Leon Russell sometimes sounds like a more worn, battered and countrified Elton John. By all accounts John was inspired by the more obscure songwriter, so it’s fitting then that he should help provide a career-revival for his bigger, beardier muse. The resulting album features propulsive pianos (both men play on most tracks), big gospel backing vocals, crashing cymbals, screeching guitars and bold brass flourishes. The producer was clearly told to make the whole thing sound like an all-star benefit concert from the 1970s.
Now, that approach works very well when it’s the backdrop for Russell’s more cracked vocals, and even better when he’s dueting with the quavering larynx of Neil Young on the excellent ‘Gone to Shiloh’ (it calls to mind moments from The Last Waltz). It’s not quite as successful, however, when John’s grander more theatrical voice arrives, waving its sonic jazz hands. This is probably because the Elton John voice comes with extra exclamation-marks and the arrangements are already covered with such flourishes (in contrast Russell’s vocals are in thoughtful, if ornate, brackets).
Still, it’s hard to argue with the quality of songs like ‘There’s No Tomorrow’ in which John and Russell and what seems like a veritable army of musicians and vocalists stomp along in a triumphantly funereal dirge like there is, indeed, no tomorrow.
Key Track: ‘There’s no Tomorrow’