Bruce Hornsby's active participation in
Leon Russell's first recording in ten years is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because without
Hornsby's encouragement, co-songwriting, production, and musical backing, the project would probably never have happened. A curse, because
Hornsby imprints too much of his own personal style and mushy, middle-of-the-road keyboard washes on the sessions. Despite
Russell's long layoff, the unique, drawling rasp that gave us "Tight Rope" and "Delta Lady" in the early-'70s is still intact. However, the cloying instrumental backings to such tracks as "Angel Ways" and "Faces of the Children" have
Hornsby engraved all over them. ~ Roch Parisien