Leon Russell talks about working in the studio with his great friend, George Harrison. This out take is not part of the 6 bonus hours on the Wrecking Crew DVD.
George Harrison was one of the most listened to guitarists on the planet. He wanted what he recorded to be the best he could give - even if the best turned out to be take1 of twenty-five. When we listen to his music now, it's timeless and well worth the extra effort that went into recording it.
My god, Leon Russell's obvious message here is that George Harrison was obsessive to the point of being ridiculous. Did you not listen? It happens, it's okay, I'm sure George could laugh about it, right?
I am like that myself. I played Guitar and piano, and keyboards on My Nephews Album (Won't mention Names) I have a 32 Track Recorder. For each track, I can record multiple takes. So I too played many different leads. IT was hard to pick the best. Since it was his album, I let him pick the track he liked the best. It was the first 🤣.
The main reason Beatle recordings are so good is because they were very intense in their approach to recording, when they went in to record it was give it all you got!
Seen _Leon Russell_ and his band _Wayyyyyyy_ back in 1972! At the *New Haven Arena* , in New Haven , CT. wow, what a show. I lived 10 mins a way from the theater! _Don Preston_ on Guitar, _Carl Radle_ on bass, _Chuck Blackwell_ drums. It was great seeing him up close! He even mention that his last gig was playing with _George Harrison_ at " 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕮𝖔𝖓𝖈𝖊𝖗𝖙 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝕭𝖆𝖓𝖌𝖑𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖍 " _Now that was one awesome Gig!!!!!!_ Oh, Bob Dylan was lurking around 😲
I saw Leon play live 3 times. Once with Joe Cocker and Mad Dogs and Englishmen circa 1970, and twice in the few years before he passed. During one of those later shows, he played the last song and stood up to leave. The audience was applauding wildly, and he stopped us, stood, and said, "This is at the point where i walk out backstage and you keep cheering and after a few minutes i come out and play an encore for you, but my legs aren't what they used to be ( he walked with a cane) so if you don't mind we'll skip that and i'll just sit down again and play a few more for you, right now." More wild cheering and he played on. His common sense ruled again.
I saw him at the Culture Room in Ft Lauderdale 2015 and he did the same thing at the encore. At the Culture Room you had to come down a set of stairs to the stage and vice versa. The last time I saw him was in Stuart Florida at a place called Terra Fermata an out door venue, it rained during his performance. He was great but it lacked his usual interaction with audience which would have been awesome in such an intimate setting.
You got that right. Listen to that entire album _Badfingers_ " _Straight Up_ " _Leon Russell_ is on just about every song that has a piano! Excellent! _George Harrison_ produced side (1) of the album but couldn't finish it. He had to work on his own album at the time " *The Concert for Bangladesh"* I think he was having problems trying to get it out? But he got " _Todd Rundgren_ to finish producing Badfingers album. To me, Its their Best!
I'll tell you, being a 50 year Zappa fan, two of the bests concerts I saw was Leon. Santa Cruz early 80s and Roseville in the '90s. Wish I could have seen him in Marble Falls a few years ago. Never a bad show.
I had never heard the original. Always thought it was Leon's. Concert for Bangladesh, watched it when it came out at a theater, back to back, 3 times in a row.
After he finishes that medley, you can tell he knows that he totally killed it, but he just coolly takes a sip from his soda, without looking at the audience, like nothing special had happened. Iconic.
Leon was a studio (legend) musician who played on HUNDREDS of records in the 60's for the great artists of the day. His focus was on finishing the session & moving to the next session. What a genius! RIP
I think all the Beatles became perfectionists from their endless takes when recording songs. Probably part of what they all grew so very tired of ( along with those "other" reasons).
I saw Leon Russell perform in New Jersey exactly 45 years to the day after the first of the two Joe Cocker / Mad Dogs and Englishmen shows at New York's Fillmore East.
Excellent story from a Great Musician. He's right as well and it helps explain why Jimmy Page worked as he did before perspiration replaced inspiration. An example, is the solo in "Stairway". Apparently he did just 3 and kept the best one. I suppose George's way of working was his experience with The Beatles and their work ethic honed in those long shifts on stage in Hamburg. Sometimes, you need a friend's opinion and here Leon gave it. Well done sir.
There is an old story about Miles Davis: early in his career he was very unhappy with his record company and owed them four more albums. Went into the studio, cut four albums in four days. Still great music.
I think it was Jackie Stewart the race car driver that recounted the story about George Harrison missing a booked flight on the Concorde to New York because he was enjoying a cup of tea in his Henley-On-Thames home. When Jackie asked him why he would do that, George said, 'Well I can always rebook the flight but this particular cup of tea can never be repeated.'
That's typical George! You have to Love him. I wonder who he was having tea with or just by himself? I use to LOVE having a nice cup of coffee, and a cigarettes' and with my acoustic guitar! I loved laying down tracks on my Mutli-Track recorder. Tring out several keyboard parts before deciding which to use. Same with lead guitar. Trying several ways of playing before deciding on which to use.. Hard decisions! But always with a cup of coffee and a smoke! ☕ 🚬 🤗
musicians look at things differently.harrison wanted everything in place,over the top.leon Russell did a special with Elton john a few years back.leon was introduced and told Elton john,he thought he was gonna bomb dropped on him.everyboby loves leon and its great seeing him on stage.
Went to see leon and Willie at the house of blues in hollywood. about half way through we went up stairs and they thought my friend and i were with the crew so they asked two girls to get out of their seats and sat us down and told us anything we wanted was on the house. We had one drink and my friend told me he was bored and got me to leave early. I wasn't bored in he least and to this day regret leaving early. I had waited over 40 years to see leon and one stupid friend was all it took to ruin my night. I still enjoyed what I went there for.
Your friend was bored because he wasn't a _Leon Russell_ fan! You should have never left! That was stupid! Seems like you had it made right were you were. Abd I believe, without a doubt, you would've eventually met _Leon Russell and Willie Nelson_ . ( I assume it was Willie Nelson who was with Leon Russell)
Don't worry. He died a few years ago of Alzheimer's. Maybe that was his problem. He was married to a famous actress who was lots of problems as well. Maybe that had a bit to do with it.
I saw Leon in Berkeley in the seventies he through his tambourine in the audience and I grab half of it in the guy sitting next to me grabbed the other half after a smalle shuffle he won
I saw Mr. Russell play Boston Garden in either ‘72 or ‘73. His only mistake was trying to play the guitar. I still remember that. But the same was true of Dr. John when I saw him a year or so later in Providence. Neither of them could play a lick.
I have to respectfully disagree. I saw the same tour in Atlanta, and I thought it was cool that Leon did a little guitar work, nothing really flashy but he could play. He did the guitar solo in She Came In Through The Bathroom Window on the Joe Cocker / Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour. He also played bass guitar on the Bob Dylan segment of The Concert For Bangladesh. The guy was an all around musician, and a great piano player.
I understand the point he's trying to make, but in doing so he misses another very important point - sometimes you need to take the journey to appreciate the starting point! Sometimes you need to go through 25 takes, only to come back to 2, 3 or 5 and recognize that as the one you want to keep. Everyone wants to try for something better, even if they seldom get there. If the policy was always to just settle for the first take, we'd all be listening to some serious crap at times...
You make a valid point. I´ve done the same thing recording a few of my own songs, in that I tried to force better bits, then realizing the ¨inspired¨, though flawed first time had been the best. I´m not a technical guitarist and can never duplicate precisely something I´ve done before nor have I ever been able to copy someone else´s solos, and frankly, I´m glad of that. I would rather be creative than duplicative.
Thats right, he's up in Heaven in that Awesome Band! Leon was not just a great pianist, he was a good guitarist as well and you'all know he was in that awesome group.. . *The Wrecking Crew* during the 1960's.
I think after working with John and Paul all those years George had a inferiority complex, not that it hurt his music or playing any, he just seemed for a while to not be sure and would record like that. Sometimes over playing a song can really dull it out, sometimes it helps to make it sound better. About the only way i guess is to step away for a bit and listen to the take you like best and issue that?
they never gave the proper credits in those days, to much hassle fro the different record company's involved, they either made up fake names or just left off the credits altogether they where just buddies helping each other out, they just avoided, the company and union legal issues at this level the sideman money was peanuts to them,the real pro sidemen and studio players got their credits but the stars just played as favors to friends george was THE crucial beatle because even though he didnt write the stuff but he was the quality control officer and his input into the arrangements is what made the beatles "beatley" if you just listen to the solo albums you can hear which elements each guy brought to the table
I've feared that musicians who were raised with only 1 or 2 tracks available went bonkers when 16-tracks. I think they were appreciative of 8-track recorders but were a little frightened of 'quality' - and rightfully so. But 16s hit and folks started losing their discipline while embracing the so-called creative opportunities. Fortunately, with 4k screens at 75" widths, now I can 'see' least the first 64 of my tracks. "Wait wait - here's track 109? Whew! THERE IT IS... next screen over - I really need those 84-inchers!"
Playing so many takes is indeed absurd. Prepare a tune well and do it in 1 up to 3. That's how the blues and jazz guys did it in the olden days. If driving people crazy is your hobby then go ahead, takes mostly don't get better and they loose their spontanous energy.
@@jetsamperes5762 Thats the way to do things. I think limitation in technology is also a good thing, it forces you to work within a certain framework in which it boils down to good live playing. People depend too much on technology these days.
@@jetsamperes5762 you're thinking of the Please Please Me album, but yeah. Meet was recorded over a period of weeks, when they could grab studio time in between England gigs. Beatlemania had begun to kick in.
