Willin' (Little Feat/ Linda Ronstadt) (LP 3653 - 3659)

Linda Ronstadt  Heart Like a Wheel (Vinyl, Capitol Records, 1974) *****  

Linda Ronstadt  Prisoner in Disguise (CD, Asylum Records, 1975) ****  

Linda Ronstadt  Hasten Down the Wind (CD, Asylum Records, 1976) ***

Linda Ronstadt  Simple Dreams (CD, Asylum Records, 1977) *****   

Linda Ronstadt  Living in the USA (CD, Asylum Records, 1978) *** 

Linda Ronstadt  Mad Love (CD, Asylum Records, 1980) ****  

Linda Ronstadt (featuring Aaron Neville)  Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind (CD, Asylum Records, 1989) ***  

Genre: Pop 

Places I remember: Just for the Record, HMV, Shona's collection (Cry like...)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Living in the USA

Gear costume: Tumbling Dice (Simple Dreams), How Do I Make You (Mad Love) 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Linda Ronstadt needs no introduction! Heart Like a Wheel was her fifth solo studio album, and it's only 1974.

It contains a mix of covers - some oldies and some contemporary to 1974. She doesn't put a foot wrong, and her band of LA's finest do her justice - it's a long list of musicians. It all adds up to Californian soft rock heaven. And, man, can she sing!

Prisoner in Disguise followed the Heart Like a Wheel template closely and, once again, delivered the good times. Outside of Little Feat, does anyone do Little Feat songs any better than Linda? First Willin' and now Roll Um Easy. Perfection!

And so, onto Hasten Down the Wind. It was her third straight million-selling album. The same crew of LA's brilliant musicians were involved, but nobody outshines Linda's pipes. It should be said that it does have some hints of getting a little too slick at times. Still. She was on a definite roll.

Some songs are much better than others - That'll Be The Day is a great cover but there are a few songs by Karla Bonoff that are of a lesser standard.

Simple Dreams had her back in the right groove. It's about those cover choices with Linda and with Tumbling Dice, Blue Bayou, It's So Easy, Poor Poor Pitiful Me, and Carmelita - she had some inspired choices. It was huge commercially and critically. She was back to her best (i.e. Heart Like a Wheel).

The slickness is replaced with some grittier rock'n'roll sounds for some songs on Simple Dreams (Poor Poor Pitiful Me, Carmelita, It's So Easy, Tumbling Dice) - hence the five-star rating.

That approach continues to a large extent on Living in the USA, her ninth studio album, and although it was another big seller (her third and final #1), it's a more uneven album than Simple Dreams. It's the choice of covers again, and the rock'n'roll quota that dictates the success factor. Only the title track really rocks out on the album.

Mad Love was the first album of the eighties. It's a pretty successful attempt to update her sound for the times (three songs by Elvis Costello!) and has a great rocky sound. How Do I Make You is a favourite around these parts!

Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind is a collaboration with Aaron Neville. It's a diverse selection of mainstream pop styles, as per normal, except Aaron lends his unique voice to the mix on a few tracks.

Where do they all belong? The Different Drum compilation has her earlier stuff that is also lovely to listen to on a sunny day!