Leon Russell released some of the great songs of the early 1970s, including A Song for You, which is considered a classic. He then seemed to largely walk away from the spotlight. Russell reemerged in 2010, noticeably older, when he and Elton John — who called Russell an early inspiration — released an album entitled The Union. Here is If it Wasn’t for Bad, one of the cuts from the album.
Earlier work from Russell include Stranger in a Strange Land and a classic cover of Dylan’s A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall. The talent is clear in this very early version of Roll Over Beethoven.
The version of Crystal Closet Queen/Of Thee I Sing with The Shelter People above is great as both music and a time capsule. The notes say the footage is from a PBS special and that Crystal Closet Queen it is about Little Richard, but I am not sure of that.
(Homepage photo: Carl Lender)
