I Like Her Best When She’s Screamin’ and Wailin’ and Rockin’! [Write-Off Submission]

This piece is submitted in the 4-6-01 Box Set Write-Off, hosted by fredpjr. Other participants include: ByronSummers, caines, Candice, dustinj, fredpjr (host), murasaki, panterad00d, quasar, and shilmafone. Please visit my colleagues’ pages and enjoy their submissions as well. Thanks for reading!

I cannot be unbiased about Linda Ronstadt. I love her voice. I’m in awe of her career. And she’s beautiful (though she bears a disturbing resemblance to Marie Osmond).

As I ripped open the mammoth Linda Ronstadt Box Set, I looked forward to finding many of my favorites from her thirty-plus year career span. And find them I did. But I was surprised – and delighted! – to find many recordings completely new to me, some from albums I had not heard, some songs never before released.

Linda Ronstadt’s Career

Linda Ronstadt was born in Tucson, Arizona in 1946. A 1971 Rolling Stone article (by Ben Fong-Torres) indicates her ethnic heritage is “ Spanish- Indian- German- Dutch- Basque.” She grew up listening to Mexican music on the radio, and at the age of 18 she moved to Los Angeles, where she ended up in the folk-rock group The Stone Poneys.

After recording 3 albums (1967-1968) with The Stone Poneys, she began a solo career, beginning in folk-rock (or “progressive country,” as we called it), moving into rock ‘n’ roll, and a quick dip into new wave rock.

In the late ‘70’s she shocked the California electorate by her public romance with then Governor Jerry Brown. Then in 1980 she stunned her rock ‘n’ roll fans by starring (opposite Kevin Kline) in the New York Shakespeare Festival’s production of “Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance.” A few years later (1986) she starred (again with the NY Shakespeare Festival) as Mimi in Giacomo Puccini’s “La Boheme.”

In the mid-‘80’s she mellowed out, recording 3 albums of pop standards with The Nelson Riddle Orchestra. These included classics written by the likes of Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart, Hoagy Carmichael, Irving Berlin, and George and Ira Gershwin.

In her 20’s, Ronstadt had said “I’m determined to become the world’s greatest Mexican singer.” [per booklet notes] Almost 20 years later, she finally began recording in Spanish, with 1987’s “Canciones de Mi Padre,” followed in 1991 by “Mas Canciones.” In 1992 she broadened her Spanish repertoire by recording “Frenesi,” a collection of Afro-Cuban songs.

Blending the most angelic voices in country music, Ronstadt recorded “Trio” with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris in 1987. The three reunited with “Trio II,” released in 1999. Just a few months later, Ronstadt and Harris released “Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions.” These albums feature the women singing bluegrass-inspired country songs, the voices exquisitely married in harmony.

In 1995, Ronstadt adopted a baby girl, and shortly thereafter she recorded “Dedicated to the One I Love,” a collection of soft songs and lullabies.

The booklet in this box set lists 34 albums released in 33 years (1967-1999). She has since added a Christmas album, “A Merry Little Christmas” (2000) to her discography.

She’s recorded in folk, country, rock, pop, Latino, and light opera – and she’s not yet 55 years old.

Included in the Box Set

There are 86 songs on the four CDs in this set. Each CD contains over an hour of music; the set comes in at just under five hours total (4 hours, 53 minutes). Mammoth, I tell you – a virtual Ronstadt-fest.

Discs 1 and 2 are titled “Album Retrospective.” These include 31 songs from 13 of her solo albums in folk-rock, country, rock, pop, 7 songs from her 3 pop albums with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, and 5 songs from her 3 Spanish-language albums.

Disc 1:

When We Ran
Ruler Of My Heart
Cry 'Til My Tears Run Dry
We Will Rock You
Winter Light
Anyone Who Had A Heart
I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself
Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)
Do What You Gotta Do
Heartbeats Accelerating
Goodbye My Friend
Adios
Cry Like A Rainstorm
Trouble Again
Easy For You To Say
Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, The
Get Closer
Hurt So Bad
I Can't Let Go
Ooh Baby Baby
Just One Look
Poor Poor Pitiful Me

Disc 2:

Blue Bayou
Try Me Again
Heat Wave
Heart Like A Wheel
It Doesn't Matter Anymore
You're No Good
When Will I Be Loved
Long Long Time
Different Drum
Little Girl Blue
I Get Along Without You Very Well
My Funny Valentine
When You Wish Upon A Star
It Never Entered My Mind
Skylark
What's New
Quiereme Mucho
Frenesi
Mentira Salome
La Mariquita
El Crucifijo De Piedra

Disc 3 is titled “Collaborations.” Included among the collaborations are the better known works with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris, Aaron Neville, and others (listed below).

High Sierra - (with Dolly Parton/Emmylou Harris)
Lover's Return, The - (with Dolly Parton/Emmylou Harris)
Blue Train, The - (with Dolly Parton/Emmylou Harris)
Feels Like Home - (with Dolly Parton/Emmylou Harris)
Gentle Annie - (with Kate & Anna McGarrigle)
Please Remember Me - (with Aaron Neville)
After The Gold Rush - (with Emmylou Harris/Valerie Carter)
Moonlight In Vermont - (with Frank Sinatra)
El Camino - (with Pete & Mike Ronstadt)
All My Life - (with Aaron Neville)
Don't Know Much - (with Aaron Neville)
Back In The U.S.A. - (with Chuck Berry)
El Sol Que Tu Eres - (with Danny Valdez)
Telling Me Lies - (with Dolly Parton/Emmylou Harris)
Somewhere Out There - (with James Ingram)
I Think Its Gonna Work Out Fine - (with James Taylor)
I Never Will Marry - (with Dolly Parton)
Prisoner In Disguise - (with J.D. Souther)
Faithless Love - (with J.D. Souther)
I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love With You - (with Emmylou Harris)

Disc 4 is titled “Rarities.” This includes 3 songs from Randy Newman’s musical “Faust”; 2 songs from Gilbert and Sullivan’s light opera “The Pirates of Penzance”; 2 songs with the bluegrass band The Seldom Scene; 1 song with Kermit the Frog from “Kermit Unpigged”; 1 song from Sesame Street sung with Wendy Waldman; 1 Phillip Glass piece recorded with the Kronos Quartet; 4 songs from film soundtracks; and 4 previously unreleased recordings; and 2 songs previously unavailable on CD.

Gainesville
Sandman's Coming
My Hero
All I Have To Do Is Dream - (with Kermit The Frog)
Dreams To Dream
Blacksmith, The
Bandit & A Heartbreaker - (previously unreleased)
Keep Me From Blowing Away - (with The Seldom Scene)
Sweetest Gift, The - (with The Seldom Scene/Emmylou Harris)
Freezing - (with Phillip Glass/The Kronos Quartet)
Poor Wandering One
Sorry Her Lot
I Want A Horse - (with Wendy Waldman)
All That You Dream - (with Little Feat)
Hearts Against The Wind - (with J.D. Souther)
Tumbling Dice - (previously unreleased on CD)
Border Town - (previously unreleased)
Falling Star - (previously unreleased)
Honky Tonk Blues - (previously unreleased, with Emmylou Harris)
Lightning Bar Blues - (previously unreleased)
Why
I'd Like To Know - (with The Stone Poneys)
Everybody Has Their Own Ideas - (with The Stone Poneys, previously unreleased on CD)

Among the Well-Known Treasures

Peter Asher produced 16 of Ronstadt’s albums, crossing several genres. [He has not produced this compilation. The box set was produced by Tom Desavia.] Asher has used a musical posse that appears time and again on her albums, guitarists Waddy Wachtel and Andrew Gold, and background singers (who have recorded on their own) Nicolette Larson, Maria Muldaur, Wendy Waldman, Karla Bonoff, and Anna and Kate McGarrigle.

The rock/folk/pop pieces (Discs 1 and 2) include songs composed by favorites like Beach Boy Brian Wilson (“Don’t Talk”), Burt Bacharach (“Anyone Who Had a Heart” and “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself”), Paul Anka (“It Doesn’t Matter Anymore”), Phil Everly (“When Will I Be Loved”), Warren Zevon (“Poor Poor Pitiful Me”), Anna McGarrigle (“Heart Like A Wheel” and “Heartbeats Accelerating”), Roy Orbison (“Blue Bayou”), and Jimmy Webb (“Dry Like a Rainstorm” and “Easy For You to Say”).

The Less Well-Known Gems,

If I attempted to describe each track, I would quickly implode due to adjective depletion and Epinions would likely explode, for my overuse of space. In lieu of describing each piece, or even the big hits included in this set, I’ll use Epinions space to describe some of the rarer treats in this collection:

“We Will Rock You” (Disc 1)

You’ve heard the Queen version, the hard-driving, jillion decibel “WE…WILL…WE…WILL…ROCK YOU (thunk thunk), ROCK YOU!” But Ronstadt’s version (from the “Dedicated to the One I Love” CD) is as different as you can imagine from Queen’s. Ronstadt, with harmonies by herself and Valerie Carter, sings this ever so softly, almost as a subliminal suggestion – sung in whispered tones, with faint echoes. It is a light and tender lullaby, playing on the word “rock” to suggest “rock-a-bye.” It is essentially sung a capella, with only simple tones and a bare percussion accompaniment.

“Winter Light” (Disc 1)

This song is from the CD of the same name (1993), produced by George Massenburg (one of the few not produced by Peter Asher). This piece has an Enya/new-age sound to it. Ronstadt sings in an incredibly high register, in an ethereal, angelic voice. Musical accompaniment is provided by acoustic piano, synthesizer, and glass armonica. In these sad-but-hopeful lyrics, she sings: “Star glowing in the twilight/Tell me true/Hope whispers and I will follow/Till you love me too.”

“The Blue Train” (Disc 3)

This song is from the “Trio II” album recorded with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. This song is part pop, part folk. Ronstadt, in the sad, dominant melody, sings “I'm riding the blue train/Over the miles yet to cover/A ghost in a hurry to fade/I'm taking it one way to nowhere/Afraid you might be there/To find me inside this blue train.” The vocals and music recreate the easy, hypnotic effect of a train chugging down the track. I found myself going back to this song, apparently quite simple, but in fact truly seductive.

“El Sol Que Tu Eres” (Disc 3)

“The Sun That You Are” is from the “Canciones de Mi Padre” album. This sad ballad is presumed to be quite old, possibly over 100 years old. Ronstadt sings with Danny Valdez (in Spanish) with a sparing acoustic guitar accompaniment. Ronstadt lends a generous dose of tender emotionality to this lament. The song has the proud simplicity of the common worker, whose words it voices: “Sun, round and red/Like a copper wheel/Daily you are looking at me/Daily you see me poor.” [English translation given here, although it is sung in Spanish.]

“Freezing” (Disc 4)

“Freezing” was written by avant-garde composer Phillip Glass and writer-performer Suzanne Vega. This is a somewhat sad-sounding, mysterious little piece. Ronstadt sings both melody and a Sarah-Brightman-esque high soprano descant. The Kronos Quartet plays a quick rhythmic string accompaniment, like freezing rain. The lyrics by Vega ask a strange question, “If it were only you/Naked on the grass/Who would you be then?” This short, minimalist song is both haunting and enchanting.

“Honky Tonk Blues” (Disc 4)

This song, of course, was composed by country legend Hank Williams. Recorded in 1974 but previously unreleased, Ronstadt sings it here with Emmylou Harris. Their voices slide over the melody perfectly, like a vocal mutual admiration society. Both singers add the necessary country twang and yodel. In contrast to the other Ronstadt-Harris-Parton collaborations in this set, “Honky Tonk Blues” is sung with a little more raucous enthusiasm, appropriate for this roadhouse classic.


The Booklet

I am very disappointed in the booklet included with this box set. The 12” x 5” 62-page booklet is filled with lush photographs and a sparse biography of the singer. Although the photographs are lovely, they are printed in dark tones and somewhat fuzzy focus, so that they carry little information value.

Information on the recordings is provided in the final 5 pages (composer, producer, musicians on the recording) in teeny, tiny print. I’m not usually bothered by small print, but this was microscopic print. I think most readers (except those too young to have heard of Ronstadt) would have trouble reading this section of the booklet.

Lyrics are not provided. Now, I know that providing the lyrics to 86 songs would have taken up quite a bit of paper, but these are songs, not just instrumental music. I would quite have rather there were fewer pages of (fuzzy focus) photographs on lower quality paper, and have additional pages with (larger typeface) lyrics. For those wishing to know the lyrics to any Ronstadt song, I refer you to the following web page: http://www.crosswinds.net/~ronstadt/lyrics.html.

There is a brief biography in the booklet, but not much. I have had to scour the Internet looking for biographical information to include in this review.

The Voice – that Glorious VOICE!

Ronstadt has one of the most accomplished voices in popular music. Streisand is technically more correct, but I don’t find her as accessible; she has a distanced kind of formality. Annie Lennox has at least as good a voice, if not better – but she has not traveled the musical range that Ronstadt has.

Ronstadt’s voice is clear, strong, and often hard driving. She has great emotional expressiveness to her performance. True, there are a few bobbles, a few notes that are not spot-on, especially among her earlier pieces. The pieces with The Nelson Riddle Orchestra show maturity in her technical ability. She blooms both technically and expressively in her Latino pieces.

I do not know what kind of vocal training Ronstadt has had. She does not open up her vowels (for great vocal fullness), and her r’s are decidedly hard. Apparently her enunciation (or the musical equivalent thereof) was something of an issue when she ventured into light opera. A 1980 piece in Newsweek reports “Then there was her infernal Arizona accent, which made co-star Kevin Kline fume, ‘This is Gilbert and Sullivan, Linda - you can't say, 'Git'!’”

I don’t really care. Ronstadt will always be one of my favorites. She can belt out tunes so strongly that I think her vocal cords are going to pop right out of her throat. Then she’ll retreat into such poignant tenderness and crooning that I’m embarrassed by the intimacy. I credit her for her stylistic courage and range, but I’ll always love her for her rock ‘n’ roll.