iTunes 10 New Releases
MDNA (Deluxe Edition) - Madonna
MDNA (Deluxe Edition) by Madonna
Lively Up Yourself - Bob Marley
Lively Up Yourself by Bob Marley
Scars & Stories - The Fray
Scars & Stories by The Fray
NOW That's What I Call Music Vol. 41 - Various Artists
NOW That's What I Call Music Vol. 41 by Various Artists
The Fray - The Collection - The Fray
The Fray - The Collection by The Fray
Scars & Stories (Deluxe Version) - The Fray
Scars & Stories (Deluxe Version) by The Fray
A Different Kind of Truth (Deluxe Version) - Van Halen
A Different Kind of Truth (Deluxe Version) by Van Halen
A Different Kind of Truth - Van Halen
A Different Kind of Truth by Van Halen
Mr. P - Patrice O'Neal
Mr. P by Patrice O'Neal
Kisses On the Bottom - Paul McCartney
Kisses On the Bottom by Paul McCartney
| Disc 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | You're No Good | 3:44 | |
| 2 | It's So Easy | 2:28 | |
| 3 | Blue Bayou | 3:53 | |
| 4 | Don't Know Much (Ft Aaron Neville) | 3:37 | |
| 5 | Somewhere Out There (Ft James Ingram) | 3:60 | |
| 6 | When Will I Be Loved | 2:12 | |
| 7 | Heat Wave | 2:46 | |
| 8 | Different Drum (The Stone Poneys) | 2:38 | |
| 9 | Poor Poor Pitiful Me | ||
| 10 | Tracks Of My Tears | 3:14 | |
| 11 | After The Goldrush (Ft Valerie Carter & Emmylou Harris) | 3:33 | |
| 12 | Long Long Time | 4:22 | |
| 13 | Just One Look | 3:15 | |
| 14 | Heart Is Like A Wheel | 3:10 | |
| 15 | Back In The U.S.A. | 2:59 | |
| 16 | That'll Be The Day | 2:33 | |
| 17 | Hurt So Bad | 3:12 | |
| 18 | All My Life (Ft Aaron Neville) | 3:30 | |
| 19 | Ooh Baby Baby | ||
| 20 | Love Has No Pride | 4:19 | |
| 21 | How Do I Make You | 2:22 | |
| 22 | Desperado | 3:31 | |
| 23 | Winter Light | 3:17 | |
Linda Ronstadt began her career in the sixties and continued making great music into the new millennium. Perhaps there is more to come - who knows? However, this collection mostly focuses on her period of greatest commercial success - the seventies.
During the seventies, Linda established her reputation mainly with exquisite covers of classic pop songs such as When Will I Be Loved (Everly brothers), It's so easy, That'll Be The Day (both Buddy Holly), Back In The U.S.A. (Chuck Berry), Hurt so bad (Little Anthony'), Blue bayou (Roy Orbison), Ooh baby baby (Smokey Robinson), Desperado (Eagles) and Heat wave (Martha Reeves and the Vandellas), all of which are included here. She also had success with a cover of Poor poor pitiful me (Warren Zevon), though it is Linda who is normally associated with this song. Indeed, Warren Zevon owes his reputation to Linda, who recorded several of his songs.
A few songs from other periods are included. Different drum and Long long time represent her folk-country music of the sixties. Two duets with Aaron Neville and one with James Ingram represent the eighties. Winter light and After the goldrush represent the nineties. Linda's Great American Songbook recordings with Nelson Riddle, her Spanish music and her Trio work with Dolly and Emmylou are conspicuous by their absence. They are readily available elsewhere for those who want them.
If you want a single CD of Linda's pop and rock recordings, this (or the standard USA edition) is the one to go for. To do justice to her whole career would take a boxed set (and one is indeed available) but this will satisfy most people.
What's here manages to blend all of Ronstadt's biggest hits with some excellent lesser hits and album tracks. "Love Has No Pride" and "Just One Look" did not do as well on the charts as, for example, "Get Closer" or her version of "Tumbling Dice," but they are clearly the superior records.
Ronstadt has been both praised and vilified for her many remakes (almost all her Top Tens); on one hand she was the first to bring songwriters like Warren Zevon, Karla Bonoff, Kate and Anna McGarrigle to the masses. On the other hand, some of her remakes are thought to lack feeling. Dave Marsh, in the good version of the Rolling Stone Record Guide, called Ronstadt a "horrid interpreter of...rock and soul material, frequently missing the essence...and never cutting below the surface." Scathing, and possibly accurate regarding "Tumbling Dice" (probably why it's not included here) and "Back In The U.S.A." I would side with Linda, however, on the hypnotically-beautiful "Ooh Baby Baby" and the uptempo hits "When Will I Be Loved," "That'll Be The Day," and the #1 "You're No Good." Of course, the duets with Aaron Neville are stunning--welcome comebacks for both singers--and I have always liked both "Somewhere Out There" and James Ingram. Although the song, an omnipresent #2 pop radio staple in 1986, made most people I know very, very ill.
I hope that Warner/Elektra/Asylum(?) issues a "Best of Volume 2," as they did with Rod Stewart (here, anyway). I'd still like to see a compilation of the remaining hits, even "Tumbling Dice," on disc, as well as the Nelson Riddle I-am-too-mature-for-rock-and-so-what-if-I-gain-a-few-pounds era songs "What's New" and "I've Got A Crush On You," and the gorgeous "Heartbeats Accelerating" from "Winter Light." In addition to "Get Closer," other fine singles from Ronstadt wanting to be anthologized include "I Knew You When," "Someone To Lay Down Beside Me," "Easy For You To Say," "It Doesn't Matter Anymore," "Alison" (yep, the Elvis Costello song, from "Back in the U.S.A."), "Silver Threads and Golden Needles," and "I Can't Let Go." O.K., one more: the non-single duet with James Taylor, "I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine" from "Get Closer."
Regardless, this is the best collection ever likely to be assembled on one CD. Even a fussy completist like me recommends it highly.