Leon Russell...

[Rick Henry]

Wisejester's conversation on Paul Williams has prompted me to converse about Leon Russell.

I'd say of all the songwriters whose songs Carpenters recorded, Russell is my favorite. I like his edge and the raw sound in his own recordings. I have several of his albums (Including "Carny"). His albums for the most part are pretty good. Though, his voice, like Paul Williams', is also sometimes hard to handle. Overall, I would say Leon Russell does have a better voice. On some of his own top 40 hits such as "Tight Rope" and "Lady Blue" his vocal performance is actually very good - he's no Freddie Mercury - but still not bad.

His recordings of "This Masquerade", "A Song For You" and "Superstar" are on the albums I have - boy he really butchered these songs - but it's still interesting to hear his renditions of how he felt the songs should sound. It's interesting that Richard was able to vision Karen singing these songs judging from Russell's recordings - Richard truly had a great ear for making something out of the obscure.

[wisejester7]

Rick mentioned the edgy, raw sound Leon Russell has in his recordings. The 'diamond in the rough' presentations from Leon Russell, Paul Williams and others didn't seem to bother Richard at all. In fact, maybe he picked up on these songs because he could hear beyond their voice and replace it with the voice he carried around in his head...Karen's.

Richard's ability to 'hear' Karen sing these songs is so innate to the success of the Carpenters. . . and it is just one part of what makes him a musical genius.

[Rick Henry]

Several other A&M artists besides Carpenters recorded Leon Russell's songs. Those include Rita Coolidge (she recorded a few of his songs), Joe Cocker and Captain & Tennille. This makes me wonder if he had a contract with A&M.

Leon does have other connections to A&M as he played keyboards on Herb Alpert's 1962 hit "A Taste Of Honey". He also recorded a few early singles with A&M in the mid 60's. Up until 1971 Russell had been garnering much success with arranging songs for Gary Lewis And The Playboys and Harper's Bizarre. In 1969 Russell with partner Denny Cordell start their own recording studio called Shelter Records. In 1970 his own debut album "Leon Russell" reached #60 on the U.S. chart. In 1971 his album "Leon Russell and the Shelter People" made it up to #17 on the U.S. chart and #29 on the UK chart. But it wasn't until Carpenters' recording of "Superstar" that Russell finally achieved major worldwide success as "Superstar" reached #2 in the U.S. and #18 in the UK. It was also a hit in several other countries around the world. After "Superstar", Leon Russell's own recordings began reaching the top 10 and were being certified gold and platinum.

Carpenters recorded three of his songs "Superstar", "A Song For You" and "This Masquerade" - all three spectacular songs - it's hard for me to chose a favorites amongst them.

Non A&M artists to record his songs are the incomparable Ray Charles, George Benson, Willie Nelson and George Harrison.

[YesterdayOnceMore]

I have a friend who used to live in Oklahoma, where Leon is from. They used to sit outside Leon's home, under an open window, and listen to him "create" music for hours. It was a cool story they told, as they used to listen to the band I had, Yesterday Once More, and we often would play This Masquerade, and sometimes, A Song For You. Guess that reminded them of the story.

As for Leon, I think sometimes he sounds like Russell Javors. Russell has been told, as well, that at times he sounds like Leon. Other times, I don't care for his vocals AT ALL. But, he is a great writer - much like Paul Williams. I do not own anything recorded by Leon Russell, however. Rick would be much more "in the know" about his musical prowess from having albums to listen to. I've only heard a few of his bigger hit songs.

It's interesting, isn't it, that Richard DID, indeed, find these diamonds in the rough, as it were, polish them to perfection, and put them out there for the whole world to enjoy as truly brilliantly recorded songs? First a bank commercial made the grade (We've Only Just Begun) and then writers like Paul Williams and Leon Russell who, themselves, probably couldn't have made it on their own talent, but having an act like Carpenters, and those Rick mentioned who also recorded Leon's tunes.....makes all the difference in the world. I think it was WiseJester7 who said something to the effect that one can't do, but one can teach. Well, the same could be true here - one can't necessarily "sing" appropriately for the wonderful song created, but can "create" like a genius. It's just lucky for us that Richard could see the potential of these teriffic songwriters, and made the beautiful creations that he did. After all, This Masquerade is my fave Carpenters tune. So thanks for that, Mr. Leon Russell.
Tim

[Rick Henry]

Leon Russell was truly excellent in writing that dark and moody type tune as witnessed in Carpenters' renditions of his songs ("Superstar", "A Song For You" and "This Masquerade") - all three recordings are classic.