"The New Linda Ronstadt Documentary Proves Just How Underrated She Is"

I guess she could be considered an underrated artist in the UK. Without being too harsh, she's more of a footnote here. I rarely hear her music on the radio nor do critics and journalists dissect and discuss her career the way they do Joni Mitchell's. I don't think it's her lack of songwriting skills that have held her back (Bette Midler and Barbra Streisand are household names here), but maybe her early music is a bit too American sounding to have appealed to the UK public back then. It's the sort of country-rock music that I can imagine someone playing on a jukebox in a smokey US dive bar rather than a British pub, lol. I'm not sure how else to word it. The Eagles nearly always struggled to get hits in this country with the same sort of songs that Linda recorded in the 1970s. Glam rock was the in thing in the UK when Linda had her first number one album in the US, then new wave and euro pop became a thing with Blondie and ABBA. Does anyone know if Linda promoted her music in the UK? Maybe a lack of promotion hindered her success here.

 

I guess she could be considered an underrated artist in the UK.

I think she just didn't appeal to you Brits for whatever reason. Peter Asher was her manager and producer, so you'd think he would be able to get her noticed if anyone could.

 

She did a small tour in the UK in 1976, I believe. Don’t think she visited much after that. She did perform I Knew You When on Des O’Connor’s (I think) show in 1982/3 and did an interview with him. She certainly came over in 1989 to promote Don’t Know Much, which ended up being her biggest UK hit. She performed the song with Aaron Neville on Top Of The Pops.

 

Regardless of the arguable underrated angle, I am happy that there is a documentary and look forward to seeing it. Maybe this will give her back catalog a little boost. While I liked a lot of her hits back in the day, I thought she was a little too country for my taste so I didn't get any albums. I am really glad that my wife requested I get some as I am really enjoying them and appreciate her much more now.

 

Saw "Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice" last night. I didn't need Rotten Tomatoes 99% audience approval rating to know I would love this, and I did. I could not recommend it more highly to the music lovers in this forum. I have not had her on frequent rotation in recent years but I fell for her singing, her jaw dropping beauty and her spirit all over again last night. She is ripe for a rediscovery here.

 

Yeah it’s great. I have a few friends who saw it who aren’t really fans and they loved it as well. They did a really good job with it.

 

I was glad to read a recent article in which she said she can still sing, but only in intimate settings with friends and family, not in a performance setting.

At least she wasn't totally robbed of a gift she loved so much.

 

Blu ray to be released December 10th : Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice Blu-ray

 

I saw this today and I loved it. So many big names in music interviewed in this film, really anyone who has ever had a musical connection with Linda. There was a time in my life when most of the artists in this film were on high rotation on my stereo. If you were at all a fan, go see it! The live performances (some so very, very old and I had no idea they even existed) are fabulous!

 

The documentary is at like 3.5 mil or so and today is the number 78 in the Top 100 Documentaries on the MoJo site . It is the number 4 biggest documentary of the year. That is huge for a documentary. eddiejinnj

 

The site is www.boxofficemojo.com eddiejinnj

 

Been a huge Linda Ronstadt fan since I was a teenager. I got to see her front row in 1974 and 1975 in NYC when I was 16 and 17. Finally got to see this film with my wife at our local art house cinema last week. I laughed and I cried. Some of the sequences especially at the end were quite moving. Pretty standard documentary as far as films go but wonderful to see some footage I had never seen before and wonderful to her Linda belt it out again. Some of the clips were of embarrassingly poor quality. Looked like blow ups of vhs tapes. And some periods were completely glossed over. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the film and recommend it to all Linda fans. As mentioned above, it comes out on Blu Ray on December 10.

 

Looking forward to this. Been listening to the album she did with Ann Savoy lately. Amazing stuff.

 

• King of Bohemia is particularly AWESOME on that album with Ann. It stands amongst some of her best work and with her vast catalogue that saying a lot. eddiejinnj

 

It has been anounced that this documentary will make its television premiere on CNN on New Year's Day at 9 PM. I assume that's Eastern Time.

Cool beans.

In case anyone missed it, here is the trailer upthread.

 

It really is an excellent movie and it has grossed over 4 mil domestically. I have to find newest stats. The documentary won "Best Music Documentary" at the Critics' Choice Documentary Awards. It was nominated for 3 but am not sure whether all the nominess share one award "Best Living Subject" which the doc for nominated for. It is not clear on the site. Every other award category had a specific winner highlighted out of list of nominees. This one didn't. I am so glad it is doing well!!!! eddiejinnj

 

She sings at the end of this movie at her home, and her voice is not much above a whisper these days. It's sad but she had a more amazing career than I realized... she's a wonder and a badass. The movie is so good, I've seen it twice and would see it again - I don't usually watch repeats of music documentaries.

 

She was the best...by far...in my book.

She could do anything.

 

Linda Ronstadt will be awarded the Kennedy Center Honors in less than a month. She has previously said she will attend.

CBS will broadcast the gala performances on December 15th.

 

I see that CNN is presenting Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice. It premieres at 9 p.m. Wednesday, January 1.

 

Last I knew it was still in 25 theaters. Not bad considering the DVD officially is issued Dec.10th. I was told by somebody that he pre-ordered from Amazon for like $18.99. Would have to check if that regular or Blu-Ray. eddiejinnj

 

Fabulous singer - yes
Beautiful woman - yes
Genuinely nice and gracious person - Seems to be
Underrated - no

 

I have a friend with a used record store. When the Queen movie came out he's...I'll take all your Queen records. Elton John movie...I'll take all your Elton records. Linda Ronstadt... even with this nice doc coming out I don't expect to be hearing from my friend that he'll need any Linda LP'S ....but,I could be wrong. Around here her LP's go for peanuts and sit in multiples in bins. I hope things turn around though and the masses get hip to her all over again.

 

IMO if she's underrated it's because singer/songwriters for the last 50 years have been placed on pedestals and in some, not all, quarters interpreters of other people's work have been viewed as somewhat lesser beings.