Asylum Choir -

Asylum Choir was an American rock duo comprised of keyboardist Leon Russell and guitarist Marc Benno. They released the 1968 Mercury album Look Inside and recorded a 1969 followup that later appeared on Russell’s Shelter Records.

Members: Leon Russell (keyboards), Marc Benno (guitar)

Background

The Asylum Choir formed in 1967 as a studio-based collaboration between Leon Russell and Marc Benno. Russell, originally from Lawton, Oklahoma, began piano lessons at age four after picking out hymns by ear. He added saxophone, cornet, and baritone horn in school and joined the high school marching band while still in elementary grades. Though trained in classical piano for a decade, Russell later admitted to adopting a simplified approach, developing a stylized mimicry of classical technique.

By the early 1960s, Russell was a first-call session player in Los Angeles, contributing to records by The Byrds, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, and under the aegis of Phil Spector. Benno, a Dallas native, played in teenbeat acts The Victors and The Outcasts before relocating west, where he became embedded in the blues-rock circuit. The two met in Hollywood and began recording at Russell’s Skyhill studio, working up tracks that emphasized overdubbed textures, modified instrumentation, and satirical lyrical perspectives.

Look Inside the Asylum Choir

The Asylum Choir released their debut album, Look Inside the Asylum Choir, in September 1968 on Smash Records. It contains eleven originals by Leon Russell and Marc Benno.

Look Inside the Asylum Choir features Russell on drums, bass, piano, Hammond organ, guitar, and manipulated brass through tape effects. Benno appears on electric guitar, rhythm piano, bass, and voice.

The album blends playful psychedelia with sharp satire and fragmented song structures. “Welcome to Hollywood” skewers the influx of Midwestern hopefuls; “Soul Food” adopts a Southern musical guise; “Icicle Star Tree” employs cryptic, hallucinatory imagery; and the three-part suite “Episode Containing 3 Songs” (“N.Y. Op,” “Land of Dog,” “Mr. Henri the Clown”) critiques global peace idealism through sardonic wordplay. “Indian Style” parodies the craze for Eastern spirituality.

A1. “Welcome to Hollywood” (2:35) – a brisk, pointed pop piece, its sharp rhythmic pacing underlines lyrical jabs at the city’s hopeful newcomers.
A2. “Soul Food” (2:05)
A3. “Icicle Star Tree” (2:55)
A4. “Death of the Flowers” (2:08) – noted for its sophisticated chord changes and sparse arrangement, it contrasts the otherwise busy album with a more contemplative mood.
A5. “Indian Style” (3:30)

B1. Episode Containing 3 Songs (6:07)
— a. “N.Y. Op”
— b. “Land of Dog”
— c. “Mr. Henri the Clown”
B2. “Thieves in the Choir” (4:04) – a scathing critique of corruption delivered with urgent tempo shifts and layered vocal interplay.
B3. “Black Sheep Boogaloo” (2:29) – an off-kilter closer that melds playful rhythms with idiosyncratic phrasing.

Sessions occurred during late 1967 at Skyhill Studios in Hollywood with Leon Russell as producer. He recorded and engineered the sessions using multitrack tape and performed the brass parts through overdubbed keyboard simulations and manipulated speeds. No outside engineers or assistants are credited.

Look Inside the Asylum Choir appeared in a gatefold that shows a roll of toilet paper (front), a peel-back image of the duo (back), and photos of the two against a psychedelic backdrop (left-inner) and posed beside a 1920s automobile. Some copies featured a hype sticker that highlighted the album’s “electronic orchestra” and satire-heavy content. Later reissues show an enlargement of the backside portrait image.

Smash issued “Welcome to Hollywood” as the first single (b/w “Soul Food”). The album gained cult status after Russell’s solo breakthrough in the early 1970s.

Asylum Choir II

Asylum Choir completed their second album in 1969 but the duo split for solo careers. In 1971, the album appeared as Asylum Choir II on Shelter Records, a Capitol/EMI-subsidiary established by Leon Russell and Denny Cordell.

The album contains 11 originals, mostly composed by Leon Russell and Marc Benno, with Russell solely credited on three tracks (“Hello, Little Friend,” “Ballad for a Soldier,” and “When You Wish Upon a Fag”).

Asylum Choir II shifts away from the playful psychedelia of the debut toward a more straightforward blues-inflected piano rock. Russell’s influence dominates, with his swampy boogie and piano-driven arrangements eclipsing Benno’s previously more visible contributions. The record’s pacing is looser, with less emphasis on angularity or sharp structural turns, lending some tracks a demo-like, unpolished feel.

Guest musicians include guitarist Jesse Ed Davis, drummer Chuck Blackwell, and bassist Carl Radle and Donald Dunn.

A1. “Sweet Home Chicago” (3:20) – a direct blues homage featuring steady rhythm and Russell’s gritty piano and vocals.
A2. “Down on the Base” (2:18)
A3. “Hello, Little Friend” (2:52)
A4. “Salty Candy” (2:26)
A5. “Tryin’ to Stay ‘Live” (2:50)

B1. “…Intro to Rita…” (2:07)
B2. “Straight Brother” (3:08)
B3. “Learn How to Boogie” (2:40)
B4. “Ballad for a Soldier” (4:24) – a contemplative piano-led number, slower in pace, emphasizing Russell’s emotive vocal delivery.
B5. “When You Wish Upon a Fag” (4:10) – darkly titled, this track continues the piano rock focus with a weightier atmosphere.
B6. “Lady in Waiting” (3:37)

Sessions occurred in April 1969 at Skyhill Studios. Leon Russell and Marc Benno produced the album, with contributions from noted session players.

The album appeared in a standard sleeve featuring illustration by Gagliano and photography by Carl Radle and Ed Caraeff.

Between the album’s completion and release, Asylum Choir split as each launched solo careers with the 1970 albums Leon Russell (Shelter) and Marc Benno (A&M).

Discography: