Linda Ronstadt was easily the best country, country rock singer of the
early to mid seventies who had no connections with country music. She had a
true country voice that could be raspy or be pure and emotive. She had ten
singles that charted high on the country singles charts. I was fortunate to
see Linda around '73 when she had just transitioned from a pop record with
the Stone Poneys and had a couple of great country albums under her belt. It
was at a popular small coffee house near Philly called The Main Point, that
sat about one hundred. I was sitting about fifteen feet from her, she and
her band with Sneaky Pete and Andrew Gold gave me one of the best shows of
my life. My personal favorite album is the self titled "Linda Ronstadt"
album, mostly covers, very country sounding with everything from "I Fall To
Pieces" to Jackson Brown's "Rock Me On The Water".
Now to this new compilation, which has twenty one tracks, mostly from
the seventies. Eight songs are on her first greatest hits album. I did a
sonic comparison from the songs on this Rhino re-mastered CD to the older
CD. (Original CD had a caveat- This digital recording may not be as good as
a new recording because of the inferior source material) (analog tape).
Well, this disc is incredible sounding, one of the best recordings
that I have ever heard. (From the same inferior source) Tonality is much
better, stereo field is incredible, you hear things in the mix never noticed
before. Linda never sounded better. People may debate on whether these were
the best tracks or what order the tracks are in, but I think it is an
excellent representation of the hottest part of Linda's career.
Listening to the songs, Linda in her day puts to shame the country pop
Divas of today like Shania and Faith. Linda leads off with her great version
of "When Will I Be Loved" (miss the segway into Willin' on the original
album). "Blue Bayou" never sounded better, just a great country song. "Love
Is A Rose" is an incredible acoustic, country masterpiece. "Long, Long Time"
,the great love ballad sounds like it had a veil taken off of it and has
been sonically opened.
I always loved Linda's "OOH, Baby ,Baby" just for the beautiful vocals
and emotion invested in the song.
Other great tracks include, "You're No Good", "Just One Look", Tracks
Of My Tears", and her version of "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me". Also, can't leave
out "That'll Be The Day" and " Hurts So Bad".
In closing, let me say , this is a must have for audiophiles. Even if
you have these songs on the greatest hits CDs, the sound quality leaves the
other discs in the dust. This is what good mastering is all about.
Check out
http://www.rhino.com/ for more info.
Visit Linda's Web Site At:
http://www.lindaronstadt.com/
