Leon Russell his a haggard quality to him – even when he was younger – that, while kinda disturbing, served to make him a unique character amongst the flower toting masses crossing the California boarder making its way to L.A. or San Fran. His solo work seemed more tied to a downer style of folk and show tunes that no one else was taking advantage of at the time. And while he released a countless amount of work under his own name, not all of it seems up to snuff. But that was from 1970 and on.

Prior to that time, when not playing with J.J. Cale and moving across the country, Rusell was immersed in studio work and the like. He did, however, take a few stabs at stardom before unleashing his weirdo, self titled album. In 1968, he and a pretty inconsequential figure in American music history, Marco Benno, formed the Asylum Choir. But seeing as there were only two of ‘em and the disc sports a full band, it’s reasonable to figure that Russell called in some favors to the Wrecking Crew – a group of session players he was affiliated with. But regardless of who played what, the disc foreshadows, a bit, of what was to come from Russell as he recorded under his own name.

Released on Russell’s own Shelter imprint, Look Inside the Asylum Choir is steeped in the Beatles early contrivances of psychedlia. This would take the album through the sound of an Indian pow-wow and a hazy sounding telephone conversation following the phone ringing for a bit too long atop of a spooky keyboard vamp in a waltz time. While portions of these pseudo experiments would come off better than others, the first few tracks are a bit too far gone to be saved from the Brit Invasion. It’s a weird moment in Russell’s catalog as his solo stuff sits as close to Dr. John – also a member of the Wrecking Crew – as anyone would get. This is strictly pop, although its principal performer surely believed in it for the creative implications that the cover displays as well as the fact that it very well may have had the ability to make a few bucks on the open market.

While coming in at less than a half an hour, Look Inside the Asylum Choir still was able to cram a buncha ‘60s stuff into each of it’s 8 tracks. Taking the perspective of a forgiving musical forager while examining this will probably yield a more pleasurable experience. And while the production values – the edits, sound effects and inclusion of supplemental instruments like the occasional violin – should make this a treat for some. Those looking for a long lost psych gem shouldn’t be fooled by the cover, “Thieves in the Choir,” while including some of that late ‘60s weirdness, is Russell at his best as would be captured in a few year. It just seems that at this point, Russell, who’d only been in L.A. for  a scant four years was still over taken by the freeqs and ghouls he encountered walking down the street chasing visions that no one else could see.