Linda Ronstadt - The Very Best of Linda Ronstadt
|
List Price: Our Price: $13.99 You Save: $4.99 (26%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $8.24 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for The Very Best of Linda Ronstadt
Free Music Review: Do not buy this cd if you use IPOD
Hit: 1 Stars
This is a cd that will not play on a computer, so you will not be able to use the music on your IPOD. There is no warning on the Amazon site or on the cd packaging. There should be a warning letting you know before purchase that this CD cannot be used on a portable music device.Free Music Review: A compromise
Hit: 3 Stars
This CD is a compromise between the more comprehensive box set and the original and superior two-volume "Greatest Hits" recordings I'd recommend over this one.Those two recordings were perfectly chosen songs in chronological order (they should really be combined onto one CD). This CD gives you more songs per dollar, but I'd rather pay more and have the best songs in the order in which they were released.
I not only agree with the reviewer below who felt this wasn't really the "very best", but it would drive me crazy hearing "Different Drum" after solo work done a decade later, or "Heart Like A Wheel" after songs from much later and lesser albums. I prefer hearing the way an artist grew over time on a best-of collection. Still, not a bad collection and recommended if you prefer shuffle-play.
Free Music Review: Well-chosen disc of Linda's biggest and best
Hit: 5 Stars
Just about every major hit Linda Ronstadt has recorded is included on this excellent one-disc collection. The biggest hit missing is 1980's #10 hit "How Do I Make You" (aggravatingly, available on the British version of this disc). Many of the smashes here were already well-known in their original form, such as the Motown classics "Heat Wave," "Tracks of My Tears," "Ooh Baby Baby," and '50's rock standards "That'll Be the Day," "When Will I Be Loved," and "Back In The U.S.A." In addition to these huge chart successes are some excellent lesser hits and album tracks. "Love Is A Rose" and "Just One Look" did not do as well on the charts as, for example, "Get Closer" or her version of "Tumbling Dice," but they are clearly the superior records. Ronstadt has been both praised and vilified for her many remakes (pretty much all her Top Tens). On one hand she was the first to bring songwriters like Warren Zevon, Karla Bonoff, Kate and Anna McGarrigle to the record-buying masses. On the other hand, some of her remakes are thought to lack emotional depth. Dave Marsh, in the good version of the Rolling Stone Record Guide, called Ronstadt a "horrid interpreter of...rock and soul material, frequently missing the essence...and never cutting below the surface." Scathing, and possibly accurate regarding "Tumbling Dice" (probably why it's not included here) and "Back In The U.S.A." I would side with Linda, however, on the hypnotically-beautiful "Ooh Baby Baby" and the uptempo hits "When Will I Be Loved," "That'll Be The Day," and the #1 "You're No Good." Of course, the duets with Aaron Neville are stunning--welcome comebacks for both singers--and I have always liked both "Somewhere Out There" and James Ingram. Although the song, an omnipresent #2 pop radio staple in 1986, made most people I know very, very ill.
I hope that Warner/Elektra/Asylum(?) issues a "Best of Volume 2," as they did with Rod Stewart (here, anyway). I'd still like to see a compilation of the remaining hits, even "Tumbling Dice," on disc, as well as the Nelson Riddle I-am-too-mature-for-rock-and-so-what-if-I-gained-a-few-pounds era songs "What's New" and "I've Got A Crush On You," and the gorgeous "Heartbeats Accelerating" from "Winter Light." In addition to "Get Closer," other fine singles from Ronstadt wanting to be anthologized include "I Knew You When," "Someone To Lay Down Beside Me," "Easy For You To Say," "It Doesn't Matter Anymore," "Alison" (yep, the Elvis Costello song, from "Back in the U.S.A."), "Silver Threads and Golden Needles," and "I Can't Let Go." O.K., one more: the non-single duet with James Taylor, "I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine" from "Get Closer."
Regardless, this is the best collection ever likely to be assembled on one CD. Even a fussy completist like me recommends it highly.
Fans may note that the British version of this album omits "Love Is a Rose" and "Adios," the latter of which features background vocals by Brian Wilson, in favor of "How Do I Make You," "Love Has No Pride," "Desperado" (the Eagles' album-rock favorite), and "After the Gold Rush," a truet with Emmylou Harris and Valerie Carter. I'm pretty sure I made up that word; remember I invented it first. Lucky Brits.
Free Music Review: Mostly focusing on the seventies
Hit: 5 Stars
Linda Ronstadt began her career in the sixties and continued making great music into the new millennium. Perhaps there is more to come - who knows? However, this collection mostly focuses on her period of greatest commercial success - the seventies.During the seventies, Linda established her reputation mainly with exquisite covers of classic pop songs such as When Will I Be Loved (Everly brothers), It's so easy, That'll Be The Day (both Buddy Holly), Back In The U.S.A. (Chuck Berry), Hurt so bad (Little Anthony'), Blue bayou (Roy Orbison), Ooh baby baby (Smokey Robinson) and Heat wave (Martha Reeves and the Vandellas), all of which are included here. She also had success with covers of Love Is A Rose (Neil Young) and Poor poor pitiful me (Warren Zevon), though it is Linda who is normally associated with these two songs. Indeed, Warren Zevon owes his reputation to Linda, who recorded several of his songs.
A few songs from other periods are included. Different drum and Long long time represent her folk-country music of the sixties. Two duets with Aaron Neville and one with James Ingram represent the eighties. Winter light represents the nineties. Linda's Great American Songbook recordings with Nelson Riddle, her Spanish music and her Trio work with Dolly and Emmylou are conspicuous by their absence. They are readily available elsewhere for those who want them.
If you want a single CD of Linda's pop and rock recordings, this is the one to go for. To do justice to her whole career would take a boxed set (and one is indeed available) but this will satisfy most people.
Free Music Review: A True Survivor of Pop Music.........
Hit: 4 Stars
I have to admit, I like pop music but I've been a snob about it. The words Good and Pop music don't seem to go together well. How can it be? Pop music is suppose to be disposible. However, the production values on this CD of Linda's hits relfect the informed song choices that she made at the time. You couldn't deny this woman for her sheer ability to make you listen to her and that voice!! A true survivor of pop music.
My thoughts on this CD are the following:
The sound quality on this CD is great. It suggest that Linda Ronstadt's songs were remastered and transferred to digital. Sound is better than her Volume 1 and II hit CDs. So, this CD is a 5 for sound quality. This CD design and pictures accompanying the jacket are great. I give this a 5 too.
However, I give the song choices on this CD a 4. Yes, 4.
My favorite songs on this CD are the still affecting "Different Drum", the soulful "Hurts So Bad", the Rockabilly "That'll be the Day" and "It's So Easy", and the Linda Ronstadt penned "Winter Light" I think Sarah Brightman recorded this song on her CD, released a few years back. My beef with the song selections are that Linda Ronstadt and the Rhino crew could have added or omitted a few songs. Some of Linda Ronstadt's hit songs NOT in this compilation that should have been are: "I Can't Let Go" "Someone to Lay Down Beside Me" "Desperado" "Easy for You to Say" and "Get Closer." I can see where her historical Nelson Riddle and Mariachi recordings would not suit the ROCK ambiance to this compilation, therefore, I'm not surprised any songs from these phases of her career are not included. However, Linda did record some new wave songs on a couple of good albums. Living In The USA and Mad Love both contained Elvis Costello and The Cretones songs. So some of these hits should have been included such as "Alison" "How Do I Make You" " and "Look Out for My Love"
Linda Ronstadt has recorded some good albums and good singles. This Best Of CD does not reflect this on its face and I think omits some singles that are the best of linda ronstadt. However, buy this CD for its inclusion of some good material and great sound quality. And if you are new to Linda Ronstadt this is a great introduction to her beginnings. These songs are way before the Nelson Riddle, Mariachi Ronstadt you might know. This is when she set up shop as the First Female Rock Star. Believe me, every magazine cover with her picture on it back then labled her the "Queen of Rock" because back then there were no female singers SELLING IT ALL: Country/Rock/Folk and Sex. She was the first. Don't deny yourself and invest in Linda Ronstadt other vast body of work. You won't regret it. I recommend, "Get Closer" "Mad Love" "Living in the USA" "Hasten Down the Wind" "Simple Dreams" "Western Wall" and "Frenesi" O.K. Enough Said. Have fun shopping.