Cheap Leon Russell And the Shelter People [Bonus Tracks] (Music) (Leon Russell) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Leon Russell And the Shelter People [Bonus Tracks]

Master of Space and Time
This album reflects Leon at his peak, in my opinion. The album contains his classic song "Stranger In A Strange Land" as well as good amount of Bob Dylan covers ("Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," "Love Minus Zero," "She Belongs To Me," "It Takes A Lot To Laugh (It Takes A Train To Cry" and "It's All Over Now Baby Blue)." It also contains "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" which he wrote about his tour with Joe Cocker. I don't mind telling you when this thing came out in 1971 it blew us all away and frankly it rated high indeed on any stoner's list of LP's. Listening to it today, it holds up just fine and sounds as well as if it were just released. Some people might consider a little too country (although more accurately it's country blues) but this baby rocks. It only reached #17 on the charts but it stayed there for over 20 weeks as I recall. A classic album and it is the reason Leon acquired his reputation of "The Master of Space and Time." Check it out and see why.

---

old fan
The Lawton, OK-born Master of Space and Time was a great favorite of mine from more than thirty years ago, and Leon Russell and the Shelter People was my favorite album. I loved the guy; I even wanted to talk like him - didn't have to work much at that one. Loved that piano work. I had everything of his up through Hank Wilson's Back or whatever that was. I was driving to Virginia from Texas last spring, reached into the stash of casettes when the CD's had run out, pulled something out, and popped it in. Stranger in a Strange Land came up; what a sweet, pleasant surprise - I hadn't heard it in perhaps twenty years, thought I had lost the tape, but it was wonderful to hear again. What a great opening song, like Lauper's I Drove All Night, it whacks you in the head straightaway. You just jump straight into this soulful song in the first notes and that bluesy moan of Leon's. I still enjoyed the songs straight through to the end of the tape, some more than ever. Beware of Darkness, Hard Rain Gonna Fall, It Takes a Train to Cry. It was great music then and now. It's fabulous music on its own merits, and it's a little moment of time in music that means a great deal to me. Made me dig out Mad Dogs and Englishmen at my next stop. Leon's blues- and gospel-influenced early work may not be for everyone, but I call him a master and I call this his best work.

---

Excellent
Russell alternately brings feeling and energy to the tracks on this amazing album. There are tracks you can kick back to and others you will want to turn up. The musicians along for the ride are stellar. This guy should have been a huge star (he was on his way in the early 70's), but as Gatemouth Brown told a friend of mine, Leon "spent a little too much time in the 60's." Luckily, albums like Leon Live, and the self titled LP clearly show what he was capable of and why he was so sought after as a musician by the greats of his day (The Stones, Clapton, George Harrison, Cocker, Dylan). If you like any of the names just mentioned there is probably something on this album for you. A lot of the tracks are the kind found on Exile on Main Street (full-sound -- gospel back-up singers, horns). Good stuff.