Leon Russell: Shelter

Self TitledSolo artists are funny for a number of reasons. One, as a solo performer, an individual has to think that their personage is entertaining enough on its own to entrance an audience via recordings or in a live setting. But the other reason is that, by and large, solo artists make use of a wide variety of guests to flesh out recordings.

In the case of Leon Russell, he was able to wrangle most of the Rolling Stones - minus Keith Richards - a Beatle, Eric Clapton and Joe Cocker for assistance on his eponymous debut album. Of course, Russell came about befriending these folks in a very specific manner - he played on their records or toured with their bands.

The backlog of session dates that Russell took part in is probably as impressive as his own solo recording career. But nonetheless, he took part in recordings from the Stones to the Beatles, The Byrds and the Beach Boys, the Band and a non stop list of notable rock acts from the late '60s through the '70s.

It was more than understandable when, in the late '60s Russell began entertaining ideas about working out his own music under his own name - which for the most part seems like some Southern stew that includes as much ju-ju as Doctor John, but also as much folk and country as any important disc from the Dylan catalog. These influences make sense on paper, surely, but when recorded they make a beautiful noise even if most critics find Russell's voice troublesome.

The lead off track to Russell's disc will be familiar to those of you who traffic in a love of Anticon as deep as my own. "A Song for You" functions as the main vocal sample on Sole's "Bottle of Human's." And even if the sample has had its pitch shifted a bit, the beginning of the track is still clearly audible - and pleasant in a slow sappy kinda way.

That first track constitutes the only ballad on the first half of this 1970 disc. The rest of the tracks rev up the tempo. And on the audaciously titled "I Put a Spell on You," Russell works out a pretty muscular piano track. The supplemental singers add an appropriate soul backing to the song that could have just as easily been an Ike and Tina number as anything else.

The second side of the slab maintains a quick tempo in comparison to the album's opener. But the quality of this musical stew, with pieces grabbed from every part of American culture makes it an oddity during the time in which it was released. Again, Doctor John might be the easiest touchstone here. But where he injects a good deal of NOLA jazzbo tendencies into his work, Russell seems more like a tubby Neil Young, struggling with disparate influences. Curiously, though, with all of these folks mentioned here, politics, in some way impacted their song writing and for the most part, Russell doesn't get into that territory...for the most part.