Story Reviewed by David Middleton	R.L. Burnside's philosophy of life is simple: "Drink a lot of whiskey and love all pretty women... maybe a few ugly ones, too. And then just try to get old." This seems a typical blues man's philosophy even if Burnside is not exactly a typical blues man. Least not these days. At 73 Burnside is indeed one of the original proponents of Mississippi blues, but his latest album Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down stretches the boundaries of a genre that up 'til now many people thought was pretty much set in stone. What comes across is a funky collaboration between raw, original-style blues and ambient electronica. The result is not as jarring as it may sound. Blues is definitely the intent here, with all the typical chord progressions and phrasing that goes along with it. But the addition of samples, looped vocals and scratches filling in for some of the more traditional instruments raises this album above the usual. The result is a wonderfully cohesive whole that can best be described as a well produced and tightly executed rambling sloppiness. It takes an even hand at producing something that is both loose and spontaneous sounding, while at the same time keeping a tight rein, but not tight enough to over-polish the rough edges. No less than eight producers worked on the 11 songs with many doing double duty as writers and musicians. Aside from the "dirtied up" clean production and the use of some nontraditional instruments, Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down is my-dog-up-and-died, my-life-is-so-hard, that-woman-done-left-me, real-life blues -- down to its roots. At the forefront is Burnside's mournful drank-too-much-whiskey, smoked-too-many-cigarettes, deeply soulful and grinding-gears textured voice. He growls, mumbles, moans and wails with the passion of a man who wants to share with everyone in shouting distance the pain and sorrow of life's too few ups and too frequent downs. The album starts with the autobiographical "Hard Time Killing Floor" and ends with "R.L.'s Story," both songs chronicling the murders of Burnside's father and two brothers during their time in Chicago -- "R.L.'s Story" a haunting and more detailed spoken word narrative reprise of "Hard Time Killing Floor," and both songs working as perfect bookends to the album. The remainder of the album is filled with a wild cross section of bluesy standards from "Got Messed Up," "See What My Buddy Done," and "Bad Luck City" running in the don't-life-just-beat-you-down category, along with the Gospel influenced title track and Aretha Franklin standard "Chain of Fools." But never let it be said that blues doesn't have its lighter moments, "Too Many Ups," "Nothing Man" and "My Eyes Keep Me in Trouble" provide a bit of humor and even pathos to the mix while the energetic "Miss Maybelle," an upbeat stomp through the backwoods with Beck's DJ Swamp playing the turntable washboard, gets you up on your feet doing a two-step. For many of those who can't remember or have never heard the sound of a needle gouging its way through the grooves of an actual vinyl record, Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down has some authentic sounding record scratches and pops added for that extra bit of authenticity required when listening to an old blues record. For blues aficionados and ambient fans alike, Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down is a successful hybrid and a real gem. | November 2000   David Middleton is the art director of Blue Coupe magazine and has decided to drink too much whiskey and take up smoking, 'cause he thinks his voice don't sound interesting enough.	What comes across is a funky collaboration between raw, original-style blues and ambient electronica. The result is not as jarring as it may sound. Blues is definitely the intent here, with all the typical chord progressions and phrasing that goes along with it. But the addition of samples, looped vocals and scratches filling in for some of the more traditional instruments raises this album above the usual.