(also included: several Pat Benatar records, and all the good Joni ones)
― Οὖτις, Monday, 19 August 2019 15:56 (four years ago) link
She does not have insane vocal chops (save that for, like, I dunno, Sheryl Crow or something), but I will give you that she has found some smart ways to circumvent or make the most of her limitations.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 19 August 2019 16:07 (four years ago) link
... ronstadt? she's a tremendous singer
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 19 August 2019 16:08 (four years ago) link
fine, can we agree that she has a great voice then
xp
― Οὖτις, Monday, 19 August 2019 16:09 (four years ago) link
I mean yeah she isn't Kate Bush with the 5 octave range or whatever
What is the weird bizarro world where Linda Ronstadt isn't a good singer?
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Monday, 19 August 2019 16:11 (four years ago) link
Sheryl Crow has insaner vocal chops than Ronstadt? WHAT
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 19 August 2019 16:12 (four years ago) link
I mean, Sheryl Crow is also a good singer
I think it might stfu-o'clock for this thread
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Monday, 19 August 2019 16:13 (four years ago) link
I don't particularly like it. Like the majority of her solo work there's no arguing that she's got insane vocal chops, but it's often deployed in the service of boring and pedestrian material.
I'll concede the latter half ("Heat Wave," "Living in the U.SA.") but HLAW is one of her few end-to-end wonderful records (others: Simple Dreams, Hasten Down the Wind, Canciones de Mi Padre, Winter Light
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 19 August 2019 16:14 (four years ago) link
xpost Oh, I thought we were talking about Taylor Swift having insane chops, my bad!
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 19 August 2019 16:16 (four years ago) link
helps to read the thread
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 19 August 2019 16:17 (four years ago) link
hahahahahahaha okay
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Monday, 19 August 2019 16:17 (four years ago) link
xpost I did! At one point I thought it was about Taylor Swift. But I think it might have been overlapping Swift and Ronstadt (who has an awesome voice).
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 19 August 2019 16:18 (four years ago) link
I think I was confusing the Swift on Pitchfork thread with this one, ha.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 19 August 2019 16:19 (four years ago) link
I was surprised the Ronstadt reappraisal got more discussion than the Swift reviews.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 19 August 2019 16:23 (four years ago) link
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61m33IYii0L._SX342_.jpg
― Evan, Monday, 19 August 2019 16:37 (four years ago) link
Like the majority of her solo work there's no arguing that she's got insane vocal chops, but it's often deployed in the service of boring and pedestrian material.
Agree with this. It makes perfect sense that she worked with the Eagles, because just like them she's far better served by a greatest hits album than any individual album. I remember a ton of her hits from the late 70s and early 80s because the radio station my mom listened to played her stuff all the time - it really is astonishing how popular she was in her prime - but I tried to listen to Heart Like a Wheel after reading that review and even at 32 minutes or whatever, it dragged.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Monday, 19 August 2019 16:50 (four years ago) link
When did her prime end? Prominent placement on Graceland and then the Trio album came out ...
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 19 August 2019 16:55 (four years ago) link
Probably about 1990. Her 1989 album went triple platinum, apparently, but her next release was her second album of Mexican songs and didn't do very well. Then she did another one, then a New Age album, and then she just kind of drifted away.
I'm kind of interested to hear her 1998 album We Ran, where she used the Heartbreakers as her backing band.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Monday, 19 August 2019 17:05 (four years ago) link
Her pop run ended in 1982. Then she released the first of her Nelson Riddle albums, a surprise smash tha would've gone #1 if Thriller hadn't been around. She scored a #2 duet with James Ingram, then, as Phil said, got another surprise pop smash with Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind. Most of her Spanish genre experiments hold up well. I grew up with Canciones de Mi Padre and to a lesser extent Frenesi.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 19 August 2019 17:15 (four years ago) link
Trio just got a sterling remastering and I recommend it without reservations.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 19 August 2019 17:16 (four years ago) link
yeah Trio is a good album
― Οὖτις, Monday, 19 August 2019 17:17 (four years ago) link
Linda Rostadt is good! Will her used records suddenly be priced at $10 a piece, though? You should be able to get the entire 1970s run for less than $20.
― tylerw, Monday, 19 August 2019 17:24 (four years ago) link
There's also a Ronstadt doc coming out soon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Ronstadt:_The_Sound_of_My_Voice
― geoffreyess, Monday, 19 August 2019 17:40 (four years ago) link
I don't mind Ronstadt. She has some nice records
Just bristled at the idea that she found some hitherto untapped vein of melancholy in the Little Feat song. I don't find her version at all convincing, and the underlying sadness is all there in the original anyway
― Number None, Monday, 19 August 2019 17:42 (four years ago) link
This kills me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKYfESMWfQE
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 19 August 2019 17:49 (four years ago) link
Brad, this is a ridiculously good Red review!
― Stub yr toe on the yacht rock (morrisp), Monday, 19 August 2019 18:07 (four years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, August 19, 2019 12:07 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
please watch the film version of the pirates of penzance and get back to us
― like, I’m eating an elephant head (katherine), Monday, 19 August 2019 18:17 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmVivOLmsbs
― like, I’m eating an elephant head (katherine), Monday, 19 August 2019 18:18 (four years ago) link
otm
― omar little, Monday, 19 August 2019 18:25 (four years ago) link
Katherine, as Brad would say, read the thread. ;)
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 19 August 2019 18:26 (four years ago) link
thank you morrisp! xp
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 19 August 2019 19:12 (four years ago) link
if they're gonna go for critically reviled but incredibly popular women to rehabilitate as feminist icons they should do Cher next
― Οὖτις, Monday, 19 August 2019 19:35 (four years ago) link
I don't think Ronstadt was reviled so much as overlooked and unexamined for years (I can think only of that John Rockwell essay in Stranded]).
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 19 August 2019 19:39 (four years ago) link
Linda Ronstadt was critically reviled?
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Monday, 19 August 2019 19:41 (four years ago) link
She was reviled for playing Sun City.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 19 August 2019 19:43 (four years ago) link
original rolling Stone review is v positivehttps://www-rollingstone-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/heart-like-a-wheel-103633/amp/?amp_js_v=a2&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQEKAFwAQ%3D%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rollingstone.com%2Fmusic%2Fmusic-album-reviews%2Fheart-like-a-wheel-103633%2F
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 19 August 2019 19:44 (four years ago) link
Christgau:
Silk Purse [Capitol, 1970] B Linda Ronstadt [Capitol, 1972] B- Don't Cry Now [Asylum, 1973] C+ Different Drum [Capitol, 1974] B- Heart Like a Wheel [Capitol, 1974] A- Prisoner in Disguise [Asylum, 1975] B Hasten Down the Wind [Asylum, 1976] B- Greatest Hits [Asylum, 1976] B+ A Retrospective [Capitol, 1977] B+ Simple Dreams [Asylum, 1977] B+ Living in the U.S.A. [Asylum, 1978] B Mad Love [Asylum, 1980] B- Get Closer [Asylum, 1982] C+ What's New [Asylum, 1983] C-
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Monday, 19 August 2019 19:47 (four years ago) link
overlooked and unexamined
sure, that works
― Οὖτις, Monday, 19 August 2019 19:56 (four years ago) link
IIRC, Elvis Costello didn't like Ronstadt's covers of his songs
― Ward Fowler, Monday, 19 August 2019 20:01 (four years ago) link
he was a huge asshole back then tbf
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 19 August 2019 20:09 (four years ago) link
he's repented:
https://vimeo.com/162309257
― tylerw, Monday, 19 August 2019 20:29 (four years ago) link
Ronstadt's "Alison" >>>>>>>>>>> EC's
Her Costello covers on Mad Love define meh, though.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 19 August 2019 20:30 (four years ago) link
I stayed at the ZicZoc Rock Hotel in Zurich once, in the cheapest room which was the Joe Cocker room. There was a large picture of Linda Ronstadt on the wall as the main decoration. It was confusing.
― Yerac, Monday, 19 August 2019 20:37 (four years ago) link
Hmm, I was just thinking that Costello must've heard "Sorrow Lives Here" before recording "Shot with His Own Gun."
― geoffreyess, Tuesday, 20 August 2019 01:19 (four years ago) link
my aim is amp_js_v=a2&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQEKAFwAQ%3D%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rollingstone.com%2Fmusic%2Fmusic-album-reviews%2Fheart-like-a-wheel-103633%2F
― quelle sprocket damage (sic), Tuesday, 20 August 2019 02:12 (four years ago) link
You and me both.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 20 August 2019 02:19 (four years ago) link
sic I'm posting from my phone gimme A break!
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 20 August 2019 04:27 (four years ago) link
xxp -- I did read the thread but no one brought up penzance specifically, and while yes obviously she's not at the level of a professional lyric coloratura (and while it's transposed down), it is still very good for someone who was not trained as an opera singer
― like, I’m eating an elephant head (katherine), Tuesday, 20 August 2019 13:00 (four years ago) link
I'd completely forgotten about that Penzance performance
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Tuesday, 20 August 2019 13:08 (four years ago) link