Eldergays, please help me understand Linda Ronstadt

She was huge in the 70s. She had her time. She walked away gracefully unlike others we know.

There are several relatively recent threads about her and her music.

Sorry I didn't bump your thread R2

It wasn’t my thread, R3. It was just one of many.

I like her ok. I don’t get the obsession with her that some have. I do respect the way she handled her personal life and retirement.

R2 has given me an assignment to srcry through DL, and I appreciate it, but it does me no good at the moment. This lady is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but is so unknown to people of my generation, and it's a shame.

What

She wanted a private life. She wanted to raise her two kids. She got to do all types of music. Even Broadway. Pretty amazing lady.

She is doing interviews to promote her book about her family ties to the Sonoran Desert.

I like her cover of the Stones' Tumblin Dice.

She supposedly dated Jim Carrey in the very early days of his career

I love this cover of a Karla Bonoff song..

I’m 46 and remember Linda as a perennial at the Grammys as a kid, whether her Trio work, her Spanish language albums or late 80s comeback with Aaron Neville. On a whim I bought a Starbucks Opus Collection CD of her about 8 years ago, and I became a huge fan based on this curated Best Of. From there I embraced her discography and became a huge fan. Cry Like a Rainstorm, Heart Like A Wheel, Simple Dreams… She is a powerhouse. I even loved Winter Light, her follow up to Cry Like a Rainstorm. There’s a lot to mine with her catalogue.

A wonderful singer. An incredible discography. Her ‘70s albums are essential.

Heart Like a Wheel, Simple Dreams, Mad Love and Trio are my personal favourites.

I've always liked Ronstadt, and the documentary of a few years ago, The Sound of My Voice, is worth a look for anyone who wants a quick overview of her life and times with a lot of performance clips. We even see her in the present day singing harmony in a living room with her relatives.

I was more of an '80s kid, so the music she was releasing in my time were those albums of standards with Nelson Riddle, then the trio album with Dolly and Emmylou, and then her pop comeback album, Cry Like A Rainstorm (the one with the duets with Aaron Neville). All good. There were also two albums of traditional Mexican songs, but I've only heard a few tracks of those.

I always liked to hear her against big massed musical forces, as below. She had the kind of powerful, focused pop voice that could thrive in such settings.

[quote] I even loved Winter Light, her follow up to Cry Like a Rainstorm. There’s a lot to mine with her catalogue.

You 'even' loved "Winter Light"?! It is one of her best -- if sadly overlooked -- recordings. Her voice was still a marvel and she'd refined her vocal technique such that at the upper and outer ranges of her voice she no longer sounded like she was screaming. It is a little adult contemporary for her rock fans but it is the best singing of her recording career.

I loved her cameo appearance on The Simpsons:

Linda's 1976 heartbreak album, Hasten down the Wind, is my favorite album of all time. I've owned it in every format. It's the first thing I listen to when I buy some new piece of audio equipment.

I had just gotten dumped by someone I'd hoped to spend the rest of my life with, and he played "Long, Long Time" at me as he was breaking up with me. I hadn't realized she was still making records, and when I went to the record store and asked for Linda Ronstadt, this is the album the clerk gave me. I took it home and wallowed in it all fall and winter that year.

The album includes songs from Warren Zevon and Karla Bonoff, whom I had not heard of before. Great songwriters. Warren Zevon's s/t album from that year is in my top ten albums of all time.

I'm posting the entire Hasten down the Wind album.

Since we're going later and later in the Lindography, her 1999 duet album with Emmylou Harris, Western Wall, is a lovely overlooked gem. I may even like it more than the two Trio albums. "1917" is my favorite track, although it's mostly an Emmylou number.

Ronstadt has said that it was during the recording of Western Wall that she first noticed she was having trouble controlling her voice. She was in the early stages of the condition that led to her retirement. But I can't hear any indisposition in her singing on the released Western Wall.

I have become oddly fascinated with her over the past few months. I guess her PR machine is effective.

"Save Me" is a great song, perfectly arranged and sung by Ronstadt. One of my favorites. Playing it right now as I type here at work. Hopefully the youngin's outside my office can appreciate a real singer. And yes, her documentary THE SOUND OF MY VOICE is terrific. And while I'm at it and the song still plays, her album HEART LIKE A WHEEL is one of the all-time best!

I like the Big Four in this order:

1. Hasten down the Wind

2. Simple Dreams

3. Prisoner in Disguise

4. Heart like a Wheel.

I was watching Leno's show on the night of Ronstadt's tense scene with Robin Quivers in...'95, I think? She had sung Tom Petty's "The Waiting" (she'd covered it on her then-new album, Feels Like Home), and afterward she went over to the desk for the post-song chat. The Tonight Show format in those days was for the latest guest to take the chair next to the host, and the previous guest would move down a seat and hang around. Ronstadt had been offended by Quivers's interview, in which Quivers praised and defended Howard Stern. Ronstadt made it clear she wasn't a Stern fan, thought he was misogynistic, etc. Ronstadt and Quivers went back and forth a bit over that, and Leno tried to cool things down. The audience was obviously packed with Howard Stern fans, and Ronstadt got a lot of booing.

She'd killed it on that Petty song, though.

I also never really got into her either. But I do have a few of the most well-known hits on my phone, and listen to them often: "Different Drum", "Somewhere Out There (feat. James Ingram)", & "Don't Know Much (feat. Aaron Neville)". I do like the sound of "Lose Again" at R18. So I may give that album a listen.

Senor Plow,

No es macho.

Es solamente

Un borracho!

This tribute/belated apology/documentary review from Elvis Costello, who had been unkind about Ronstadt covering his songs when he was a young brat, is a nice read.

I never heard "Gainesville," from Randy Newman's opera Faust until the Linda Ronstadt box set came out in 1999. Now it's one of my favorites.

^ I love "Gainesville" and wish it were better known. Maybe it's too plot-specific to become a standard. The bad girl's ballad, "Feels Like Home," is the song from that show that gets all the covers, and I still think Bonnie Raitt (on that same album) has the definitive take. Randy has said that "Feels Like Home" eventually will be his most covered song, and he's the guy who wrote "I Think It's Going to Rain Today."

As nice as all three of Linda's ballads were (the others are "Sandman's Coming" and "My Hero"), she must have coveted "Feels Like Home." It almost immediately became the title song of her next album after the Faust cast album.

There was a really good video of her back in the day singing "Blue Bayou" that I really loved. Wish I could find it.

With Phoebe Snow

She was and is a goddess, pure and simple. Thread closed.

She effortlessly waded through so many different genres she resisted singing disco or any kind of dance music.

[quote] I had just gotten dumped by someone I'd hoped to spend the rest of my life with, and he played "Long, Long Time" at me as he was breaking up with me. I hadn't realized she was still making records, and when I went to the record store and asked for Linda Ronstadt, this is the album the clerk gave me. I took it home and wallowed in it all fall and winter that year.

OMG! How old ARE you?!

Nobody wants to see her ass

R24 that song and the way she looks in that video is ridt

Ridiculous

Thanks for posting that r26.

When I lived in Pacific Heights in SF she was my neighbor and I felt so honored to see her in the street etc. She will always be special to me.

Linda set a high bar for herself, so her discography is pretty much free of duds. The quality is strong. Her '70s stuff is the primo stuff but she recorded a lot of wonderful material in the '80s and '90s.

She recorded many covers but often her versions are often my go-to versions. Her version of Desperado is my favourite.

As r18 mentioned, Linda gave a platform to many performers/songwriters: Warren Zevon, Karla Bonoff, the McGarrigle Sisters, J.D. Souther, The Cretones. Because of Linda, I bought their albums because I loved the Linda versions so much.

R39 has his head far far far up Linda’s asshole

No one has mentioned her illness, which ended her career as a singer. Almost a decade ago, Linda Ronstadt was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. In 2019, her condition was rediagnosed as progressive supranuclear palsy, a degenerative, Parkinson's-like disease for which there is no known cure.

I think it’s because she’s considered Middle-of-the-Road. She doesn’t really have a place in the Rock canon and none of her albums feature in the all-time-best-of albums lists, which is how a lot of young people discover older music.

Her speaking voice was also affected:

"I tried to do the audio version of my book, but I couldn’t do it. My voice didn’t have the strength, and I didn’t have enough range of expression."

I have 1.3 days worth of her songs in my iTunes. A lot are duplicates. I bought numerous different pressings/remasterings of her CDs. I'm listening now on shuffle. Playing now is "Lies," from the 1982 Get Closer album. Here's the album:

“Get Closer” was critically panned but is one of my favorites. A lot of it sounds like B-sides that were cut from previous albums; but it has a few songs that rank as her finest: Mr. Radio, Easy For You To Say, and The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress.

Overall, I prefer her pop albums in the 80s over the 70s (though I’m a fan of that period too).

r42...youre high.

she covered a lot jimmy webb / and produced this '93 studio effort SUSPENDING DISBELIEF / one of my faves

Linda was gorgeous and she had star quality, great taste in musicians and material, and a voice that was powerful AND beautiful. Most importantly, she had a dignity that made her seem aloof, remote, which made her all the more desirable. If she wrote more of her own material she'd be better known, but as it stands she's one of the most respected musicians alive. The length and breadth of her output alone-- nearly every genre imaginable from the mid 60s to 2010. Wow. Her first memoir was a bit dry, couldn't get through it, but her documentary is a must-see. There was nothing she couldn't do.

This clip of her singing La Bohene with David Carroll makes me weep buckets. Every time.

For shame...

She dated California Governor Jerry Brown, I think.

She was one of finest vocalists in the world. Her versatility ranges from folk rock to her enchanting Nelson Riddle orchestrations. This is among many other music genres. She had no interest in being an actress. She was focused on her music.

OP, what don't you understand? She was a rock singer, she had lots of hits and she sang lots of genres. Later in life she got a disease and had to give up singing.

R48 r51 are blind followers who would eat her diseased shit if given the opportunity.

Her attempt at La Boheme was perhaps too much ambition but you have to give her props for bravery, for daring to make a fool of herself.

The New York Times wrote "Whatever else is to be said about this performer, she's no fool and no coward. One can tell at a glance that Miss Ronstadt herself knows that she's not at home with Puccini - and one can only admire the bravery that allows her to forge ahead anyway, reason be damned.

A few missed notes and many indistinct lyrics notwithstanding, the performance isn't embarrassing, just lackluster and anxiety-inducing. By forcing her lovely soprano into places where nature or training has not yet permitted it to go, Miss Ronstadt battles her way through the role, giving us the fragrance if not the beauty of the gorgeous melodies."

In regards to the "winter light" album... my 2 favorites far and away are "anyone who had a heart" (perhaps the best version besides or even better than dionne's) and "Oh no not my baby"...

This is a very interesting analysis of both her voice and musical legacy.

[quote] In regards to the "winter light" album... my 2 favorites far and away are "anyone who had a heart" (perhaps the best version besides or even better than dionne's) and "Oh no not my baby"...

Completely agree -- except that Dionne's original is unmatched. But Linda definitely beats Dusty for the No.2 spot.

I would love to have seen Linda and David Carroll as Mimi and Rodolfo. I always loved her, and I had a major crush on him when he was on Another World (Marley's gynecologist).

[quote] I like the Big Four in this order:

R22, is that THE Big Four or YOUR Big Four? Because I don't see "Living In The USA" on that list and it's her biggest seller.

I got hooked on her voice when I first heard Long Long Time when it was new. Saw her during the 80s, great pipes.

That's because Living in the USA shipped platinum, r59, based on the sales of Linda's previous albums, especially Simple Dreams and Hasten down the Wind. However, many, many copies of LITUSA were returned unopened. It was the easiest of her albums to find a sealed copy of when LPs experienced a surge in the late '90s. This may still be the case.

LITUSA was considered a step back, quality-wise, from the four albums that preceded it.

R61 what a selfish bitch you are.

She liked to challenge herself, but she was also frank about her vocal abilities: she once said Jennifer Warnes was a much better singer than she was.

I added two of her channels to my jobs Pandora, her rock channel and her Nelson Riddle music. When "Different Drum" came on my co-workers were like "Who is this?" One went as far to use that song in his wedding ceremony. I had to listen to "Long, Long Time" plenty of times before I could listen to it withoiut crying. Her voice is amazing and she can sing anything. And she was beautiful. When she toured with Nelson Riddle, one of the local radio stations broadcast the concert live, and I sat there, with my cassette recorder taping it. LOL. I also audio tapped "Married Men off of SNL when she and Phobe Snow were on SNL...

My boyf is a Gilbert & Sullivan freak and hated her country howling and yelping in Pirates.

[quote]When "Different Drum" came on my co-workers were like "Who is this?" One went as far to use that song in his wedding ceremony.

Did they stay married very long?

Yes that song's lyrics are not very romantic.

The OP obviously doesn't know shit about Linda Ronstadt. Her career continued well past the 70s. As for her being "forgotten"...well, she stopped performing years ago because she has Parkinson's disease. She could have continued to do concerts but decided to end it because she said she didn't want to charge people to hear her "bark." My guess is that she's living daily as best she can for someone with a chronic illness.

Wasn't George Lucas in love with her and she dumped him (way back when)?

Heart Like a Wheel

Hasten Down the Wind

Trio

r69...they were engaged.

Linda's "boyfriends" included:

Jackson Browne

Assorted members of the Eagles

Mick Jagger

J. D. Souther (supposedly the great love of her life)

Albert Brooks

Jerry Brown

Brett Hudson

George Lucas (they were engaged for a time but never married)

Jim Carrey

Bill Murray

R71 she fucked her dad too.

Ronstadt was the highest paid female recording artist from 1973 - 1979 under Elektra Records. (Before that, it was Dionne Warwick when she left Specter Records for Warner Bros.) Ronstadt was knocked out of the top spot in 1980 when Donna Summer left Casablanca and signed with Geffen. In 1981, Diana Ross became the highest paid female recording artist when she signed with RCA. By that time, Ronstadt's albums weren't selling that well.

I dare anyone listen to 'Long, Long, Time' without shedding a tear. Perfect lyrics, perfect tune, perfect voice, perfect interpretation.

really r73 ? The 80s saw Mad Love and Get Closer, after her foray on Broadway, we has her trio of Standards with Nelson Riddle, Trio with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris, her Mexican and Latin albums, and Cry Like The Wind...not to mention her hit singles like Somewhere Out There with James Ingraham...ALL of which sold millions

She just became very Frau-ish in the ‘80s and purposely severed her link to rock music, which muted her legacy a bit. The Nelson Riddle albums were technically fine but dull. Her covers of The Cretones and Elvis Costello were too bombastic…the lyric changes to “Party Girl” make no sense. The mariachi stuff was never going to have wide appeal, and I know she grew up in AZ but let’s face it, she’s more German then Mexican. Paul Simon featuring her on Graceland was an odd way for him to give the finger to the ANC over apartheid controversies. I can’t stand Aaron Neville.

Her 1996 album "Dedicated to the One I Love" is interesting - different songs covered as 'lullabyes' - the oddest choice is Queen's "We Will Rock You", but somehow it works.

Although there are better singers, there probably isn't any other artist who has tackled so many different genres. Folk, pop, country, new wave, operetta, Mexican, big band standards...it's really shows courage to try so many different things.

Trivia: She was first part of a trio called the Stone Ponys, who had a hit called "Different Drum", written by Mike Nesmith of The Monkees.

Her only number one hit was "You're No Good".

Her biggest seller was "Blue Bayou".

I loved her remake of "Hurts So Bad", but hated "When Will I Be Loved". My all-time favorite Ronstadt song was an album cut "Adios". Sublime.

She hadxx CA a big mouth and tried to force her political views during late in life concerts. She’s a bitch and joyless

Some people are derp licking her ass on this thread. You’re not convincing anyone you fucking fan blind fuck!

OP She’s not at all forgotten. Plus, she hasn’t been particularly huge since the late 1970s.

^^Fuck off fan ass licker

Meh..Elevator, Dentist's office music. No soul, no heart. Her Mexican hat album a joke. Now, she's flogging a book about her Mexican origins. Yawn..She certainly didn't mention her Latina background, till it became hip.

Her Nelson Riddle albums were lovely.

Please elaborate R72

Finally this thread gets good...

They just showed her in the stands tonight at the Dodger-Padres game in LA. She looked good.

🤔 Linda is 76.

Do you think she gives a flying fuck about whether or not YOU understand her?

Surprises me to learn that Living in the USA was one of her least successful albums. So many are so good, but that is my personal favorite and one I can listen to from start to finish with no problem. Also, as much as I love Linda and the Great American Songbook (my go-to genre), I find her albums with Nelson Riddle incredibly dull.

This interview with Linda for her new book came out a week ago. I'm amazed at how good she looks. Her neck snapped BACK. But so sad to see the slow steady decline. On par with the dignity with which she's always carried herself, I really respect that she hasn't become a recluse and totally shielded herself from the public eye since her diagnosis.

[quote] Some people are derp licking her ass on this thread. You’re not convincing anyone you fucking fan blind fuck!

You sound positively deranged. Get some help why don't you.

R83, I remember the Grammy awards . Linda was considered the favorite that year for "What's New?". Her only real competition was Donna Summer for "She Works Hard For The Money". So who gets the Grammy? Irene Fucking Cara!

From R23, Linda appears at 10:00 in the clip below.

Stern then went nuclear, and spent months attacking Linda's weight and getting his fans to mock her.

Years later, Howard has apologized for playing Selena's music with gunshots in the background.

Howard Stern and Robin Quivers are assholes. Always were.

She’s a huge bitch, so everyone dropped her.

Yes, everyone did drop Robin Quivers.

I remember her work with Nelson Riddle in the '80s (What's New) was commercially successful but kind of derided at the time by purists.

The article linked by R9 is pretty lulzy. "Mud huaraches" come on now Linda. Her family was well-off by the time she grew up on her merchant dad's 10 acre spread. Enjoy your heritage all you want, but white latinos can be such tryhards.

Maria Shriver interviews Linda on 11/02/22's Today Show to publicize Linda's new book about her Mexican origins, Feels like Home.

I think she is very courageous to show the rest of us how to persevere through life-altering tragedy. To have had THAT voice and to have been so acclaimed for it, to now (and for years) being unable to sing. Most could not handle it but she does with grace.

I think her death is one of them that’s going to break my heart. I mean totally break my heart. I have loved her for so long. She’s done some beautiful music.

I heard her being interviewed on NPR some years back, and I was surprised that she sounded fairly brusque.

Linda has so many great albums that even the ones that sold fewer copies, Living in the USA, are still great. I find all of her work from the '70s to be pretty much great, and the '80s still have great stuff. I think three Nelson Riddle albums was a bit of overkill so I am glad she did Trio, Canciones de Mi Padre and Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind

R96 - how sad to see her like this now.

What other artist attempted so many different genres of music?

[quote]What other artist attempted so many different genres of music?

Sting and Elvis Costello, to name just two. Linda is not all that unique, at least Sting and Costello are songwriters.

[quote]I do respect the way she handled her personal life and retirement.

Are you sure about that? Linda's personal life was off the rails, she fucked every member of her various bands. She tried to hide it, but everyone knew.

I recall an old TIME magazine interview, where she was whining to the interviewer, "I need a man RIGHT NOW!" Please don’t say, “It was a different time. Womens lib and all”

As far as all the men she fucked, Linda was as ridiculous as Madonna, but without the overtly sexual image. Linda's image was sort of 'sweet yet sexy'. Linda had a lot of sex with a lot of men. Nothing wrong with that, but behind the scenes she was judged. Despite womens lib, to this day, women who fuck around a lot will always be judged. The world is a patriarchal society. I don't see it changing anytime soon.

Yes, she dated Jim Carey and Governor Jerry Brown.

Never eat where you shit. That’s probably why she's now alone. I don't think it was a choice for her not to marry or at least live with a partner. Unless she's extremely difficult to be around, who knows.

I always read between the lines of celebrity interviews. Celebs always manage to reveal themselves, while claiming to be very private. Then, there are the people they think they can trust, the people who expose the real person behind the positive image.

Perhaps Linda enjoyed sex without any sort of commitment? She wouldn't be the first person. Linda seemed very focused on her career. A lot of people are like this, many aren't in showbiz, straight and gay. People get to a certain point where they realize they missed out on something in their personal lives on the way to their success. It seems, at some point, Linda suddenly decided she wanted kids.

[quote] What other artist attempted so many different genres of music?

The late Eva Cassidy could sing many styles of music beautifully; country, gospel, jazz, ballads, standards. She was very versatile.

R68 Thank you so much for totally saying the same thing I did at R0. I didn't know shit about her, which is why I made the post.

It still blows my mind that everyone now knows who Kate Bush is, compared to an 'unknown nobody' like Linda already in the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame.

Linda Ronstadt is unknown to gays in my generation. I was born in the 80s, but I consider myself somewhat educated on gay iconography. Aside from Blue Bayou and that song she did with Aaron Neville I confessed to being ignorant in my original post. Thankfully some non-cunts other than yourself have managed to share some of their knowledge, and I appreciate it. Adios.

[quote]Adios.

[quote] Sting and Elvis Costello, to name just two. Linda is not all that unique, at least Sting and Costello are songwriters.

Linda was first. Even Natalie Cole admitted she was inspired to do "Unforgettable" by watching Ronstadt do her Nelson Riddle albums. It was unprecedented when Ronstadt did it.

Apparently Carly Simon was unhappy (i.e. talked shit) because she did an album of standards a year or two before Linda's Nelson Riddle era, and it did not fare nearly as well.

Debbie Gibson is better

She’s annoying as hell. Glorified cover artist. Never got her appeal beyond her voice, which is technically good but leaves me cold. All the other women you mention WRITE their own music. Kate Bush is a million times more worthy of the attention than Linda.

Also the apartheid thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth because she’s so political on top of that. People like Cher and Elton have always been corporate whores, but Linda projects an air of superiority about herself that makes me more annoyed with her for doing so.

Why did all the gay favorites (not my personal ones from that era, I’m way more of a punk/new wave person) play Sun City? Cher, Elton, Tina, Dolly. Why did the normally political Paul Simon pull out of the most political South Africa tune? It actually got banned from US radio stations because Joey Ramone had a line directly bashing Reagan.

The only benefit to writing your only songs is all the money you make on the covers. Linda chose her material carefully and is often praised for making it her own and interpreting in such an authentic way as though they were written just for her. That's a talent in and of itself.

[quote]r16 You 'even' loved "Winter Light"?! It is one of her best -- if sadly overlooked -- recordings.

I love “A River for Him.” It’s almost eulogiastic (if that’s a word)

^^ It's not. You mean "elegiac" and I agree.

[quote] Never eat where you shit. That’s probably why she's now alone. I don't think it was a choice for her not to marry or at least live with a partner.

I think Linda could be married, now, if that was what she wanted. She's a wealthy, famous, successful, talented woman. I don't think you'd say that about a man with her money, etc. (he's forced to be alone due to his bad personality).

I like a lot of singer/songwriters, including some who were much better at the songwriting than the singing part. But too many members of my personal pantheon (both pre and post rock era) were interpreters alone for me to look down on someone for not being a writer as well.

Now, if someone claimed that Ronstadt was mostly a technical singer with fantastic set of pipes, that she could be aloof and didn't exactly tear your heart out with her interpretations (the way, sometimes, others with lesser voices did with the same songs), I could be on board with that. It's a fair criticism. It's why, for all the pristine execution and Nelson Riddle's classy arrangements, her Tin Pan Alley stuff isn't where I go first when I want to hear those songs. But there are exceptions in her vast catalog, occasions when she does bring a personal touch to a song, and anyway, almost everyone has some chink in the armor. I love listening to her for what she did have: her beauty of sound, her absolute security, her good taste in material and collaborators.

Those who think of Linda Ronstadt as a cover artist have no knowledge of her catalogue...the real treasures, and her finest work are the deep tracks. Thats why her albums sold, thats why shes so highly regarded in the industry, and thats why she gets the accolades.

I wasn't much of a fan during her 70's heyday. I thought she was too much of a "belter", just bleating out melodies with little subtlety or nuance...although I did buy the 45 for "Heat Wave" (because I loved the flip side, "Love is a Rose").

When she hit it big with "Heart Like a Wheel", she pretty much repeated that formula for the remainder of the 70's. A couple of oldies, a couple of country classics, something by JD Souther, a few numbers by respected up-and-coming writers...there was a definite sameness to what she was putting out. But you couldn't escape her music during that era...she was all over top 40 radio with her hits, and all over FM radio with her album cuts. So all of those songs seeped into my musical DNA whether I wanted them to or not. In retrospect, I'm glad they did.

I actually didn't start becoming a fan until 1980's "Mad Love", which is when she began to fuck with the formula and switch things up. Even though I had kind of an overall negative opinion of her, I fell in love with that song "How Do I Make You", and a bunch of the other songs on the album that were getting FM radio play, like "Look Out For My Love" and "Party Girl". That was the first Linda Ronstadt album I bought.

I also noticed that her singing improved a lot after she did that "Pirates of Penzance" thing. I really admired the fact that a hugely successful singer actually worked on her voice and made it better, something that was really apparent on those hugely successful Nelson Riddle standards albums she did. I know she wasn't the first rock artist to tackle the Great American Songbook, but she really took great care to do it the right way, and a lot of other singers tried to duplicate her success with their own "standards" albums.

I went to see her on her tour for "Canciones de Mi Padre". It was a really great show, with colorful, gorgeous, and constantly changing backdrops that turned each song into almost a little theatrical piece. I've never seen another show quite like it, visually stunning and groundbreaking, yet extremely respectful of the traditional material being presented.

In '89, she finally returned to pop/rock with the "Cry Like a Rainstorm" album, which is the one that introduced Aaron Neville to a whole new generation. To this day it's my favorite album of hers, and one of my favorite albums of all time. There's hardly a bad song on it (for me, "So Right So Wrong" is OK, but a bit of a dud. And "I Need You" should have been more playful and fun).

After that album, I stopped paying attention, but I know she recorded at least a few more albums before her illness forced her into retirement.

Overall, I hope she's satisfied with the career she had, because it's pretty impressive, both in terms of quality and the huge variety of genres she successfully tackled.

many rockers have released variations of the "standards" album prior to Linda's Whats New"..... it was the timing of it and how ready the boomer audience was to hear those tunes that was such a surprise to the industry.

the one I loved was...

A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night .... a 1973 album of classic 20th-century standards sung by American singer Harry Nilsson. The album was arranged by Frank Sinatra's arranger Gordon Jenkins, and produced by Derek Taylor. Wikipedia Artist: Harry Nilsson Release date: June 1973

Sinead O'Connor did "Am I Not Your Girl," full of old standards. I don't even like old standards, but I've listened to that CD countless times.

[quote]Linda Ronstadt is unknown to gays in my generation.

It seems many young gay men wouldn't know Linda because she wasn't/isn't a true gay icon singer like Stevie Nicks, Debbie Harry, Kate Bush, Donna Summer, Madonna and so many other female singers the gay community embraced.

I guess gay men would like the fact that Linda was basically an undercover slut. Other than that, I personally don't see her as being any sort of gay icon.

Nilsson was a brilliant writer (perhaps my favorite of his genre) on top of his standards work. I don’t understand why Linda is put in the same arenas as singer-songwriters like Dolly and Joni (or Kate Bush???) as opposed to say, Dusty Springfield or Tina Turner. Her particular style of vocals isn’t for me but she’s a technically good singer.

She’s not a gay icon because she’s boring as shit. Stevie, Debbie, Donna, Kate, etc, despite the genre differentiations, are all exciting and fun and stylish performers. And most of them WROTE their songs. Donna and Madonna are both dance music artists so I don’t really hold them to this standard.

Also why do all female performers need to be gay icons now? I don’t consider Joni Mitchell to be a gay icon, though her music is beloved by many gays. And frankly, I see Stevie Nicks as more of a hip frau icon than a gay icon, but this board will inform me otherwise, I’m sure…Debbie Harry. Now there’s a cool as hell gay icon!

[quote]Linda Ronstadt is unknown to gays in my generation.

Then there is the problem of younger generations not being very curious about subjects outside their current world view.

Some young people do not even know the history of their country. I remember when Jay Leno did those 'on the street' interviews , he was showing young people photos of past presidents, one person thought George Washington was the Quaker Oats man!

Today's youth are very insular and they are affected by what their peers might think. They are too busy looking at their cells, they can barely have a coherent conversation. The simply don't care about anything outside of their own experiences.

My old boss said he fucked her way back when she was hot. Male groupies are a thing. He was quite attractive when he was young and was fairly well-known in the rock music industry, so I had little reason to doubt him.

Her little boyscout uniform was pretty gay.

I personally never liked Linda because she yelled too much, I don't enjoy that type of singing from female singers. A loud powerful voice isn't necessarily a good voice which is pleasant. I also cannot stand opera. I find it painful

Linda definitely screamed and yelled too much. I remember my mom playing her records and my dad saying, “What’s all that screaming and caterwauling. What a loudmouth!” I have working musicians in my extended family, we were always surrounded by music in all our households. My grandfather, a baker, played piano as a hobby, while others were session musicians and touring musicians. My dad was into all types of music, he had an amazing record collection.

My father had such a diverse music collection, from Hendrix to classical to British folk music and free jazz. As far as singers, he mostly veered towards jazz singers like Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughn and Dinah Washington, LR was not his cup of tea. “Her voice makes my ears bleed.” He also despised Sinatra. “He doesn’t sing, he talks!”

What I did learn about music from my dad, not every popular singer is pleasant on the ears.

I did like Linda's Stone Poney's hit, “Different Drum”, which, IIRC, was written by the late Monkee Mike Nesmith. It was a great pop song. This song seemed like it would have been a hit by any decent rock singer/band.

A great song can definitely transcend bad singing, Madonna's early hits prove that, her songwriters were quite good, her songwriters sure could write a great hook. "Borderline" was an excellent pop song. Madonna's early songs became hits despite her awful nasally Minnie Mouse-on-helium voice because the songs were excellent pop songs.

As for Costello's disliking Linda's interpretations of his songs, it seemed he had awful things to say about most musicians.

Costello despised Sting, years down the line, The Police appeared on Costello’s TV show. All was forgiven.

Oh, I don't care about voice quality at all. Most of my favorite singers are people like Joey Ramone - not technically skilled, but really evoke something unique and emotional through their voices. I don't get the DL (and general, honestly) maxim that you have to have a wide range or opera level training to be a good singer.

[quote] As for Costello's disliking Linda's interpretations of his songs, it seemed he had awful things to say about most musicians.

He's got some nerve. His collaboration with Burt Bacharach "Painted From Memory" would be a solid masterpiece but for his awful singing.

R119, I liked when she tried her hand at punk-light with the "Mad Love" album, especially I Can't Let Go and How Do I Make You, but especially that great cover of Hurts So Bad. Punk wasn't really Linda's forte, which is why it was a one-and-done effort for her, but I admire her giving it a shot.

Thanks for the post up above with Linda's "Adios".... beautiful, beautiful song.

I don't like Costello but I appreciate him more because of Linda. I love the Mad Love album. It introduced me to The Cretones.

I love that Linda enjoyed the perks of rock and roll. Who cares if she fucked around?

[quote]R128 I personally never liked Linda because she yelled too much. I don't enjoy that type of singing from female singers.

But from males it’s okay?

[quote]Costello despised Sting, years down the line, The Police appeared on Costello’s TV show.

The same could be said for U2 and Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen brought up Costello's acerbic comments about him in interviews back in the day, and they had a laugh about it.

He even said something nice about Madonna when they were both guests on Fallon a few months ago, which would have been hard to believe in the '80s or '90s. I remember him giving an interview with Rolling Stone or Spin and saying, about her Rock the Vote ads, "Rock the Vote? Gag the hussy."

He's mellowed a lot since he married Diana Krall.

2023 Last of Us Bump. The kids love this stuff.

One of my favorite songs of hers was one she recorded with Emmylou Harris in the mid 90s.

She released Blue Train in 1995, but it was recorded years earlier when it was scheduled to be a part of second Trio collaborative project with Emmylou and Dolly.

However, their respective record labels started fighting and the album was put on hold. Then in the late 90s Dolly & Emmylou were once again free to record with Ronstadt and they released Trio 2.

What's also been lost is the talent of her long-time musical director, Andrew Gold (best known for "Thank you for Being a Friend") and producer Peter Asher, who developed much of the sound that came to be known as Southern California Rock. His own albums are excellent as well.

My older brother was huge fan—he had a giant poster on his wall of her, so I knew who she was. When I was about 10 or so, I really got into buying my own music and her Mad Love was one of the first albums I bought on my own. How Do I Make You was my little gayling jam!

Later I discovered all of her music. I still listen to her regularly. I love her 70s output, but I also like her later songs like “Heartbeats Accelerating” and her cover of “The Waiting.”

Terrific singer and no one except you perhaps has forgotten her OP.

I hope she's still doing okay. I listened to her on a podcast a couple of years ago and she was quite ill. Below is a more recent interview with Terry Gross from last year.

R1 Gracefully after realizing she couldn’t sell records anymore. She sent a good 10 years trying.

I would also question her “Surprise I’m Mexican!” albums as graceful.

R138 Peter Asher has a great show on the Sirius Beatles network. I still remember the Rolling Stone cover with him, Linda Ronstadt, and James Taylor when RS named him producer of the year.

Did anyone even know she was Mexican until she came out with that album? I don't think she ever really talked about it before that.

Ronstadt had a pretty voice but a narrow range. She was at her best singing ballads and country music California soft rock.

She went for a rock sound with "How do I Make You". One of my favorites.

She was a great recording artist who was an exceptional vocalist, but the fact that her catalogue consists only of work written by other musicians results in a bit of a disconnect for me while listening to her—you get some sense of her from the way she sings them, but I never felt like I got a full grasp of who she was. Some of Melanie Safka's stuff reminds me a bit of Linda's earlier work (they even kind of looked similar), but Melanie wrote most of her material so it felt more definable to me. That being said, I loved the folkier stuff Ronstandt did with the Stone Poneys early in her career—I may prefer it to her later output if I'm being honest. Their rendition of "Different Drum" is endlessly listenable.

My favorite of hers is "Blue Bayou." She sings the hell out of it.

But her work with Nelson Riddle is stellar.

Did Frank Sinatra write his own material? Tony Bennett? Dionne Warwick? Diana Ross? Being a singer-songwriter wasn't all that common in the past, R147.

I honestly don't give a shit who wrote the song. I'm listening to the singer, not the songwriter.

The best songs on Hasten Down the Wind, by far, are the Karla Bonoff songs. Does she sign backup on any of them?

The rest of that album - supposedly one of Ronstadt's best - are filler, to me. That'll Be the Day has its merits but is too pop-py for the rest of the record, imo.

....

Thanks for posting that r152, that was actually pretty amazing. I assume that Linda didn't attend the ceremony. Stevie was in fine form there - is that Glenn Frey on the end?

She once said that she grew up in a household where everyone was singing all the time. It sure must hurt not to be able to do it anymore.

A very underrated song

R151 The Karla Bonoff songs were the worst! As Robert Christgau from the Voice put it, "the three Karla Bonoff lyrics make her (I mean Karla, but Linda too) sound like such a born loser that I never want to hear anyone sing them again."

]quote] The Karla Bonoff songs were the worst!

They were. Critics, seemingly all of them, hated Bonoff's songs. I wonder why Ronstadt featured not one, now two, but THREE of her songs on her album. Didn't she know how bad they were? Maybe shewas just trying o help out a friend by doing some of her songs. But it was a big mistake.

🙉 Why do the young 'uns always think we have all of the the answers?

Yes, we are bright, knowledgable, experienced and highly intelligent, but you kids never listen to us.

Wow, I totally disagree on the Karla Bonoff songs. And R157 you’re wrong about all critics hating Bonoff’s songs.

Her 1976 hit 'You're no good'.. As a 16 year year old gay tortured boy this song was my internalized fight-back anthem to my sociopath, abusive father. That and "the Morning after" , Maureen McGovern. Silly, I know, but it helped. and after 40 some years, I just get a call from his wife telling me he is in hospice dying- die, mother f'er

She was amazing at singing torch songs.

I disagree as well, re the Bonoff songs on HDTW. Lose Again is a beautiful song, sung beautifully. I stand by my original opinion.

[quote]Ronstadt had been offended by Quivers's interview, in which Quivers praised and defended Howard Stern. Ronstadt made it clear she wasn't a Stern fan, thought he was misogynistic, etc. Ronstadt and Quivers went back and forth a bit over that, and Leno tried to cool things down. The audience was obviously packed with Howard Stern fans, and Ronstadt got a lot of booing.

Ronstadt should have sat her ass down and talked to Leno about her album, which is why she was there. Not started a fight with the previous guest who didn’t say anything to her. Team Quivers.

[quote] you’re wrong about all critics hating Bonoff’s songs.

All the reviews I read for that album with the Bonoff songs mentioned how rotten they were. Here's an example:

[quote] Again, Linda Ronstadt repeats her slick, Californian pop/country-rock formula on Hasten Down the Wind. When the material is first-rate -- such as "That'll Be the Day" or "Crazy" -- Ronstadt's performances are terrific, but on the sub-par songs -- such as the three Karla Bonoff numbers -- she's dragged down with her material

It's about the voice, OP, she was the Streisand of folk pop rock.

I learned long ago, r164, that certain critics, such as Steven Erlewhine, whom you quoted, and Robert Christgau, do not share many of my opinions on music. I love the Karla Bonoff songs on Hasten down the Wind. The only song I don't like is "That'll Be the Day."

It doesn't matter to me what those people think, or what you think, for that matter. Hasten down the Wind is my favorite album of all time. You are entitled to have your favorite album. It doesn't have to be the same as mine.

pipes

Linda & Phoebe

It's kind of sad to see Phoebe Snow and Linda Ronstadt on SNL. They were both so young and pretty, both in peak form. Phoebe sadly died at age 60 and Linda has been ill for a long time. Sad.

I watched the documentary about her last night. I think the title was "The Sound of My Voice" or something like that. She was so naturally adorable, and that voice- the power, the thrilling vibrato.

I saw her in concert at Tanglewood a hundred years ago. I snuck up near the front and remember being blown away by the power of her voice on the old Patsy Cline song "Crazy": "For thinking that MYYYYYY LOOOOOOVE could hold you...."

Her life was pretty uncontroversial, not a lot of drama. Of course the dramatic twist at the end is her degenerative disease and losing that incredible instrument of hers. Still, what a career. She was everywhere in the 70s.

[quote] Her life was pretty uncontroversial, not a lot of drama.

Her affair with Jerry Brown generated a lot of "drama." Also her getting big bucks to do concerts in South Africa at Sun City generated a lot of controversy. She saw nothing wrong with it ("It was just another gig"), but others begged to differ. An editorial by Michael Bueckert said:

[quote] This is unfortunate, for Ronstadt’s decision to play Sun City was not only morally wrong, but it was also an important cultural moment of the anti-apartheid era, especially in the United States. While Ronstadt certainly wasn’t alone in breaking the cultural boycott, she was nonetheless one of the most visible celebrities to do so, and unlike many other artists she refused to apologize. Her intransigence on this issue made her a key symbol in the debates over the boycott, and a flashpoint for activism. As such, the controversy deserves further reflect

Other performers singled out by the UN for violating the boycott over the previous two years included Liza Minelli, Olivia Newton-John, Dolly Parton, Clarence Carter, Shirley Bassey, Barry Manilow, and Rod Stewart. I guess they just couldn't resist the big paycheck.

The documentary on Ronstadt quickly glosses over the the whole thing. But she got quite a lot of criticism for it. Rolling Stone magazine, which previously loved her, did a very unflattering article about it entitled ""Snow White in South Africa." It stated:

[quote] Linda Ronstadt is special, and yet she went to South Africa. She is special, and yet she chose to perform in a reviled racist country. She is special, and yet she gave six concerts in the cradle of apartheid. She is special, and yet she lent her talents to an especially mean place. She is special, and yet she allowed her very specialness to be exploited by an outlaw nation in search of legitimacy. Her special price: $500,000.

[quote] Ronstadt stated "The last place for a boycott is in the arts. I don't like being told I can't go somewhere. Like when they told Jane Fonda she couldn't go to North Vietnam. Of course she should have gone to North Vietnam."

[quote] But, of course, Jane Fonda was not paid a half-million dollars to visit Hanoi.

I'm not sure Rolling Stone is a bastion of moral authority.

[quote] I'm not sure Rolling Stone is a bastion of moral authority.

They were in the right about that one. The Rolling Stone had previously loved Ronstadt; they put her on the cover four times. One cover story was about her CLOTHES, which was really ridiculous because she was never a fashion plate. It was refreshing that they finally did an article about her that was not flattering.

Really good voice, fucked a lot of guys (some fairly high profile), now apparently a lesbian (is that correct?) and she made some interesting recording choices (Trio, Nelson Riddle, the stuff in Spanish etc etc).

She got very, very fat. Like Orca fat. She used to be cute.

Where does the lesbian thing come from ? Because she’s fat?

No, I think it comes from her moving to Santa Fe or some lesbian oasis and living with a bunch of lesbians, but it's just something I heard. That's why I questioned it.

I don't know if her getting so fat had anything to do with her sexuality, she just blew up like a whale. She had been straight for all the years she was fucking around with dudes.

Yeah I didn’t mean she gained weight because she was a lez or anything stupid like that, I was just making a wise ass remark that people here would assume she was because of that…

Understand this, OP.

Randy Newman is so underrated.

[quote] Randy Newman is so underrated

I don’t know about that. He’s been pretty widely acclaimed. Not as popular as he should be, though.

She’s a hypocritical cunt.

She was adorable and flirtatious with Johnny Carson back in 1983. Check out 15:26: That's easy for you to say by Jimmy Webb.

She's fucking coked off her face on the Carson show.

Wonderful voice but I never understood people (my dad included) who thought she was hot. She could be Rachael Ray’s sister.

r182 Nice to see Mr. Andrew Gold guitaring it up on Johnny Carson.

There is a purity and sadness in her voice that comes through in a lot of her recordings, especially the ballads, but she could also cut loose in virtually any genre. Her vocal control was always exceptional—few people are able to sing like she could. I really love the Spanish-language Mexican music she recorded in the late-'80s. She's not fluent, but she nailed it phonetically. You would think from hearing it that it's her native language. Just astounding.

I agree with R16. Phenomenal singing on that album, criminally overlooked.

She brought every ounce of the grit and soul in this song, especially in this performance. The energy of it is captivating. She was a vocal chameleon and a smart singer who could channel whatever a song demanded of her, and deliver it flawlessly every time. Vocal power aside, I think this is what made her such a great performer.

An interview with Linda from the '70s. She is adorable and comes across as articulate and very unpretentious. No bullshit.

Linda is a friend of the gays

One thing I find interesting about her is that her speaking voice doesn't line up with her singing voice, as seen in R189 and other interviews.

When speaking, she swallows her words, she's kind of mumbly and timid. But when she sings, she has one of the most expressive and powerful voices ever.

Today, everyone is so **on** all the time, it's kind of jarring to see a celebrity who talked like a normal low-key person.

R191 I noticed that about her speaking voice as well. She also has a bit of a lisp which I did not expect. A modern example of this is Grimes, whose lisp is even more prominent. You wouldn't guess she had one by the way she sings (though she's certainly no Linda).

R171 Her affair with Jerry Brown certainly attracted a lot of attention, but drama? It's not like they had public spats or anything. She never gossiped about her romantic partners.

Rolling Stone turned on her so viciously because she had abandoned rock music, and by extension the values it claimed to represent, in favor of operetta (Pirates of Penzance on opened on Broadway in December 1980) and standards (What's New would be released in September 1983).

I certainly don't defend her decision to play Sun City, but you conveniently omit the American Black artists who also performed there in the late '70s/early '80s: Tina Turner, Millie Jackson, The O'Jays, Ray Charles, Peaches and Herb, et. al. These artists, along with their white counterparts like Cher, only apologized and canceled later tour dates because of negative press associated with violating the UN's cultural boycott and ending up on their blacklist, not because they actually cared about the plight of South African Blacks. What if foreign artists had boycotted the USA over the racial violence of the 1960s or our slaughtering of Vietnamese? The outcry would have been swift and severe.

Looking retrospectively, can we say that the then-novel strategy of a "cultural boycott" had a discernible effect on dismantling apartheid? I'm not so sure. If we remember, Paul Simon was in violation of this boycott when he went to South Africa to record Graceland; the ANC (Mandela's party) was especially angry because Simon didn't ask their permission, which is why, as a f**k you, he featured Ronstadt on the song "Under African Skies". Simon going there to perform with Black artists is quite different than Ronstadt going to entertain whites in a segregated resort located in a phony "homeland," but they were both technically in violation of the same boycott. If anything, one might argue that Simon's violation of the boycott hastened apartheid's undoing.

[italic]National Lampoon[/italic] called her "the pug-faced pie wagon of pop" and claimed that [italic]Canciones de Mi Padre[/italic] meant "Large Beads Shoved Up My Father's Nose."

Rolling Stone invested heavily in portraying her as hot chick of the century. I'd say I like her despite her association with RS.

There were a few mild controversies (which I don't even remember from back then) but she was never publicly messy. Ergo, no drama.

[quote]She also has a bit of a lisp which I did not expect. A modern example of this is Grimes, whose lisp is even more prominent.

I don't hear a lithp when she speaks. Same with Grimes (of whom I had not previously heard).

I don't know about a lisp, but I too was surprised by her speaking voice in the documentary. It's thin, a little nasal, twangy. Not rich and resonant like her singing.

I like her pop/rock stuff, but I absolutely adore her Nelson Riddle albums and have ever since they came out. I admire her for switching up genres: rock/pop, standards, the albums of Spanish folk songs, and the country-western "Trio" with Emmylou Harris & Dolly Parton.

I also admired her for doing "Pirates of Penzance" on Broadway. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see her in it (I saw Maureen McGovern and Treat Williams), but I enjoy the movie (it's on YouTube).

I actually think she's been getting attention from her song "Long, Long Time" being featured in that episode of The Last of Us.

I have loved Linda since the 1970s (yes, I'm an eldergay) but have also hated some of her music. In my opinion (and that of many music critics) her three albums of American standards are pretty awful. Her voice is beautiful as ever, but she doesn't seem to have a clue what she is singing about. Just listen to those same songs by any of the classic pop singers like Rosemary Clooney, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald or Peggy Lee, and you will hear the difference. I was also not a fan of her new wave period, although I did enjoy "Party Girl," to which I would tell Elvis Costello to fuck off with his mean-spirited remarks about her rendition. Probably my favorite solo album of hers is Hasten Down the Wind. And I love the duets album she made with Emmylou Harris (with a little help from the McGarrigles).

The CNN documentary on her is wonderful. I teared up at the end.

Julia Louis-Dreyfuss did a funny parody of her on SNL. She was in the pink party dress Ronstadt wore on the cover of the album of standards that she did. At the end of the parody Louis-Dreyfuss/Linda sang "I sing old songs for you...because I can't do...what's new!"

Her music was boring. She didn't have Kate Bush's originality or creativity. She didn't take chances. She was like Celine Dion.

Didn’t take chances?

Rolling Stone turned on her because she told Jann Wenner to fuck off. FACT.

Dolly Parton called her “a pain in the ass”

Fuck off r206. They've been friends for over 50 years.

This thread is for old joyless bitches like LR

[quote] Rolling Stone turned on her so viciously because she had abandoned rock music,

What did she ever have to do with "rock music?" I never thought of her as a rock singer.

country/california-rock, R209

R205 why did she tell him to fuck off?

[quote]I did enjoy "Party Girl," to which I would tell Elvis Costello to fuck off with his mean-spirited remarks about her rendition.

Anything mean-spirited Costello said about her was several decades ago. He wouldn't be alone among us in having been a snide twentysomething, and sometimes at that stage of life, the things we're snide about aren't what's really bothering us.

But his recent tribute to her linked elsewhere in this thread (after he saw the Sound of My Voice documentary) is great.

[quote]What did she ever have to do with "rock music?" I never thought of her as a rock singer.

She's sung just about everything, and some of it was rock. I don't think she can be called any one type of singer in a comprehensive way.

Elvis Costello has always been a curmudgeon-prick. Ronstadt wasn't the best singer or song-stylist but she was pretty good. Hasten Down the Wind, Heart Like a Wheel are solid pop albums.

*

It is really sad that she has lost her ability to sing due to Parkinsons disease.

Yes, r215, but she has a most impressive body of work she achieved before she lost it. She used her gift to the fullest.

I was a little kid when she started running around in those lil Mexican girl dresses.

I couldn't really put into words what it was I didn't like about it but now I realize it was early cultural appropriation.

Also not a fan of Aaron Neville. I always wanted to squeeze and pop that thing above his eye.

[quote]but now I realize it was early cultural appropriation.

Oh, puhleeze, r217...

Thank you, R218, I was gonna say... she's Mexican for fuck's sake, what is she culturally appropriating?

[quote] She doesn't seem to have a clue what she is singing about.

I love a whole lot of her stuff but I agree, sometimes she sung material where she just Linda'd it, and it wasn't a match, or she wasn't connecting with the material.

She was a pop singer and a good one. I never expected her to be an artist or songwriter like Joni.

Linda used to dress up in a boy scout's uniform with short-shorts and high heeled pumps. Straight men and lesbian catnip.

Carly said "she has the best white pipes in the business". She isn't a song "stylist", it's about the sound and strength of her instrument...like Streisand.

R217, Ronstadt is of Mexican descent, and you're a fucking moron.

Carly said? Who the fuck is Carly and why would I take her opinion on anything or anyone as music gospel?

R224 It's Carly Simon, you ridiculously dumb fat whore!

So, r224, Carly also said Joni takes chances and she admires that. She also rated Bonnie Raitt "a good ol' girl".

Stage-fright Carly Simon? Neurotic-insane Carly Simon? Oh for fuck's sake, what does she know about anything?

If she made some statement about how to drive an ex-husband to hate her to the point where he won't even let her into his house at her daughter's wedding... I'd take her opinion on that as at least being reality-based.

Ronstadt's just a pop-singer, like Carly Simon, and neither of them is hardly some kind of pop-singer arbiter of greatness. Of the two, I prefer Ronstadt by a country mile.

Joni's a genius and Bonnie Raitt's far more than a good ol' girl.

Ms Simon and Schuster, always an insecure jealous bitch, is damning both of them with faint praise.

Well, r227, that's the difference between us. I'm not one of those *everything has to be a contest* people. Seems like you choose to be overly discerning to no good end.

Whatever, R229.

Carly Simon & Schuster has always been an insecure, jealous hack. I can't change what she is and has always been.

Ask anywhere around the Vineyard, they'll gladly tell you all about Ms Simon & Schuster.

It keeps you awake at night, doesn't it, r230?

[quote]r55 In regards to the "winter light" album... my 2 favorites far and away are "anyone who had a heart" (perhaps the best version besides or even better than dionne's) and "Oh no not my baby"

This song is gorgeous:

Yes, r232.

Wonderfully accurate pitch with a very even vibrato.

Her first clue something was wrong with her health was she noticed she was not hitting notes as precisely as she had throughout her life. Her musculature was weakening.

She sucks

No, R231, Carly Simon & Schuster isn't keeping anyone awake at night these days.

[quote]r156 The Karla Bonoff songs were the worst!

oh really

[quote] It keeps you awake at night

It keeps her running.....yeah, it keeps her running!

Tedious tenure of hot chick singers who are now old ladies.

Karla Bonoff was great - I prefer her original versions to Linda's.

Linda was one of the last of a long line of performers that would rely on other songwriters vs writing her own material. (At least in that era - songwriters creating for artists today is very different.)

As Johnny Cash once told her on his show "You sure do sing pretty".

Linda & Johnny

[quote] She's sung just about everything, and some of it was rock.

Her attempts to sing anything approaching "rock" were pretty dismal. She did a terrible version of "Tumbling Dice." She mangled "Girls Talk." There was some Warren Zevon song she did; some critic said she just didn't "get" the song at all. Her remakes of "That'll Be The Day" and "Living in the U.S.A." were mediocre. No, she was no good at "rock" music. A music critic once said of her than she had a pretty voice but a limited range. And that is right.

R236 and you think this nearly dead bitch is? She had a stick up her ugly ass for a long time prior to her disease.

Her Warren Zevon (Poor, Poor Pitiful Me, Carmelita) and Little Feat (Willin, All that you Dream) covers were passable. Her version of “Alison” was lovely, but the other Costello covers were not; the lyric changes to “Party Girl” make no sense. She had no sense of humor or understanding or irony.

She was best before David Geffen got to her; her performance of “The Only Mama that’ll Walk the Line” on the above-mentioned Johnny Cash show demonstrates her unrealized potential in that regard. You need to be spontaneous to be a rock singer and that was one trait she conspicuously lacked by the mid ‘70s.

I think her best rendition of Tumbling Dice was live in Japan in March 1979.

Old bitch has a stick up her ass

Ronstadt was diagnosed with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy several years ago. She is in a wheelchair, and will lose the ability to move her extremities, to move her eyes around, and to speak clearly. She has retreated gracefully.

She is massively talented, conquering all genres of music. "Blue Bayou" is my favorite song, and her albums of the standards are amazing.

I feel so bad for her.

R232 Linda’s version is nice but Emmylou’s original is sublime. I also think it’s the finest song she’s written.

I can’t think of a more commercially successful female musician who took more chances & tackled more styles. Love her music. Opened me up to other styles. Respect her & all she accomplished.

[quote]R249 I can’t think of a more commercially successful female musician who took more chances & tackled more styles.

Yes. She did folk, country, rock, pop, R&B, Big Band, opera, operetta, mariachi…

She did say she never understood the Queen of Rock title sometimes attributed to her, and that the uptempo numbers were always the hardest to find for her albums. She was attracted to ballads and felt those were her strength.

Don't forget Broadway and Central Park Star!

That Central Park clip is so much more fun than the stodgy movie. Wonder what went wrong with it.

Someone to...

R250 only LR stans ever referred to her as being queen of rock, which she never was.

She’s extremely smart and talented, her albums were like a box of chocolates: you never knew what you were going to get. She and her producers put such detail into all of those records. I’ve seen her live many times and I live in SF so I’ve met her a couple of times at events. I still listen to all of her records to this day. My favorite from the 70s is Hasten Down the Wind, from the 90s: Winter Light and Feels Like Home. She was brilliant.

I LOVE her rendition of "Tracks of My Tears". It's sublime.

Linda is not and has never been “rock”. Have never gotten why she was grouped in with performers who write and/or compose their own music instead of interpreters like Dusty Springfield. I really don’t get the love on her for DL either, it’s a technically good voice but her covers all lack any sort of bite or heart to them. I understand why she says she dislikes most of her albums, there’s not really anything beyond a pretty voice singing words.

I also don’t get the whole sex symbol thing. She’s really cute in a girl next door way, but I wonder how much her team paid for her to promoted as some sex goddess in every Rolling Stone puff piece.

Lo siento mi vida Yo sé que ya terminó Corazones quebrados Esperanza que se fué Cuando brille la luna Yo sé que no dormirás Ni tú Ni yo Ya ha llegado el triste pesar Debemos siempre separarnos

La noche que te fuiste Cambió mi pobre vida Quedo mi alma triste Pensando en mi dolor Cuando brille la luna Yo sé que no dormirás Ni tú Ni yo Ya ha llegado el triste pesar Debemos siempre separarnos

I wait for the night to pass and turn to day I can't make this feeling go away 'Cause I get so weak when the day is through And I think of you I'm gonna see it through

Lo siento mi vida Yo sé que ya terminó Corazones quebrados Esperanza que se fué Cuando brille la luna Yo sé que no dormirás Ni tú Ni yo Ya ha llegado el triste pesar Debemos siempre separarnos Siempre separar.