It is more of the case that was mentioned of Linda and Karen Carpenter either in this or another thread that they sounded so perfect it must be emotionless but in Linda's case I don't agree and I really don't know of Carpenter to comment adequately. To some, I guess, LITUSA sounded toooo perfect. eddiejinnj
Picked up GH vol2 recently as I didn't previously have it. Generally liked what I heard (growing up in the 70's) but other than a couple of records, not much Linda in my collection. I like this collection, it has a good flow, and as we all know, what a voice!
This is the sole one I have had for about 3 decades and it is superb. Must get around to a second cd one of these days.
They have a green cover Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2 on one cd or the 23 song cd "the very best of Linda Ronstadt" is another GH primer. The best things about Linda are digging into her non-hit album gems and just the sound of the way songs flow on her albums. eddiejinnj
I used to listen to some of her albums in the late 70's, early 80's. Those old Columbia House and RCA music clubs really opened the door to a lot of music! I'm sure I had a few of her tapes back then. And I was into the Eagles, Jackson Browne, and others in those circles, and Linda was a part of that. I'd like to revisit those albums sometime. The GH v2 set really reminds me of how good she was! As a teenager I didn't pay much attention to who wrote the music I was listening to - I generally assumed it was original. I knew the Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry stuff, but not much else from her catalog. It's interesting to look back now and realize that she was essentially a cover artist. Nothing wrong with that, per se, but I get how that plays into her "legacy" as it were, and perhaps keeps her from being recognized in the upper echelon of 70's/80's singers. If in fact that is the case. Anyway, I really like her take on Blue Bayou.
But she truly was surprised when a number of covers done because she liked the tempo were hits. She ade a number of songwriters singer/songwriters more well known by her song choices. Sinatra and Ella were vocalists like Linda. There is a definite art, craft and science to singing in and of itself!!!! eddiejinnj
The sad part is that all of this should have happened when she was recording. It points to how critics often miss the boat when getting wrapped up in the latest attempt to be clever or a fad. Just because she had a “booming” voice doesn’t mean she couldn’t give a sensitive reading a song. If I wanted tortured (and she could do that too even if it wasn’t tortured enough—I Will Never Will Marry for example has a wistfulness, vulnerability and sadness to it allowingher to make it her own) I have Marianne Faithful. Just because one is “pretty” and the other isn’t doesn’t mean that the same quality can’t be there.
I was in elementary school during Linda's years of chart dominance, but I remember clearly enough the years of the long fade, in the early to mid 1980s. I was a reader of music criticism through those years and I remember a clearly dismissive attitude toward pretty and/or sexy female singers that was widespread among people who cared enough about music to read reviews. A singer might overcome this (maybe), if she wrote her own songs and was arty enough or (as you say, Wayne) tortured enough to put herself into a different category of criticism, but Linda in those years was a covers artist aiming right for the fat middle of the market, and so she got herself unjustly assigned to the ephemera of music history, until she quit her chart ambitions and swapped them out for a series of stranger projects that critics could better recognize as "interesting": the Nelson Riddle project got plenty of interested press at the time, the Canciones project too, and of course Trio was a celebrated album. But, by then, we were talking about a different category of female artist: no longer so ready to place her nipples so distractingly on her album covers, so that it was easier (for the easily distracted) to focus on her singing talent. Critically speaking, especially in those days, the rule was: ya live by the nipple, ya die by the nipple. The notion that mainstream sex appeal and great talent might sometimes co-exist was granted as a hypothetical... but spotting it in the wilds and recognizing it in actuality had to overcome too much critical bias for most of us to manage. Our loss. And Linda's loss. And music culture's loss. Which is all regrettable. If this is now coming in for a critical reassessment, then that's all to the good. Another link: The New Linda Ronstadt Documentary Proves Just How Underrated She Is | Pitchfork
As Tony Soprano would say, "Whaddayagonnado?" Saw Linda live twice. first in Harrisburg during first anniversary of Three Mile Island, free protest show, at probably the peak of her career ,Or close, with Pete Seeger, Kenny Edwards and maybe Maria Muldaur or Karla Bonoff on backup vocals (hey, the drugs were strong and I was driving). Saw her second time in late 80s, in Pittsburgh's Star Lake amphitheater . the Neville Brothers opened, behind"Yellow Moon." Great show by both acts.
I saw Linda for the Cry Like a Rainstorm Tour, at the PNC Bank Arts Center in NJ. It was a mob scene and a great show. She looked "mahvelous". eddiejinnj
Linda Ronstadt was not underrated! She was a huge international star. Linda Maria Ronstadt is a retired American popular music singer known for singing in a wide range of genres including rock, country, standards, light opera, and Latin. She has earned 10 Grammy Awards, three American Music Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, and an ALMA Award, and many of her albums have been certified gold, platinum or multiplatinum in the United States and internationally. She has also earned nominations for a Tony Award and a Golden Globe award. She was awarded the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award by The Latin Recording Academy in 2011 and also awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award by The Recording Academy in 2016. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014. On July 28, 2014, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts and Humanities. In 2019, she will receive a joint star with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for their work as the group Trio. In total, she has released over 30 studio albums and 15 compilation or greatest hits albums. Ronstadt charted 38 Billboard Hot 100 singles, with 21 reaching the top 40, 10 in the top 10, three at number 2, and "You're No Good" at number 1. If that's underrated, I think most artists would love to be underrated.
Agree 100% — this appreciation thread and the incoming links to fresh considerations of her career and continuing presence point to something so much cooler and beneficent than that impoverished down-at-the-mouth “underrated” mindset. It’s a reputation and a stature coming into better focus and gaining new substance and feeling.
I guess more the word is underappreciated but to some she underrated. She was downplayed because she didn't write many songs. She is underappreciated currently, given her lengthy career with many hits in various genres, by not being so known to newer generations. Since she is not given her fair share of radio play, this contributes to that. She should be more of a household name than she currently is. eddiejinnj
I saw the Get Closer tour-free tik and was pretty ho hum about going but she put on a great show. Her voice filled the arena. I wish that cd would come back in print
I guess just keep looking at the ads on here and sites like Amazon. They may have used copies reasonable. That's why if I see a Linda cd in thrift store or garage sale; I pick it up. I am not sure where my copy of "Get Closer" is. I do not think I have more than one of those or I would offer it up cheap to a fellow fan. Sorry!!! eddiejinnj
Hi All: Has anybody seen the new Linda movie? Please let us know how you all liked it? I would love to hear opinions. Thanks!!!! eddiejinnj
Anyone else read her autobiography? I was kind of hoping for her to bring up her appearance on the Johnny Cash show.
For the record I started getting into her out of the blue a few months ago not knowing she was having a live recording about to be released and documentary soon after. Strange really that as soon as I really discovered her greatness it coincided with these projects being completed.
