Linda Ronstadt - Lush Life
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Free Music Notes for Lush Life
Free Music Review: What an album!
Hit: 5 Stars
I was not a big fan of big band music or Linda Ronstadt. To be honest, I don't know why I bought this cassette in 1984 when I was in college, but it became one of my favorite albums ever. I believe she was on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and sang Skylark (I think) on the show. I was bowled over. Great songs, great vocals from Ronstadt, excellent arrangements, ... just a near perfect album. From a hard rock n roll fan, this was a major leap for me, but I could listen to this album all day long! Free Music Review: Lush Life
Hit: 5 Stars
Another sensitive production between Linda Ronstadt & Nelson Riddle. They seem to have been made for each other with these productions. If you like the american songbook sung with a slightly different, sweetly sentimental approach this should suit you. I thought Nat King Cole had the mortgage on "When I fall in love" but I find myself liking this version eqully. She soars with "skylark" and moves up and down the emotional register finally leaving one with an incredibly moving rendition of "Lush Life"Free Music Review: Fitzgerald, Sinatra, Ronstadt ............
Hit: 5 Stars
Linda soars through the easier songs here, and steps lightly through the hard ones. She does what no-one has done before or since - make "Lush Life" sound easy to sing.
This is the peak of Linda's impressive career. Her singing is beautiful, her voice an incredible instrument with range and depth and fluidity. Only early Ella Fitzgerald and middle Frank Sinatra are in this league.
Don't believe the critics who say "Hummin To Myself" (2004) is a better collection. Every voice goes through an arc of quality, rising and then fading. What she achieved here is unsustainable because this is as good as it gets.
Some people think Linda is just a pop singer reaching above herself who can't really be compared with the legends. Closed minds hear what they expect to hear. If you open your ears and mind to this album you will find sustained beauty never exceeded by anyone in any genre at any time.
A hundred years after we die, no-one will give much thought to most of us. But in a thousand years Nelson Riddle and Linda Ronstadt will still be legends. They made three albums together, each with excellence stamped all over it. But this one (the middle one) is the must have. This is sublime.
Free Music Review: A great singer's best work......
Hit: 5 Stars
When Linda did her three record collaberation with Nelson Riddle back in the 80's, I grabbed the LP's as soon as they came out....I still have them, my first, and only, Ronstadt LP's [I can't stand country]. The whole project set a five star standard in every respect...voice, orchestra, cover art, all perfect; this may be the best of the three.
This is a wonderful sampling of "The Great American Songbook"...fine mixture of slow and up-tempo numbers. Billy Strayhorn's title cut is pure perfection, Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady" is beautiful, and Johnny Mercer's "Skylark" is haunting. It Never Entered My Mind that Linda could sing this fabulous [and deceptively tough] music so well, but she sure did. Can't We Be Friends....
....not hardly; Linda's politics make me sick. Still, she's absolutely a singer for the ages [and politics and music shouldn't mix, anyway]. This represents Linda's vocal prime; a great singer, singing great music, with a great conductor. Don't fail to get this album.
Free Music Review: Another Beauty From Ronstadt & Riddle
Hit: 5 Stars
For someone who is so strongly moved by the beauty of music, its melodies and lyrics as well as its arrangements and performances, I find this CD one of the most beautiful recordings of all-time. Once again and as always, the great Nelson Riddle showed off his trademark of excellence in orchestrating and conducting a dozen of ageless standards from the Great American Songbook. This CD will take us to a musical journey as we relish the timeless beauty of this sentimental music.
With the superb instrumental skills of pianist Don Grolnick, drummer John Guerin, bassist Bob Magnusson, guitarist Bob Mann (who also played fabulously on Rod Stewart and Steve Tyrell's recordings) and the creative flair of concertmaster David Frisina, this CD offers some of the glowing moments of Ms. Ronstadt's musical career. "Lush Life," "What's New?" and "For Sentimental Reasons" are three of the greatest and most beautiful albums of standards ever recorded.
Nobody sounded more expressive than Ms. Ronstadt singing "When I Fall In Love," a song lamenting that love has ended even before it has begun. You can hear that beguiling guitar accompaniment by a fine guitarist, Bob Mann, complementing Ms. Ronstadt's exquisite voice. Likewise, nobody sounded so excruciatingly poignant with her moving rendition of "When Your Lover Has Gone."
"What lonely hours
The evening shadows bring
What lonely hours
With memories lingering
Like faded flowers
Life can't mean anything . . ."
In "Skylark," the singer made a mark on this song with her heartfelt rendition as she brings new life to this Johnny Mercer/Hoagy Carmichael classic. She also left a lasting impression to one of Sinatra's signature songs "I'm A Fool To Want You," just like Ol' Blue Eyes did with his meaningful interpretation. They both did the best versions for male and female vocals, respectively.
She swings lightly on Rodgers & Hart's gem "You Took Advantage Of Me," then she takes it slower in Mills/Parish/Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady." And picks up the light swing tempo again on "Can't We Be Friends?"
"Sophisticated lady I know
You miss the love you had long ago
And when nobody is nigh
You cry. . . you cry."
If you're a lover of standards like me and an admirer of beauty in all its forms, you should have this CD in your collection and take pleasure in listening to its endless beauty.
Here's to the magic of beautiful music!