A celebration of one of rock’s most storied careers. Uncut remembers Leon Russell with a previously unpublished interview in which he looks back at his extraordinary life with Phil Spector, The Byrds, Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Frank Sinatra. “My songs are tributes, a lot of the time, to things that are important in my life.”
Leon Russell leant back in his chair, fondling the head of his walking cane, and cast his mind back to the sessions he played for Phil Spector. “There wasn’t much reading,” he recalled, “but there was a lot of hanging around. They could go on for 12-14 hours, the same song over and over again.” He smiled wryly at the memory. “Very tedious. Union sessions were three hours, so that would be 11 hours of overtime. A strenuous deal. But it paid good.”
We were chatting sometime in the late ’90s, with Leon – who died on November 13, 2016, aged 74 – ensconced in an anonymous hotel suite in Knightsbridge. Although it had been some time since he was heard on the radio, he still struck an imposing figure: with a huge mane of silver-white hair matched by a long, bushy beard, and mirror sunglasses beneath a curvy white Stetson, his presence seemed to shrink the room, as if it was too small to house his charisma. But then, Leon always was a showman, certainly back in the early ’70s when, top-hatted and saturnine of countenance, he rubbed shoulders with the rock’n’roll elite, with Beatles and Stones queuing up to play on his debut album, and his own showcase slot at the Concert For Bangladesh, where he also joined George and Ringo as Dylan’s pick-up band.
Denne historien er fra February 2017-utgaven av Uncut UK.
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Denne historien er fra February 2017-utgaven av Uncut UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Kim Gordon: La Ghosts & Flowers
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Tinariwen: Even Nomads Get The Blues
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Angel Olsen: Her Bright Materials
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“I Was Insatiable!”
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'I Was Pretty Bad At Being A Pop Star'
Riding high on the back of Bon Iver’s endorsement and his finest album in years, the piano master discusses the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, cryogenics and appearing in “some of the worst videos ever made”
The Go-Betweens - G Stands For Go-Betweens: Volume 2 – 1985–1989 Domino
Australian indie ambassadors’ golden age showcased in opulent style.
It's Too Late To Stop Now
Has VAN MORRISON mellowed at last? After yet another remarkable period in his ongoing creative renaissance, the Celtic soul warrior is on good form as he talks R&B, transcendence and mythical bootlegs with Graeme Thomson. “I didn’t know what the hell I was doing for quite a while,” he reveals
Robert Plant - Digging Deep
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Leonard Cohen - Thanks For The Dance
The poet’s intimate musical postscript.
'I'll Tell You The Full Story…'
During the past 12 months, a series of lavish boxsets have tracked DAVID BOWIE’s early development throughout 1968 and 1969. As this comprehensive archeological survey concludes with Conversation Piece, long-serving producer TONY VISCONTI relives the highs and lows of Bowie’s breakthrough. There are ham sandwiches, Marc Bolan impressions, the peerless “Space Oddity”, and tearful studio interludes… but, most importantly, we learn how the music made during this brief but pivotal period critically influenced one superstar in the making: David Bowie himself…
