Leon Russell- Hotter Than The Heat Index
prisrob | New EnglandUSA | 08/10/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
""Leon Russell is an American genius, a long-haired swamp-man, a man of passion who infuses his lyrics with an untouchable poignancy. He is the king of melody and of instrumental perfection." how true, and how I wish I had said it-but it was said by interviewer, Jack Nichols.
Leon Russell was born in the early 40's in Oklahoma. He gravitated to music as a young man, and started his climb up the ladder with many musicians who are famous today. He married in his late thirties to Mary McCready who happened to be black. He would introduce her to his sometimes shocked audience, which would entertain Leon, no end.
Leon made his mark in music with the song "TightRope". He went on to pen "Delta Blue", and then "Masquerade" which won a Grammy for George Benson. "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" was made popular by Joe Cocker. But, it is Leon Russell with his distinctive, sometimes gravelly, but always rhythmic voice that draws us in to his music. There is no other singer with his sound. "Retrospective" has his best and most well known songs on this disc. It was remastered, masterfully, I might say, in 2005:-)
"Song for You"-We're alone now, and I'm singing this song to you." Hearing that waterfall of opening notes, we recognize Leon at his best. Shades of Elton John, no, Leon makes it his song.
"A Hard Rain's going to Fall" - "Tell me where have you been my blue-eyed son, my darling young one?" It is a hard life and he's gonna tell the story.
"The Ballad of Mad Dogs and Englishmen"- "Leroy Fender's pride and joy", the story of a love. The song that made Joe Cocker famous, almost....
"Delta Lady"-"Woman all over the country let me hear your soft and fertile delta" song of love for his woman.
"Roll Away the Stone"- "Strange world I am livin' in, I am still in love with you" listen to the piano on this one.
"Tight Rope"- "Up on the tight wire, one side ice and one side fire" Leon's first popular song, love's two sides. And, one of Leon's most popular songs, always requested.
"Out In the Woods"- "Don't know where I've been, walkin' round in circles, lost and all alone-out in the woods" He is lost without his woman, rhythmic, ghostly sounding
"Shoot Out on the Plantation"- Junior and the drummer are fighting about a woman in the neighborhood" Why do we have to fight it out? Fun in the south? Piano and guitar riffs.
"Stranger in a Strange Land"-"How many days has it been since I was born, how many days since I die?" the asylum choir sings it out loud and clear.
"Hummingbird"-" Sometimes I get impatient, but she calmed me without words, that if all my life had ended, and then found it had just begun" How important this woman has been to his life, guitar riffs filled with rhythm.
"Lady Blue"- " You've shown me a different sign, you just wait and see, cause I've been in love before, wanna get it straight right now, babe" one of his best songs everyone seems to know.
"This Masquerade" - " Are we really happy with this lonely game we play, looking for words to say, searching but not finding, understanding anyway" a Grammy for Leon with this song. A fave of mine.
"Back To the Island"- "The day is gone and I sit alone and think of you girl, what can I do without you in my life?" he had to go back to his roots, what will he do without his woman?
"Magic Mirror"- "Standing by the highway, suitcase by my side, no place I want to go, thought I would catch a ride"- what do we see when we look inside ourselves, into the magic mirror? One of my favorite Leon songs.
"Crystal Closet Queen"- "Left my home down in Arkansas", homage to Little Richard? "Tuiti Fruiti for sure.
I had the fortunate opportunity to see Leon Russell in concert on a hot, humid night with the heat index at 98. Two hours of non-stop music, no talking, one song after another, each one better than the one before - we were dancing in the aisles, and Leon Russell was hotter than the heat index! My best friend introduced me to Leon Russell; thanks, sweetie.
"Everywhere in Leon Russell's songs there's gladness or a sadness that somehow, I often think, matches my own capacities for both. Isn't it our identity, after all that makes us love a musician most? Isn't it that we seem to see our own souls amply reflected?--our own thirsts for living?--our own pasts rising out of long-ago years, softly resurrecting an unmatched sense of beauty that our memory allows us miraculously to maintain? "Jack Nichols.
Highly, highly recommended. prisrob 08-09-06
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Track Listings (20) - Disc #1