@chmaiwald If Mad Dogs and Englishmen is your cup of tea, then I’m sure you’d love Tumbleweed Connection, Honky Château, and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John. Very Leon Russell-esque (the bandleader, musical director and co-producer of Mad Dogs and Englishmen, and someone who Elton considered a mentor and inspiration) especially those first two.
I’d throw in Elton’s Madman Across the Water, albeit with the caveat that it is not as great an LP, top-to-bottom, as the others, but YMMV.
Big orchestral sound in pop, rock etc.
Most of the times pop, rock, soul etc. music is done by the same basic band (guitar/bass/drums) and one or more singers. Now I´m looking for albums that go bigger, where the band uses more musicians to produce a bigger sound. I´ve always been a fan of Elvis´ early 70s live albums and recently came across a few more live albums that may not share the same musical sensibilities, but which have a big orchestral sound: More people playing instruments, more background singers, full stage, full sound. I like that. Maybe you know a few more examples of musicians and bands that dared to go big. I don´t neccessarily mean the “XY plays his old hits with an orchestra“-thing even though that can result in great recordings too. Here are some big sounding albums I like:
Joe Cocker – Mad Dogs and Englishmen
Procol Harum – Live in Concert With The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
Elvis – All the big Vegas shows from the early 70s
Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
Chicago – First few albums (still working my way through them)