**1/2 Leon Russell

FACE IN THE CROWD

(Sagestone)

Although it's good to see legendary mad-hatter Leon Russell emerge once again like a hungry grizzly awakening from hibernation, what does he have to offer, at this late date, beyond the authority of his years? Playing as if the last three decades never happened, he offers up his familiar bayou witch-doctor/bluesman shtick ("Betty Ann" is a slight harmonic variation on the Russell classic "Delta Lady," and there's even a song here called "Dr. Love," which somehow took two people to write, even though you can guess the lyrics), only with the toll of years apparent in every crack and contour of his raspy drawl. Listening to his new disc is a comfortable yet creepy experience akin to putting on an old Halloween costume.

Still, there's no denying Russell's chops. His New Orleans-style piano playing, for which he's justly famous, remains as sprightly as ever, and so do his lesser-known guitar skills. His Albert King-influenced leads are subtle and stinging. Plus, in such jazz-inflected originals as "This Heart of Mine" and "Blue Eyes & a Black Heart," he offers a tantalizing hint of his next project, a collection of standards that's likely to rival Willie Nelson's covers in interpretive idiosyncrasy. The old mountebank has a few tricks left up his sleeve.

-- Gary Susman