Seagalogy 101: Mojo Priest • Flixist

_{[This week we’ll be looking at a few bits from Seagology: A Study of the Ass-Kicking Films of Steven Seagal by Vern (Titan Books). Recently released, the expanded and updated book tracks Steven Seagal’s career from the big screen to the small screen. It also includes some of Seagal’s side ventures. Look for our spotlight on the book this Friday.]}

For today’s class in Seagalogy, we have Steven Seagal’s second album, Mojo Priest. While Songs from the Crystal Cave was excessively exotic, Mojo Priest is a straight ahead blues album. Like Vern, I think it’s a better listen — Seagal is trying, but not trying too hard. The two albums’s respective covers tell the story. Crystal Cave had Seagal scrunched and awkwardly posed, like he’s forcing himself into frame. On the covers to Mojo Priest (there are three, Vern notes; the first American edition is seen above), Seagal looks at home and can spread out.

The songs are what you’d imagine from a working-class blues record written by an international action star. On “Gunfight in the Juke Joint,” Seagal basically sings a movie plot about a gambling, fighting, good-loving kind of guy. “Talk to My Ass” is a surprisingly funny story about problems with the lady, beginning with her refusal to make scrambled eggs. There are also little pleas for and declarations of love on “Slow Boat to China” and “Somewhere in Between.” Whereas Crystal Cave featured Stevie Wonder and Lady Saw, Mojo Priest has guest appearances by Bo Diddley and Louisiana Red.

Seagal apparently does some of the guitar solos on the album, which are tightly performed. (Some of the live footage I’ve seen of his soloing isn’t as precise.) In the appendix to Seagalogy, Vern attends and reviews a sold out Steven Seagal and Thunderbox show in Seattle. A choice excerpt: “The crowd was dancing. The band was burning up. And Steven Seagal was standing there in his orange shirt wailing away. What the f**k is this, is this a dream or is this real life?”

Seagal’s at work on a third album, which should be released some time this year. I’m assuming another blues record, but kind of want to hear him try sensitive indie rock. After the cut, three tracks from Mojo Priest and a recent clip of Seagal talking about the blues.

“My Time is Numbered” by Steven Seagal and Thunderbox

STEVEN SEAGAL - MY TIME IS NUMBERED [STILL PICTURES].flv