Leon Russell passed away November 13th at the age of 74, about a week after Leonard Cohen\u2019s death. No two artists were more different than Russell and Cohen in style and approach, yet each was a master of his craft as a composer and musician.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The last years of his life validated Leon Russell as one of the legendary performers in rock history. He was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall Of Fame, and released a duet album with Elton John that returned him to the upper regions of the American album charts.<\/p>\n
His career began during the 1950s as a member of The Starliters with J.J. Cale. He moved on to session work, the television show Shindig<\/i>, and working with Phil Spector.<\/p>\n
In 1970, he released his first, self-titled solo album; dozens more would follow during the next four decades with a great deal of commercial success. His big breakthrough came as the music director\/ringmaster of Joe Cocker\u2019s Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour during the years of 1969-1971. He has since worked with many of the legendary musicians of the last half of the 20th century, including George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson, The Band, and Bob Dylan.<\/p>\n
The Best Of Leon Russell<\/i> is a 16-track retrospective that concentrates on his 1970s material plus one track from his recent album with Elton John. “Best of” may not be the most accurate way to describe this album; “representative” is probably a better description as it presents his better-known material from various stages of his career. While 16 tracks can\u2019t come close to covering his vast catalogue, the album still provides a nice taste.<\/p>\n
This release centers upon his 1970s material. \u201dA Song For You,\u201d \u201cShoot Out At The Plantation,\u201d \u201cDelta Lady,\u201d and \u201cHummingbird\u201d all come from his debut album. They are representative of the gritty rock \u2018n\u2019 roll style that dominated his early career.<\/p>\n
There are a number of other highlights here as well. \u201cLady Blue\u201d is his laidback brand of Cajun rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. \u201cThe Masquerade\u201d is a good example of the subdued, melancholy type of material that appears throughout his career. \u201cA Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall\u201d is his rousing version of the Bob Dylan tune which graced his Leon Russell And The Shelter People<\/i> album. \u201cBack To The Island\u201d is possibly his smoothest performance, one that makes you almost smell the ocean breeze.<\/p>\n
In 1979, he recorded a country album with Willie Nelson. Included here is their laidback cover of \u201cHeartbreak Hotel,\u201d which reached number one on the American country charts. The album draws to a close with his wild and out-of-control performance of the \u201cJumpin\u2019 Jack Flash\/Youngblood\u201d medley from The Concert For Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
Leon Russell\u2019s career has meandered through the American musical landscape for over a half century. The Best Of Leon Russell<\/i> allows the listener to travel with him for a spell, and it\u2019s a journey well worth taking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":32912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7237],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-44685","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-leon-russell","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44685"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44685"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}