Linda Ronstadt - Classic or Dud?

it's mentioned in there
also my childhood bff sent me a link to the trailer bc we were talking about the magic of linda ronstadt recently <3

Place with vintage clothing and memorabilia from Marty Stuart was Pioneer House in Knoxville: https://www.pioneer-house.com/events/2016/11/4/the-marty-stuart-collection

This is an excellent cover not often mentioned:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc128G3u61M

The new documentary is fantastic, it gave me chills over and over again. To hear her performing those songs on a big screen up close is an emotional experience.

Nothing groundbreaking about the form of it, but there doesn't seem to be a wasted moment in the whole 95 minutes.

The clips in the trailer were marvelous.

The audience applauded at the end, which can be a corny move but in this case felt right

loved this documentary

PBS is showing that unearthed '80 cable show as a pledge programming tonight. Her version of "Lies" is fun.

Knickerbockers or Stones?

The Former.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IaOn4NvrSc

Apparently a studio version was issued as a single in '82

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

Thanks. Yeah, saw that video. Bugging me that I can’t ID that Mick Fleetwood-looking drummer.

Linda really getting her inner-Debbie Harry on in the latter vid.

Kind of makes you wish there was someone in Ronstadt's crew had slipped her some Dwight Twilley or Go-Gos tapes for prospective covers.

Russ Kunkel, I guess.

Yeah, remembering the long ago battle between John Rockwell and Elvis Costello, when I wouldn’t have wanted to hear her versions of such songs, but have since changed my tune.

AMG says it's Russ Kunkel

Never knew what he looked like. Guess he was usually hiding behind Leland Sklar’s beard.

Now they both hide behind Lyle Lovett's rooster coif.

Lol

omg she looks so CUTE with short hair!! <3 her

OTM

She seems like a good candidate for a POLL.

Russ Kunkel also the longtime drummer on much of Stevie Nicks's material.

He’s experiencing some kind of ILX Renaissance of late.

Pretty sure he got some love in this memorable thread

The Ubiquitous HIred Gun Session Veteran Shout-Out Thread

Wow, had no idea she ever put out a version of "Lies." Pretty good--wish she'd tried "A Public Execution" too.

Yeah, or "You're Gonna Miss Me".

If folks haven't seen that recent Linda Ronstadt doc, they can click this link to watch it between June 4 and June 10

https://www.brightfocus.org/movie/

Thanks!

Philip K Dick had some weird infatuation with Linda Ronstadt, and wrote characters based on her into a couple of his nuttier-than-usual later novels.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Divine_Invasion#Writing

Both novels not only reference Linda Ronstadt,[5] but include fictional characters named Linda; in the case of VALIS, there is a character named Linda Lampton,[6] and in the case of The Divine Invasion, there is a character named Linda Fox.[7] In both novels, a character has a dream that conveys the notion that slippers need to be put on in order for said character to approach the dawn.

I tell you, y'all are sleeping on the Pirates of Penzance soundtrack (Linda Rondstadt, Kevin Kline, Angela Lansbury, Rex Smith).

She is a gem and a treasure

Planning to watch that doc soon.

Please forgive the facile comparison but I feel like I bought into the common dismissal of another pretty voice and pretty face singing songs they don’t really understand the same way I bought into it when it was said about the other Elvis, the one from Tupelo, which I long ago got over, and I guess I got over in this case too, only haven’t taken a deep dive into the discography yet.

She date Jerry Brown while he was governor. Still a wild thing to consider.

Yeah, think about that every once in a while.

That and the Eagles breaking up for the first time at an Alan Cranston fundraiser is the cool hilarious underbelly of late 70s/early 80s politics.

Willie Nelson says he smoked a joint on top of the White House after Carter was elected.

My dad claims he ran into Neil Young at a Democratic campaign HQ in Ohio in the 70s

Just watched the doc, still processing, goes pretty deep. All I have now is a a nerdy question: is that Renee Fleming dancing in the audience during the tribute concert at the very end?

Rock and Roll HoF induction ceremony and not the Kennedy Center so maybe not.

I'll have to check out the documentary. I'm not exactly a huge fan of her work, but from the interviews I've read, she always struck me as thoughtful and very modest (not to mention self-critical). It's kind of frustrating that her work isn't better, something she has said herself.

"Heart Like a Wheel" is an excellent LP, and I like a few other singles - the ones that come to mind generally pre-date "Heart Like a Wheel" - but whenever I've ventured beyond that, it's been disappointing.

Documentary is really well done.

If this is her show w Byron Berline and Country Gazette I heard (could have sworn it was a live broadcast from a studio), it's amazing---she mentions how much better this is than her tour (the early one w Neil Young, I think), where the audiences were more interested in tossing beach balls around. Digs deep into the olde roots and lets fire----scroll down for link to original post of whole show (variously labelled '72, '74, maybe others, on YouTube posts, as you can tell by their having the same setlists). Also see links to songs from a '75 set w Byron & CG, which poster says has better sound than the first show---haven't listened to much of it yet, but most of the links still work: https://ronstadt.proboards.com/thread/1431/ronstadts-bluegrass-country

On the Midnight Special, with a very special band:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3SOosWH6_M

And then again, later that Rockin’ Eve, after midnight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c41embg2Bfg

https://www.billboard.com/pro/linda-ronstadt-last-of-us-sync-wont-make-money-very-glad/

Oh, I fuckin hope this does a Kate Bush for her. I have so many Ronstadt albums I can’t even sell for a buck.

Outside of Heart Like a Wheel, there's only a few singles that I like, and that's definitely one of them.

When Capitol released that two-disc anthology of her complete recordings for them, they included a live recording from the Troubadour as a bonus - it's even better than the single IMHO. (More intimate, it isn't overpowered by an orchestral arrangement.)

https://open.spotify.com/track/6BNYxL2ss2yXfaq549uLD1?si=0cf4cf3a0f3844a7

She's only on four tracks of 2022's Putamayo Presents----Songs from The Sonoran Borderland---Feels Like Home: Linda Ronstadt's Musical Odyssey. which goes with her book of almost the same name, but they're the best on first listening, along with one I just linked on the main Los Lobos thread): "El Sueño," with blurry, unsettling, somewhat VU-ish acoustic guitar, has her waking up alert and foreboding---Springsteen's "Across The Border" (tune not as faux-Mexicali-solemn as I feared, though maybe she's keeping a lid on it) incl. Emmylou's maybe double-tracked, still thin intrusions on chorus, but LR always restores the vibe of verses---also good, if maybe a little too-drawn-out, on the thoughtful "I Never Will Marry" (Dolly v. effective on choruses)--then this one gets me right off, with the only piano (and it's a good piano) on the whole collection, and new instruments, male backup vocals keep appearing, vaya con Linda:

After a sweeping tour of the music of Mexico and the borderlands which inspired her, “Piel Canela” sees Linda and her band interpreting another Latin musical style that was ever-present in her childhood home: Cuban mambo.

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1693140166_10.jpg

Some of the other artists' singing and songs seem blah and predictable so far, though picking is always good, and would like to hear more from her folkie relatives P.D. Ronstadt & The Co---oh yeah, also on "On The Border," notes say it's Neil Young playing that good harmonica, uncredited steel, bass, drums all effective too, one of the most robust tracks overall.

Classic voice, good material, usually rendered in a mediocre fashion.