For the second straight time the Odyssey has given me a powerhouse singer with a penchant for genre jumping.
Disc 1419 is…. Self-Titled
Artist: Linda Ronstadt
Year of Release: 1972
What’s up with the Cover? It’s the return of the Giant Head Cover! Long-time readers (both of you) will know my long-standing obsession with the many Giant Head Covers music has to offer. This one is a good one, being Linda Ronstadt’s head, although the straight-ahead stare is a little intense.
How I Came To Know It: I have known Linda Ronstadt most of my life. This particular album is the result of me going through her back catalogue, primarily digging for Warren Zevon covers. This album has none of those, but it is still one of her better efforts.
How It Stacks Up: I have two Linda Ronstadt albums, and am on the hunt for two more. Of the two I have her self-titled effort comes in second to “Simple Dreams” (reviewed back at Disc 1278).
Ratings: 4 stars
Linda Ronstadt doesn’t write any of the songs on her eponymous third album, but when you have a voice like hers who wrote the songs fades into the background; you’re just glad she’s singing them.
The record is a bit of a hodgepodge on the surface, but underneath you can see Ronstadt has two motivations. First, she’s deliberately trying on multiple styles of music – flipping through old school country, folk, and even a little R&B. You might think this is her trying to expand her audience (she was not yet a superstar). That is probably partly true, but from what I know about her, she had a genuine interest in a lot of different kinds of music.
Her other reason is to show off those pipes. She likes singing the hard ones and she’s not afraid to take on songs made classic by someone else. Never is this more evident than her cover of Patsy Cline’s “I Fall to Pieces”. That takes balls, but Ronstadt’s version is every bit as good, and different enough to not feel derivative.
I like every direction she goes. The record starts with Jackson Browne’s “Rock Me On the Water”. It is a strong start and even if you’re not a Christian (I’m not) you’ll still appreciate the spiritual uplift the song gives you.
“I Won’t Be Hangin’ Round” is a bluesy number, with some great decisions in the arrangement, particularly that chorus of backup singers adding flourishes in just the right places.
At this point I should note that the arranger for all the songs is none other than Glenn Frey. Yes, that Glenn Frey. Ronstadt had Frey, Don Meisner and Don Henley in her backing band, which is where they met and decided to go off and form a band called the Eagles. You may have heard of them. Anyway, long-time readers will know I’ve poked a bit of fun at Glenn Frey over the years (he is a founding member of my mythical “worst castoffs” band, DEF GORF). I’m not repenting on those comments, but I will say Frey does a fabulous job on this record of putting these songs together that showcases Ronstadt’s voice and also her musical diversity.
Back to those style choices. On her cover of Livingston Taylor’s “In My Reply” she takes his country song and moves it solidly into folk territory. Ronstadt infuses Taylor’s tale of little white lies with whole new layers of heartbreak. You hang on every word and feel for every character and when it ends three and a half minutes later, you are a bit sad, but want to go back and listen to it all over again.
That’s generally true for the record as well, which comes in at a very close-shaved 31 minutes. I wanted a little bit more, but too short is better than too long. Leave ‘em wanting more, Linda.
The album ends with the Motown classic, “Rescue Me.” You’d think all this R&B groove would be the wrong fit for Ronstadt, but you’d be wrong. She settles down in the pocket with natural ease and lets the soul flow. She even makes the song fit well alongside everything that came before.
This record didn’t make Ronstadt any serious money back in the day (it peaked at #35 on the U.S. country charts and didn’t register beyond that). I guess it took a while for people to realize that getting a record with more than one kind of music is a good thing in the right hands.
Best tracks: Rock Me on the Water, I Won’t Be Hangin’ Round, In My Reply, I Fall to Pieces, Rescue Me
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