Cheap Carney (Music) (Leon Russell) Price

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Customer Reviews of Carney

He should've rocked instead of sleezed.
I must be spoiled after hearing Leon Russell's 1972 live version of "Jumpin' Jack Flash / Youngblood," because overall this album seemed unexciting, uninspired, and sleezy to me. With such a good voice and piano skill (he played with Freddie King in 1971), I expected much better of him. The only song from this album I like quite a bit is "Out in the Woods," which got some airplay in the summer of 1972. It has interesting jungle sounds in the intro, interesting call-and-response vocals throughout, and beautiful vocal harmonies at the end. The popular song "Tight Rope" is loose and sleezy and has always annoyed me, but "Cajun Love Song" isn't bad, since it successfully mimics the sound of authentic cajun music (fiddles, folk style chords, etc.), it has a nice melody, and is one of the earliest songs I've heard that mentions bayous. (Bayous become popular subject matter after CCR's 1969 album "Bayou Country.") Overall, except for 3-4 songs of note, this album can be disappointing if you're not really tuned into Leon's style.

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The Great Leon scored with his most accessible work ever
Tulsa, Oklahoma has much to be proud of in their greatest hometown Rock and Country music star, Leon Russell. Today, he still travels the road mostly in a tour bus, playing the keyboards and singing his combination of Country and southern Rock music. If you've ever heard any of his work with country artists such as Willie Nelson and his New-Grass Band, you know that Leon has brought an excellent and unique musicianship to this important American style of music.

The previous "blue" album has all the stars of the day on it. But this follow up, Carney, is more personal. The song Tightrope clearly the most representative of the album's lyrical message, that of depicted life as a carnival worker, a wry metaphor for a Rock musician working in the music industry.

Leon represented one of the more independent musicians of his generation, which may account for why he is so underrated in the biz. As we know, there was a lot of underground music going on at this time in Los Angeles and the SF Bay area, as represented by the artistic purism of the Doors, for example, and Leon's "Shelter People," the Shelter record label formed with producer Denny Cordell, which helped to provide artistic sanctuary and means for expression for several talented young musicians back in the days of the hippies.

On both lps Leon's piano work is uniquely recorded (for the time); intricately layered arrangements of various gospel styled piano improvisations played with a kind of pianistic verve that's Russell's southern trademark, as if Dr. John were having a wet dream. Rarely is such a high level of pure keyboard musicianship (to the point of jazz artistry) to be found in pop-rock annals, such as on Stevie Wonder's Talking Book, when this other great musician also became an independent around the same time period. Long live the early 70s, hmm?

Carney includes the original version of Leon's classic ballad, Masquerade, later made into a Jazz-Fusion hit by guitarist-vocalist George Benson. Carney is undeniably the most accessible, thus likable, album Leon Russell has ever produced.

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New Generation Listener
I was pleasantly surprised when my mother sent me this cd in the mail while I was at college. My tastes run as hard as bands like limp bizkit and korn, but anyone who enjoys beautiful melodies and great songwritting will enjoy this album. The southern flair is a great change of pace. I would recommend this to anyone of my generation, and kick anyone in the pants who has not heard this from my parents' generation.