Linda Ronstadt - Feels Like Home
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Free Music Notes for Feels Like Home
Free Music Review: A rival of the old formula, but not a classic reproduction.
Hit: 3 Stars
In the months before FEELS LIKE HOME hit the record stores, there was a lot of information about the new album available. There were several newspaper articles, Capitol Records reissued her early releases (SILK PURSE, DIFFERENT DRUM, THE STONE PONEYS)on CD, and various interviews. For all the hoopla surrounding the album, FEELS LIKE HOME is a disappointment. It isn't a bad album, but by classic formula I was expecting something alon the lines of LIVING IN THE U.S.A or PRISONER IN DISQUISE. The song selection is good, but the production is bland, and colorless. On a classic Linda Ronstadt album solid numbers like "The Waiting", "High Sierra", "After The Gold Rush", and "The Blue Train" would come complete with interesting and throughly enjoyable arrangements, on FEELS LIKE HOME they sound dull. Every song on the record has great potential, but needed more individual treatment and more experimentation. Linda Ronstadt still maintains her ability to belt out great pop numbers, and her vocal performances are the main reason for owning the record. Another problem with FEELS LIKE HOME is it's consistency. On an individual basis the songs are consistent, but as an album it runs out of steam at the end. Particularly "Morning Blues", "Women Cross The River", and "Lover's Return" seem to be read more than they are sung. FEELS LIKE HOME could be twice as good with energy and more innovative arragements. As a Linda Ronstadt devotee, there is little of her Rock/Country/Pop music I dislike, but classic formula is classic formula, and FEELS LIKE HOME is not. MATT COKERFree Music Review: A rival of the old formula, but not a classic reproduction.
Hit: 3 Stars
In the months before FEELS LIKE HOME hit the record stores, there was a lot of information about the new album available. There were several newspaper articles, Capitol Records reissued her early releases (SILK PURSE, DIFFERENT DRUM, THE STONE PONEYS)on CD, and various interviews. For all the hoopla surrounding the album, FEELS LIKE HOME is a disappointment. It isn't a bad album, but by classic formula I was expecting something alon the lines of LIVING IN THE U.S.A or PRISONER IN DISQUISE. The song selection is good, but the production is bland, and colorless. On a classic Linda Ronstadt album solid numbers like "The Waiting", "High Sierra", "After The Gold Rush", and "The Blue Train" would come complete with interesting and throughly enjoyable arrangements, on FEELS LIKE HOME they sound dull. Every song on the record has great potential, but needed more individual treatment and more experimentation. Linda Ronstadt still maintains her ability to belt out great pop numbers, and her vocal performances are the main reason for owning the record. Another problem with FEELS LIKE HOME is it's consistency. On an individual basis the songs are consistent, but as an album it runs out of steam at the end. Particularly "Morning Blues", "Women Cross The River", and "Lover's Return" seem to be read more than they are sung. FEELS LIKE HOME could be twice as good with energy and more innovative arragements. As a Linda Ronstadt devotee, there is little of her Rock/Country/Pop music I dislike, but classic formula is classic formula, and FEELS LIKE HOME is not. MATT COKERFree Music Review: Linda Goes Back Home
Hit: 5 Stars
FEELS LIKE HOME is the perfect title for this excellent Linda Ronstadt album. After a rather overlong bypass with pit stops at Mexican Mariachi music, Cuban rhythms and even sentimental lounge ballads, Ronstadt has finally come back to what she does best...belting out pop tunes with a down home, West coast feel.And belt she does, from "The Waiting" to "Walk On" and "High Sierra" (with a vocal quality reminiscent of her huge success "Blue Bayou"), Ronstadt comes full circle and returns to her full voice blast out of the water style that is so recognizably hers.
But she's grown too, that is what makes FEELS LIKE HOME a hidden gem. Sure, she belts, but she's been doing that since "You're No Good"; but while before she was merely a girl yelling at a cold hearted lover, now she is a woman, in full voice, crying for her soul as well as her man.
Special attention must be paid to the luxurious, rich state of Ronstadt's voice on this album. It's never been better. Her lung capacity seems to have only increased with age and her ability to hit a huge range of notes with such richness is unparalleled by any singer currently recording. Her opera training and years of singing experience have paid off handsomely. You won't hear a bum or weak note on this album.
The material is all wonderful, and Emmylou Harris does some backing vocal magic on "High Sierra" and blends with Ronstadt to create a heavenly duo on "Blue Train."
Overall, a stunning achievement and a wonderful showcase of Ronstadt's skills at their prime. The title track is classic Randy Newman, interpreted magically.