Leon's debut solo album feels more like a Broadway stage production than the intimate singer-songwriter experience it is proported to be. Backed often by full-throated gospel choir along with cream-of-the-crop musicians like George Harrison, Steve Winwood, and Wrecking Crew session drummer Jim Gordon, Russell holds court through a crazy trail of covers and orginals which would be covered to death by multitudes of future artists. Sometimes Leon gets a bit too lyrical for my taste, but that's a minor quibble.