I took today off and treated myself to a little record shop. On the walk home I also finished getting in my listen to the next album up for review.
Disc 1841 is…Mad Love
Artist: Linda Ronstadt
Year of Release: 1980
What’s up with the Cover? Linda caught in the dead of night making a clandestine phone call!
Linda looks very sexy here, suggesting this could be a booty call. However, the record is called “Mad Love” so this could be her calling some guy in the dead of night to tell him that they can be together now "the wife is out of the way”. Oh, and she’s hidden the bloody knife in his house with his fingerprints on it in case he gets any ideas about changing his mind.
I gotta ease up on binge watching “You”…
How I Came To Know It: Over the last five years or so I’ve been doing a deep dive into Linda Ronstadt’s catalogue. Little did I know how hard it was going to be to find it, but eventually it came in a package of reissues, and I snapped it up. I had to “re-buy” some of the other records in there, but no harm done, as the resulting doubles all went to good homes.
How It Stacks Up: When I last reviewed a Linda Ronstadt album I only had seven, but that number has grown to nine, requiring a bit of readjustment. “Mad Love” comes in at #8 (of 9), ahead of “Living in the USA (now #9).
Ratings: 2 stars
Linda Ronstadt has one of those voices that can cross into any genre and be successful. Country, folk, pop and rock and roll all suit her well. She would’ve been awesome in a metal band as well but, alas, this never happened.
What did happen in 1980 was “Mad Love”, Ronstadt’s foray into early eighties pop and New Wave. Remember the Flashdance soundtrack? Well, cross that with everything you know about Linda Ronstadt and you’ll have an approximation of what this record is like.
Now, before you tune out at this notion, I will quickly note that “Mad Love” is better than the Flashdance soundtrack. Just hearing Ronstadt’s power vocals are enough to make it better. There’s a reason she’s got the reputation of one of the all-time vocal greats. Her tone is rich through all the many octaves she can sing in, and she’s equally adept at sounding sweet romantic ballads, angst-ridden dirges, and even a bit of growl when a tougher sound is called for. She meets each genre she tackles on its own terms, honours what makes that kind of music unique, and then uses her instrument to elevate it.
On “Mad Love” it is a hard sell. Early eighties pop has a tinny production and a lot of excess instrumentation in the arrangement. While Ronstadt embraces this sound, it doesn’t allow her to fully showcase what she can do. The transfer to CD does not do the low end of the record any favours either.
Good thing we are talking about Linda Ronstadt. The title track launches with a jump at the front of the beat that will feature on and off throughout the record. This song has an easy anthemic quality that was typical of stadium rock at the time, and while you shouldn’t expect to be wowed with anything original, you should expect to be inspired and lifted. Does this song have one too many organ solos? Yes, it does, but if you think you didn’t have fun listening to it then you may be lying to yourself.
Juxtaposed to this we have the sultry croon of “Hurt So Bad” which is up there competing with the likes of Pat Benatar with its combination of sexy and sultry. Again we have Ronstadt leaning forward into the beat, but rather than feeling rushed, it creates an urgency that matches the song’s themes of longing and desire.
Ronstadt tries this same treatment on Neil Young’s “Look Out For My Love” but here things don’t mesh. This song is meant as a meandering stoner journey, and trying to infuse it with early eighties production makes it feel artificial and forced. It’s not often Ronstadt fails to make a cover her own, but it happens here.
Despite some high points, “Mad Love” did not consistently inspire me. Ronstadt demonstrates she can do anything on this record, but I admit I was left wondering if the effort was worth it.
Best tracks: Mad Love, Hurt So Bad, Justine
No comments:
Post a Comment