Russell shines in final album

Leon Russell's final album, On a Distant Shore, is a career highlight recorded over his last living year and released 10 months after his November 2016 passing.

Unlike, say, Roy Orbison, who hardly had time to appreciate his post-Traveling Wilburys resurgence, Russell could enjoy his newfound success. His return to the limelight - thanks to The Union, his 2010 collaboration with Elton John - offered him the chance to tour extensively and release new music in the following years.

According to his wife, Russell considered his last set of recordings his favorite. On a Distant Shore has similar feelings of finality as last year's Leonard Cohen farewell, You Want It Darker.