Sheila is out at the theatre tonight so it is just me and the cat. I love live music, but live theatre? Not so much. Of course when one has music, one is never alone. What music accompanies me (and the cat) tonight? Read on to find out.
Disc 1678 is…Silk Purse
Artist: Linda Ronstadt
Year of Release: 1970
What’s up with the Cover? A youthful Linda Ronstadt sits in a pig pen, presumably to make the “sow’s ear” reference that makes the title of the record “work”.
I’m not sure who thought this cover was wise, but it was not a good idea in 1970 and it has aged poorly.
How I Came To Know It: I’ve taken a surf through Ronstadt’s discography the last few years, and on my first visit to “Silk Purse” I took a pass. However, when it showed up as part of a trilogy of records on one CD (along with “Hand Sewn…Home Grown” (Disc 1577) and her self-titled effort (Disc 1419)) I decided it was worth picking up after all.
How It Stacks Up: I have seven Linda Ronstadt albums, and I’m on the lookout for an eighth. Of the seven I currently have, “Silk Purse” is not a favourite. I’ll put it sixth.
Rating: 3 stars
Any conversation of Linda Ronstadt starts with her voice. It is one of the finest voices in popular music – country or otherwise – and it makes any song sound good. It may be because of this high expectation that “Silk Purse” did not inspire me the way I’d hoped it would.
Yes, Ronstadt can still sing like an angel, but situated between the wholesome “just arrived” feel of “Hand Sown…Home Grown” and the full-blown brilliance of her 1972 self-titled release, “Silk Purse” often feels the awkward middle child.
Ronstadt is a vocalist not a songwriter, and part of being a vocalist is taking each song and making it your own. She does a passable job of it here but is into helped that I knew two of the first three tracks by others and liked their versions better.
The record starts with the classic country tune, “Lovesick Blues” and while Ronstadt does it well, it isn’t the timeless masterpiece of Hank Williams’ late forties version, nor the masterwork of Patsy Cline’s 1960 delivery. If anyone can keep up with the genius that is Patsy Cline it is Linda Ronstadt. Just not this time, I’m afraid.
Ronstadt also takes a run at “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” but again, I couldn’t help but think of the Shirelles classic and again like it better.
However, you can’t keep a good woman down, and talent eventually finds a way, and so the opening track of Side Two (or Track Six for us currently uncool CD types) she delivers a masterpiece with “Long Long Time.” If there is a more poignant and heartbreaking song of love and loss than “Long Long Time” I can’t think of it right now. This song is pure magic.
It helps that this song was recently rediscovered by the world through an exceptional episode of the TV Show “The Last of Us”. There it bookends one of best 60 minutes of TV (and enduring love) I’ve experienced. So, yeah, I had dewy eyed thoughts of the TV show while listening, but you don’t need a mushroom zombie outbreak to appreciate this song; it can make you dewy-eyed all on its own. The soaring vocals of Ronstadt, lifting through the clouds on wings of triumphant anguish, is just something your ears have to experience. Never has loving and lost been more worth it.
At 4:22 “Long Long Time” is the longest tune on the record, but it is still over way too soon on every listen. Did I rewind it and give it a second go, in a near violation of CD Odyssey rules? Reader, I did.
The record ends strong, with a brilliant tune by Bernie Leadon and ex-Byrd Gene Clark, “He Dark the Sun”. Clark is the most under-rated Byrd to ever play with the band (the most over-rated being David Crosby) and Ronstadt is a worthy vessel for this exceptional tune.
The record ends with a worship tune (“Life Is Like a Mountain Railway”) which had me thinking of country music’s earliest beginnings. It didn’t convert me, but it did reveal true beauty to me in under three and a half minutes, and that was more than enough.
My copy of “Silk Purse” is re-mastered but I didn’t love the result. I suspect the tinny sound of the record is part of its original aesthetic, as Ronstadt was still very much in a “homespun” kind of mode on this record. I would have preferred a bigger, richer sound with a bit more oomph in the lower end. However, it doesn’t ruin the record, which despite not being her best is still a fine selection of tunes.
Best tracks: Long Long Time, Louise, He Dark the Sun
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