Linda Ronstadt - Classic or Dud?

the love for mad love upthread is otm. i tracked it down and downloaded it a while ago because i remember my dad had it and it was one of my favorite records when i was about 10. she did faux-new-wave really well. (and ditto faux-country-rock, hand sown ... home grown is great.)

i also like this stone ponys clip.

"Hurt So Bad" is so classic - reminds me of some old Dusty Springfield gem. Nice screaming guitar solo too.

never heard her version of this until today. nice!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Sr2KK1oqs

I tell you, Evergreen Vol 2 by the Stone Poneys is utterly brilliant. So for that alone, I'd give her classic status.

t A Wonderful World" because you're sick of James Taylor's mellow brand of folk-rock, until you finally hear Sam Cooke doing them right. Like it or not, this is the way we '70s kids first heard these songs.

Really interested in someone expanding on this – her position as gateway drug.

There's an original "You're No Good?" I guess I fall into the category of a 70s kid who heard all those songs via Ronstadt (and apparently has yet to hear all the originals). Anyway, I like her but somehow have nothing by her (true of lots of 70s music I like a great deal).

can't follow the Nelson Riddle bashing.
theres a time where you need this ('Lush Life' & 'Whats New')

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/5e/de/87b4e03ae7a046124e67b110.L.jpg

never heard her version of this until yesterday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e08siRDkfQ

holy cow!
Heart Like a Wheel is a complete classic and should be in every home

There's an original "You're No Good?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S1VmqyTUBk

Yeah, there's definitely something to be said for the "gateway drug" thing. Ronstadt's covers exposed me to a bunch of things I wasn't really listening to otherwise at the time: Motown, Everly Brothers, Hank Williams and Dolly Parton for starters, as well as 70s songwriters (Eric Kaz, Karla Bonoff, Warren Zevon.)

Holy cow indeed at that Playboy After Dark clip; they start soul-clapping about the 1 1/2 minute mark!

one great thing about linda is that you can go to most used record stores and get ten of her records for about $10.

even more original "you're no good"

<object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9054360&;server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9054360&;server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/9054360";>Dee Dee Warwick - you're no good</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user3023043";>Romagnolo</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com";>Vimeo</a>.</p>

oops.

even more original "you're no good":

http://vimeo.com/9054360

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRTplUpErRM&feature=player_embedded#!

This absolutely fucking kills me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD1LSxA24aU

She's 37 in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKQss1HhYl8

I just heard Blue Bayou today...damn if there was ever a timemachine back to my childhood, it's her voice.

I LOVE that song.

Ned mentioned this upthread - worth posting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbjsMGyZVDw

I heard "Hurts So Bad" on Sunday. Her voice cracks!

when her voice gets loud on Bayou I get all teary and goosebumpy

me too

Same for me on "Long, Long Time." That one just absolutely slays me.

Love her version of Love Has No Pride, just an incredible vocal (http://youtu.be/rN8YVVKPNC0). Bonnie Raitt also recorded a great version in the early 70s (http://youtu.be/S2QTdxXmd0k). I love me some Bonnie Raitt but I give the nod to Linda.

lollin @ some of the comments on these vids:

Wow! That black dress, black hair, sultry lips, tight little body, and those trade-mark mesmerizing eyes. Word cannot describe how sexy she was during the early-mid 80's I would have worshiped her back then.... gladly been her slave.....
Lindawatcher 3 weeks ago

lindawatcher jfc that's creepy

rondstalker

er, ronstalker

name: lindawatcher
job: lindawatcher
interests: linda, lindawatching
hobbies: lindawatching

favorites:
Linda's Bedroom Window at Night
Linda's Bedroom Window at Night pt 2

"Linda told me to shave my head today. I'm amazed at the results. After all this time, she really knows me too well."

She played Sun City, so dud.

Snow White in South Africa

Frank Sinatra, whose eyes are apartheid blue

she has my favorite voice ever

weird!
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_maau7g6ivy1qzoglfo1_500.jpg

And that's what the late 70's were like.

C-3PO's arms don't even bend properly, he would be a terrible drummer.

That is literally my only problem with that cover.

Suffering from Parkinson's

In a wide-ranging interview with AARP’s music writer Alanna Nash to be published on aarp.org next week, Ronstadt revealed how she discovered that “there was something wrong” with her voice.

“I couldn’t sing,” she told Nash, “and I couldn’t figure out why. I knew it was mechanical. I knew it had to do with the muscles, but I thought it might have also had something to do with the tick disease that I had. And it didn’t occur to me to go to a neurologist. I think I’ve had it for seven or eight years already, because of the symptoms that I’ve had. Then I had a shoulder operation, so I thought that’s why my hands were trembling.

“Parkinson’s is very hard to diagnose, so when I finally went to a neurologist and he said, ‘Oh, you have Parkinson’s disease,’ I was completely shocked. I wouldn’t have suspected that in a million, billion years.

“No one can sing with Parkinson’s disease,” Ronstadt said. “No matter how hard you try.”

This is bringing me way down like a 40 pound soaking wet raincoat of sadness. Even though it's been years and years since I had any interest in what she was doing at the time, knowing that she's sung her last note is AWFUL.

i just found out about this and immediately thought of my friend/choirmate who does linda in a tribute band.

what johnny fever said. :(

I revived a thread last week after the spike in Eagles interest and because she comes off so powerful, stalwart, and fascinating in Hoskyns' Hotel California. A real bummer: if she could do anything extraordinarily well it's sing.

Just saw this on Facebook. Her lingering significance (with Stevie Nicks and Carly Simon) as the definition of female beauty in the '70s is greater than any impact her music had on me, but that is something significant in and of itself.

I know it's from past her prime, and complete schmaltz, but I've probably listened to "Don't Know Much" about 20 times in the last two hours. The final lines of her first verse are my favorite document of her voice.

Man this makes me v sad

poor linda

This is so weird, because just two days ago I asked my wife what was up with Ronstadt and where had she been and did she drop off the face of the earth?

Basically: did I do this to her?! If so, I'm sorry, Linda.

Rosanne Cash said on twitter that Linda told her three years ago she wasn't singing anymore, but didn't reveal to her why not. Wikipedia links to a 2011 interview with Linda's hometown newspaper where she officially announced her retirement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I7GkHy5iOA