Linda Ronstadt - The Very Best of Linda Ronstadt
|
List Price: Our Price: $8.49 You Save: $10.49 (55%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $5.39 (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: 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.
Free Music Review: She's So Easy
Hit: 4 Stars
To me, I honestly think that in this music industry, a lot divas right now, seem like they happen to be more about their image on the outside, rather than just the beauty of the the one thing that absolutely matters, the voice. It is just a shame that so many acts like Beyonce', Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson and others have not really showcased the simplicity that music has brought. That was definitely not the case in the 70's, where the divas like Diana Ross and Linda Ronstadt just let all the music do the talking. Linda's voice has been one of the most elequent from that era, that still hasn't lot that feeling of music, and not al of her music from that era is on one convient package.
The Very Best Of Linda Ronstade is a 21 track record that reflects this defiant and soulful diva from her 70's and 80's reflections in her music. Unlike many hits packages, this one definitely does deliver, and showcases Linda with nothing but her best hits of all. The album was remastered very well, and includes a lot of her best and biggest hits including Hurts So Bad, the soulful Blue Bayou, You're No Good, It's So Easy, and her rendidtion of Smokey Robinson & The Miracles Ooh Baby Baby. The album also includes some beautifully conjured duets with James Ingram on Somewhere Out There from the 80's animated film An American Tail, and the deeply soulful Aaron Neville on the #1 duet Don't Know Much and All My Life.
All in all, The Very Best Of Linda Ronstadt is a fantastic hits package for die hard fans, and for anybody who doesn't own a Linda Ronstadt record. I absolutely love her voice, and this is a well-received hits package. If you are interested in younger divas, try something special from a legend who still knows how to sing.
Album Cover: B+
Songs: A-
Price: B 1/2+
Remastering: A
Overall: B+
Free Music Review: An Incomplete Portrait Of The Artist
Hit: 4 Stars
Linda Ronstadt possesses a strong, beautiful voice. She has covered many musical genres in her career, but not all of them are represented in this collection. The emphasis is in on her most commercially successful period, the seventies. Her rocking version of "When Will I Be Loved" starts this compilation off on a strong note. The Buddy Holly songs "It's So Easy" and "That'll Be The Day," the Chuck Berry classic "Back In The U.S.A." and Little Anthony's "Hurt So Bad" are also full-tilt rockers. Her emotional rendition of Roy Orbison's "Blue Bayou" is breathtaking. The longing in her voice on "Long, Long Time" is heartbreaking. Her breathy version of Smokey Robinson's "Ooh Baby Baby" finds Linda at her seductive best. While her country-rock classics, "Different Drum" (with the Stone Poneys) and "Love Is A Rose" are welcome inclusions, they sound out of place among the rockers. The shortcomings with this collection could have easily been fixed. First, the songs would have benefited by being presented in chronological order. Second, the compilation should have been expanded to a double CD. This would have allowed for inclusion of the essential rockers "I Can't Let Go," "How Do I Make You" and "I Knew You When." Her three albums of standards could have been represented with such songs as "I've Got A Crush On You," "My Funny Valentine," "When I Fall In Love" and "What's New?" At the very least, "To Know Him Is To Love Him" from her Trio album with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris could have been added. Selected songs from her two Spanish language albums would have spiced things up nicely. The songs that make up "The Very Best Of Linda Ronstadt" are uniformly great, but left this listener wanting more.
Free Music Review: Good-But Missing Some Stuff
Hit: 4 Stars
This is a good, but frustrating, look at Ronstadt's chart hits and album cuts from 67-93. The only Top 10 single missing is 1980's "How Do I Make You". What's odd is that there isn't one track from her biggest album of the 80's, 1983's What's New. Also, nothing from her 2 Trio albums with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris or her 3 Spanish Language albums. Surely, the compilers could've included something from those albums. Ronstadt kept making albums after 1993 also ("Winter Light" is from the '93 album of the same name). 1997's Feels Like Home has a great song called "Walk On" that is worth checking out. Otherwise this accomplishes its goal of serving Ronstadt's biggest hits and well-known album cuts ("Heart Like A Wheel", "Love Is A Rose") on one tasty platter. There are liner notes, song info (including chart info for albums and singles, and lots of pictures (mostly of the 70's/early 80's Ronstadt. For a more thorough look at Ronstadt's career try the Box Set. But for beginners and fans who can't afford the Box, this will do.Free Music Review: Great Intro to a Great Songstress
Hit: 4 Stars
As the French might say, "Quelle Chanteuse!" What a voice. "The Very Best of Linda Ronstadt" is a title that is at once both very specific and very appropriate. This isn't the Best of Linda Ronstadt, it's the Very Best. This collection is like the tip of an iceberg: a crop of singular, outstanding songs isolated from the great body of her work, which remains concealed, as it were, below the waterline. Nowhere to be found are her forays into Puccini or Gilbert and Sullivan, her recordings of Mexican folk-songs ("Canciones de Mi Padre") or her country-and-western collaboration with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton. Nevertheless, there's a comprehensive selection of her pop and rock hits, primarily from the late 70's and early 80's, along with her later, Grammy-winning collaborations with James Ingram and Aaron Neville. "The Very Best of Linda Ronstadt" is a great introduction to a great artist and her fantastic vocal powers.