Retrospective

Leon Russell | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 4, 1997)
• Original Release Date: 1977
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: The Right Stuff
• ASIN: B000002UP2
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,939 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Leon Russell is an American music legend. In his distinguished and unique 50 year career, he has played on, arranged, written and/or produced some of the best records in popular music, working across all genres of music and collaborating with numerous artists including Glen Campbell, Willie Nelson, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Gram Parsons, Ike & Tina Turner, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Dean Martin, Marvin Gaye, and groups such as The Monkees, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, The Rolling Stones, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and many more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

103 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rock n roll legend at his best., September 7, 2001

By 

Anthony Accordino (Massapequa Park, New York United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Retrospective (Audio CD)

Leon Russell's Retrospective cd is the finest single cd overview of his career available. His influence as a writer, studio musician and producer is legendary. All the goods are here to enjoy. The cd starts off with "A Song For You" and once your hooked you get to hear such gems as "Lady Blue", "tightrope", "delta Lady", "Roll Away The Stone" and a great take on Dylan's 'A Hard Rains Gonna Fall". If you could only own one Leon Russell cd this is the one for you. One final note! What's taking the "Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame" so long to recognize that Leon and Joe Cocker have been shamefully overlooked and should be inducted.

69 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Collection from an Underappreciated Artist, April 9, 2002

By 

Charles A Galupi "music snob" (Euless, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Retrospective (Audio CD)

Leon's work from 1970-1975 was some of the best piano work and songwriting of the period, Period. Just one listen to "A Song for You", "Lady Blue", "This Masqurade" (big hit for George Benson) or "Magic Mirror" will confirm that. And I didn't know he wrote "Roll Away the Stone"! I'd always loved Mott the Hoople doing that! And "Hummingbird", probably best known as a BB King track. And it's a shame none of it ever gets played on the radio anymore.

For my money, CARNEY is his masterpiece, but this collection allows me to admire the rest of Leon's catalog. Leon's takes on "The Ballad of Mad Dogs and Englishmen" rivals anything Randy Newman was doing at the time, without the controversey. "Out in the Woods" is a great swampy sounding fun track. "Back to the Island" is a fun track with the MG's (Steve Cropper, 'Duck' Dun and the late Al Jackson) laying down a soulful groove. "Closet Crystal Queen" is a cousin of "Roll Away.." and "Queen of the Roller Derby," a nice little rocker the Stones should have done to spice up one of their mid 70s albums.

Personally, I could have done without "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall", "Rollin' in My Sweet Baby's Arms", the LIVE take of "Queen of the Roller Derby" and Leon's take of "Delta Lady" which is just lame compared to Joe Cocker's version. But it's a good CD to introduce yourself to Leon or a nice portable version of Leon to carry in the car.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great place to start!, April 13, 2000

By 

Patrick Crain (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Retrospective (Audio CD)

The good news: This is a reissue of the (better) out of print CD "Best of Leon" with some great songs that weren't on the aforementioned CD(Shootout on the Plantation and The Ballad of Mad Dogs and Englishmen) thrown in for good measure.

The bad news: So they could put in A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall, they got rid of Streaker's Ball which means that the overlooked "Stop All That Jazz" album isn't represented. They also jettisoned the studio version of Queen of the Roller Derby and put in the (much shorter) version from the "Leon Live" album. Also, the versions of Roll Away the Stone and Hummingbird are the studio versions while the ones off the "Best of Leon" CD were alternate takes or unfinished tracks.

But these quibbles are slight (as are most quibbles about greatest hits packages) and you can't really go wrong with any of the picks. Leon Russell is criminally overlooked and one could do worse than to jump into his catalogue feet first.