We don’t have a word count here at AudioPhix. If it takes 500 words to tell a story, we write 500 words. If it takes 2,000, then that’s what we write. Well, I may write a few more than necessary. I mean I might take 650 for that 500-word piece, mostly by writing lines like this one, that aren’t really necessary. But the point is, we do not have a limit on the words we write.
And still, I suspect that if I were to merely list all of the songs that Leon Russell was involved with – as a writer, producer, session player, and recording artist – I would blow past that non-existent word limit in a heartbeat. No embellishment. Just a list of the songs. That’s how deeply Claude Russell Bridges was woven into the fabric of American music in the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. He recorded with many of the legends who came before. The legends who came after regarded him with awe.
Russell grew up in Oklahoma in the 1940s and ‘50s and showed his rare talent early on. Despite being born with a form of cerebral palsy that led to lifelong back problems and a slightly damaged right hand, Russell mastered the piano and guitar early on. He was trained in classical piano, but his physical limitations convinced him to follow a different path.
The ten best songs of Leon Russell
Russell learned how to get by in virtually any style – blues, rock, country, gospel, jazz. It didn’t matter. He was such an eclectic virtuoso that he found an early home with the Wrecking Crew, the mythic collection of L.A. session players who were ubiquitous in every type of music in the 1960s. That’s where he cut his teeth playing on recordings by the likes of Bing Crosby, Doris Day, and most famously, Frank Sinatra in 1965.
Russell could play any style, and his left-hand dominant, bluesy piano technique was much in demand, but he proved himself as far more than a gifted player when he assembled and led the band that accompanied Joe Cocker on his famous Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour in 1969. A year later, he produced the live album that resulted from the tour.
He also released the first of more than thirty studio and live albums in 1970 – his self-titled debut. (He had previously released Look Inside the Asylum Choir with his friend Marc Benno.) We are going to choose a “10 best” from those albums and from other albums to which Russell contributed performances. Before I dive in, let me give you a brief taste of what is not included.
Russell was a prodigious songwriter. His compositions were recorded by dozens upon dozens of luminaries. I will not include outstanding Russell performances of his own original material like “Delta Lady,” because, as sensational a performer as Leon could be, I think Cocker did that song better. The same applies to the hypnotic “This Masquerade,” made even better by George Benson’s jazz guitar a few years after Leon’s original.
The Carpenters also recorded a fairly average version of “This Masquerade” in 1973. But two years earlier, they had done one of the finest renditions of a Leon Russell song ever put on disc with “Superstar.” Twenty-some years later, Sonic Youth released their own haunting version of “Superstar,” giving an indication of just how flexible a Leon Russell song could be.
Most of the songs on the following top ten are originals, but there are a few covers as well. Leon did not have the type of voice built for a mass audience. He once described it in an interview with Mike Mettler as “a cross between Tom Waits and Moms Mabley.” But Leon sang the way he played – with indescribable passion. Even those who don’t think he had a great voice agree that he did have a unique voice. And I happen to think that his voice was both – unique and great.
When he did covers, he often flipped songs on their heads. He speeds up Tim Hardin’s “If I were a Carpenter.” He does the same with Billy Joel (“New York State of Mind”) and the Stones (“Wild Horses.”) But on many of the Bob Dylan songs he recorded, like “The Ballad of Hollis Brown” or “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” he draws out the pace. (BTW, Leon also produced Dylan’s second Greatest Hits album, including producing the two original singles Dylan recorded especially for that album.)
Anyway, that's enough intro. Let’s get to the songs. I don’t have a word limit, but Leon wrote better than I do.
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