It’s been 50 years and I have never gotten over my fascination and admiration of Linda Ronstadt.
A cover of Martha and the Vandellas Heat Wave in Sept 1975 introduced her to my 1970’s generation. Heart Like a Wheel was Linda’s first number 1 album that year.
Linda never seemed comfortable as a Rocker Chick. She moved on to star on stage in Pirates of Penzance. Joan Jett had the career that Linda rejected.
Heart Like a Wheel and Prisoner in Disguise are widely misunderstood IMHO. Heat Wave and Your No Good launched Linda to rocker status. But the other songs like James Taylor’s Hey Mister that’s Me on the Jukebox and Love is a Rose are slow ballads. I especially love Linda’s cover of I Will Always Love You by Dolly Parton.
Prisoner in Disguise is my favorite song from that album.
I don’t listen to the following two albums from 1976 and 77 very often. Hasten Down the Wind and Simple Dreams are performed well. But the songs don’t grab my attention. Blue Bayou is the best song on those two albums.
Linda’s Best album cover, by far! OMG even after 50 years. I’ve never gotten over Linda.
Lets Discuss her albums and songs. What do you listen to regularly?
One of my first celebrity crushes (I was eight or nine years old). My parents played the album Heart Like a Wheel a lot, and it’s still one of my favorites — every song is a gem.
(Yes, I know they’re all covers, and yes, I’ve heard the originals, and I like them, too — well, I can’t stand the MacGarrigal sisters’ voices, but they sure can compose a tune.)
ETA Hasten Down the Wind was the other LP my parents had. Listen for Don Henley’s backup vocals in the title track.
Heart Like a Wheel, released in 1974, was Ronstadt’s breakthrough album. But the singles off of that album were “You’re No Good” and “When Will I Be Loved”.
“Heat Wave” was on Ronstadt’s next album Prisoner in Disguise, which was released in 1975.
I have a playlist with Heart Like a Wheel and Prisoner in Disguise on my phone. I lose track of which songs are on the specific albums.
Hard to imagine Linda was with the Stone Poneys way back in 1967. Different Drum was her hit. She left the band and floundered for a few years. Came back strong in 1974.
I finally to see Linda in concert circa 1985 (with my mother), in an anti-nuclear-weapons benefit show (so 80s!) with James Taylor and Jackson Browne.
Oh, and my aunt and mother saw her with Kevin Klein do “Pirates of Penzance” at Shakespeare in the Park (free performances in New York’s Central Park). I think I remember waiting in line with them to get tickets (basically picnicking in the park).
Hard to say which is my favorite track from Heart Like a Wheel. Today it’s J. D. Souther’s “Faithless Love.” Tomorrow it might be Little Feat’s “Willin’,” or James Taylor’s “You Can Close Your Eyes,” or Emma Franklin (Aretha’s sister’s) “You’re No Good.”
My kid’s neighbor’s mom has a similar heritage to Linda’s — US mother, “racially nuanced” Mexican father, relatives living in desert southwest, but doesn’t really retain much of her part-Mexican identity or culture (but may “rediscover” it someday). We chuckle about the parallels.
My first concert experience was Linda Ronstadt in the late 1970s. Capital Center near D.C. It was great. I always enjoyed her music. Her cover of Tracks of My Tears is a classic.
Yes! And the second half of the guitar solo on “Willin’” is fifteen seconds of perfection. If I remember right from my childhood, it’s played (on the pedal steel guitar) by someone named “Sneaky Pete” Karnow.*
I once analyzed the harmony intervals in her version of “Faithless Love” (sung with a male voice, starting with the bridge and to the end), because I could tell they were unusual. Tastefully poignant.
*I was close. It’s “Kleinow.” He was a Flying Burrito Brother! Makes sense — they more or less INVENTED that whole country-rock-California sound, back in ‘68-‘69 (they appear briefly in the Gimme Shelter film).
I can’t claim to have ever listened to any of her music “regularly.” I’ll say I have nothing but respect, though. One of the sweetest voices I’ve ever heard.
“In 2013, after years of struggling with her vocals, Ronstadt was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. However, she later learned that she actually had a Parkinson’s-like disorder called progressive supranuclear palsy.”
Ah, my favorite female vocalist of all time. Linda was always up for trying new genres. I really like her album of 30s - 40s wartime (that’s WWII) tunes “Round Midnight.”
