Leon Russell And The Shelter People
1971-02-02 ::: London, England ::: Royal Albert Hall ::: M-AUD

~*~ Mk2 version, carefully remastered fixing various issues, with differential EQ + lite NR ~*~

"Your mouth gets dry, you know you're high, and you can do 6 months work in 30 seconds" (Leon)

Leon solo opening set :::
01. ==Leon intro'd/applause==
02. Come On Into My Kitchen
03. ==applause==
04. ==song intro -> Mad Dogs & Englishmen
05. ==applause==
06. North Country Girl
07. ==applause==
08. A Song To You

Leon Russell And The Shelter People
09. Shootout On The Plantation
10. ==applause/talk/tuning=
11. Dixie Lullaby
12. ==applause/talk/tuning==
13. Pisces Apple Lady
14. I Put a Spell on You
15. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
16. ==applause/band member intros/tuning==
17. Stranger In A Strange Land
18. Prince Of Peace//
19. ==applause/song intro==
20. Give Peace A Chance -> Masters Of War -> Give Peace A Chance
21. ==applause==
22. Delta Lady ->
23. Roll Away The Stone
24. ==applause==

Encore :::
25. ==applause/promoter talk==
26. Roll Over Beethoven ->
27. So Strange/Of Thee I Sing

Total Time ::: 1:14:13

::: VG+ quality, somewhat distant but quite steady. Check samples for rejection, conversion, or, triumphant jubilation!
::: Warts: Repaired dullspots & dropouts but surely missed a few. #01 many mike fumbles in spoken intro (lowered). DAT diginoises (in total less than 7secs & not bad!) #06 9.08 (1/2sec) + 9.48 (microburst) & #13 29.20 6secs (background). #18 cuts 30-40secs before end at tapeflip (no songs missing). #26 bit of clapping (mostly lowered).
... CONTRAST CLAUSE: This is the Mk2 with EQ+lite NR remaster. The Mk1 NO EQ or NR remaster is available elsewhere.
::: AFAIK, this is the first version of this performance to appear on DIME & circulate online.
::: Complete set except very end of #18 & no other songs missing there as he's doing the peace songs together.
::: This RAH bill: Leon headlined. Status Quo opened with Juicy Lucy & The Greaseband sandwiched in the middle.
::: Showtime was 7pm. NEWSPAPER ad (very small): www.quogigography.net/-57f_298_197.jpg
::: TOUR BILL: RAH"Leon Russell".Some UK gigs"Leon Russell&His Band"&some EU gigs"Leon Russell&The Shelter People".
::: I don't believe this taper taped other acts this night at RAH, but if so, I don't have the recordings.
::: RAH maybe booked after Lyceum ad placed? Melody Maker ad says 1971-02-25 Lyceum is Leon's ONLY London gig.
::: "Leon Russell And The Shelter People"album recorded Aug'70-Jan'71. Released 1971-03-05 (in USA).
::: The Greaseband (aka "The Grease Band") backed Joe Cocker previously but this RAH gig was their debut w/o him.
::: 2 weeks after this gig on Feb15, UK£ switched to a decimalization system. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, the £ was split into 20 shillings (240 pennies). The ad for this gig is one of the final ones that listed prices in shillings - 5,10,15,20,25,30, after 905 years (England still reeling from the conquest, of course), roughly £4-21 - NOT at all cheap in '71.
::: At least one DIMER has 15-30mins of video outtakes from Homewood Session TV show. I'm begging.
::: My 4th Leon '71-73 share of non-DIMED material. Not sure I'll find more. I'm depending on YOU to go digging.
::: Anyone know the band members in Joey Cooper&The Conspiracy? Their '71 A&M 45 "A Little More Rock N' Roll/Lady On My Mind" clearly has Claudie Lennear background vox&almost certainly other Shelter People playing. Also, how is the B-side? A-side has a fine guitar break. Should inquiring ears go searching?

Recording Information ::: unknown mono taping equipment -> master 2-channel mono tape -> circa 2000 DAT transfer (LP speed).

Playback 2021-06-xx ::: DAT -> CD-R -> wav -> computer -> Audacity [normalisation to remove DC offset (NOT to normalize volume), channel/phase alignment for patches, fades, manual one-at-a-time glitch, bump, clap, pop, click, dropout & dullspot repairs, volume adjustments, 0-49mins OK & 49-end +1.0& averaged pitch (speed) fixes with single pass per segment after frequency analysis & with CD pitch verification, lite differential equalisation to brighten things (check to see if you like it), lite noise reduction] -> CD Wave (track splits) -> flacs (Trader's Little Helper) -> yr ears. (NOTE: DAT was dying. Ran FOUR copies & synched them & patched & repaire all diginoise until there was almost none left except the 2 spots noted above in WARTS. A royal pain in the *ss & reminder how much I HATED DAT technology. Maybe something minor was missed, but it sounds pretty damn good at this point. Essentially done with after 3-4 days of work&then started EQ. Another 3 days went by. Hmmm. Hope someone listens thru. MIGHTY music. Freed 2021-08-xx.

Line-up (intro'd) ::: Leon Russell [born "Claude Russell Bridges" †R.I.P. 2016] - piano, Hammond organ(?), electric guitar(#25, others?) // John Gallie - Hammond organ // Joseph "Joey" Cooper - electric guitar, vocals // Donald Ward "Don" Preston - electric guitar, vocals // Carl Dean Radle [†R.I.P. 1980] - electric bass // Claudia Lennear (born "Claudia Joy Offley") - vocals // Kathryn Marie "Kathi" McDonald [†R.I.P. 2012] - vocals // Charles "Cloudy Chuck" (or "Brother") Blackwell [†R.I.P. 2017] - drums.

Nothing here ever commercially released to my knowledge. If I'm wrong, please advise & I'll take the offending trax offline.

DimeTravel 843 ::: Thanks to the original taper, The Man In The Palace! Many thanks to R.O. for the loan of the DAT machine. Sincere thanks to whomever uploads this for me. ::: Corrections welcome ::: Certainly in the midst of Leon's finest era. About 10 months after the Mad Dogs&Englishmen tour, the movie about to be released (end Mar'71?), just finished recording the Shelter People LP (released end Mar'71 & still one of my most-listened to albums ever as of 2021!), & only 6 months shy of his "Concert For Bangla Desh" appearance. That album/movie appearance sent him into the musical stratosphere, tho' the latter half of the 70s saw his popularity dwindle until concert appearances by '80 were often small clubs. At any rate, this is the blast-off! While never big on background singers, in this Leon era, they fit in WELL for my ears. Extraordinary vocal delivery in " It Takes a Lot to Laugh" - check out 50sec in, just after "top of the hill" vocal - there is an epic vocal moment from the background singer(s). Too bad "Prince Of Peace"cuts - not missing much but the vocalists are having another fantastic orgasmic moment right at the fade. In 1956 at age 14, Leon began playing gigs in Tulsa with the Starlighters (other members included JJ Cale/Leo Feathers/Chuck Blackwell/Johnny Williams). It was the same year Chuck Berry released "Roll Over Beethoven" & the song was likely a Leon regular from that era - there's a TV show from the mid-60s with him playing it. However, this seems to be the earliest version to appear in the 70s & the only one with The Shelter People (so far). Probably it was played often, but we have almost no shows between the end of '70 & Nov'71. We only have Stockholm 47mins in late Nov'71, except for the short 30mins from Baarn a few days after this London set, so this is a missing link for Leon eras, and we NEED to hear more 1971 material - the guy was soaring. Listen, enjoy, show appreciation, share, give, spread peace. Yrs truly, Knees

Support the artists and/or their families! www.leonrussell.com -- www.claudialennear.com

Do whatever you want with it except sell it, 'cause that ain't cool!