Linda Ronstadt - illness prevents singing

[GA Russell]

Linda Ronstadt has revealed that she has Parkinson's, and that as a result she can no longer sing. A real shame.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/08/24/linda-ronstadt-tells-aarp-has-parkinsons-says-cant-sing/?intcmp=features

[Clunky]

Parkinson's is a really cruel disease, I don't know her music but wish her well.

[7/4]

That's awful.

[Ligeti]

Strange, I've been playing a lot of Linda Ronstandt's music lately. Her blend of Country/Rock in the 70's and 80's was/is amazing.

This news is heartbreaking. Her voice was astonishing, captured beautifully by Elektra and Peter Asher. I'm not usually a fan of albums of cover songs, but Linda is the exception to the rule, she never failed to give us that little extra something in a tune.

She's 68? Man, that ages me. --lol--

Anyway, sad news.

[A Lark Ascending]

Some great singing on Escalator Over The Hill.

Sad to hear.

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, EOTH is the only work of hers I've consciously listened to.

There's a fascinating Rolling Stone article about her South African sojourn. Let's just say it doesn't paint the greatest picture of her intelligence. Then again, it's accessible from her website.

[colinmce]

Heart Like A Wheel is tremendous. So is the Trio album with Dolly Parton & Emmylou. Such a beautiful voice, very sad news.

[Ligeti]

You really can't beat Hasten Down the Wind, Prisoner in Disguise, Simple Dreams, and Get Closer. They are the ones I return to again and again. She's also one of those artists that had a brilliant Greatest Hits package.

[jazzbo]

I never was really crazy about her music, but she was a beautiful young lady!

Sorry to hear about her continuing health problems.

[gmonahan]

She really started the whole "rock singers sing standards" thing with Riddle, didn't she? I remember being charmed by some of those efforts and impressed, at least, that she gave Riddle the work. I too am sorry to hear she's having so much trouble.

gregmo

[JSngry]

She really started the whole "rock singers sing standards" thing with Riddle, didn't she? I remember being charmed by some of those efforts and impressed, at least, that she gave Riddle the work. I too am sorry to hear she's having so much trouble.

She was preceded by (at least) Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson, & Carly Simon. Simon's Trust is actually a nice album if you can suspend disbelief about her vocals and just get into the accompaniment). Also, Motown had a thing about getting their bigger acts to do "standards" as part of the grooming for Vegas.

Ronstadt has never struck me as a particularly bright person (but who am I to judge?) or singer (and although she got what was probably Riddle's most uninspired ever "high profile" work out of him and was by more than a few accounts more or less a total dolt about how to "get into" that material, hey, she had the desire and the money, and by god, she made it happen, so, good for her!)), but I always dug her for not letting that get in the way of her enthusiasm and curiosity (remember her doing "Pirates Of Penzance"?). I give a whole lot of the credit to her great run of great-sounding records in the 70s to Peter Asher (and yeah, the Greatest Hits thing is one of the fewer times where that's what I'd prefer over whole albums) but she had the chops to give him something to work with, right? Really, "harmlessly & pleasantly clueless" is perhaps the phrase that keeps coming to mind about her actual singing. She's always had, again, a good, at times great skill set to be clueless with.

All of which is just to say that as a "singer", eh...., but as a "voice", somebody you couldn't miss no matter what the context, she's been there since "Different Drummer" and stayed there for all of my adult life, and even if I can't really take her seriously as an "artist", I still like her a helluva lot, and yes, this is sad news.

[GA Russell]

Wait a second, Jimbo! Aren't you always dissing my girl Astrud for the same thing?

[jazzbo]

We do need a few pictures.

[JSngry]

Wait a second, Jimbo! Aren't you always dissing my girl Astrud for the same thing?

Not knowingly...not sure what you mean...but I like Astrud just fine. And she's nowhere near as "clueless" as Ronstadt. Flip side of that is that she has nowhere near the raw skill set. She can pretty much do what she do better than anybody, but if the production is not aware of what that is (and isn't), then uh-oh. Whereas Ronstadt can sound equally adept at anything. Adept, and shallow. Not that that's a bad thing, just that as far as "failure" goes, Astrud's "failures" are more of setting, Ronstadt's of understanding.

But as far as everything else, they're both deservedly iconic, each in their own way.

[GA Russell]

OK, I thought you didn't respect her.

[Teasing the Korean]

"Different Drum," written by Thee Great Michael Nesmith, is a tune I never tire of. Love the Stone Poneys' hit version.

[paul secor]

And that might be one I'd include in "songs I hate".

Different Drums - Diffrent strokes.

Edited August 27, 2013 by paul secor

[Ligeti]

It's all just opinions, but accusations of being "clueless" and "shallow" don't at all come close to being meaningful - let alone true - descriptions of Ronstadt. Her voice is/was incredible. It wasn't just good, it's stunning, imo. Her choice of material was vaired, even on her rock albums. As a career, she sang standards through foreign language classics. She's got the kind of voice that stops you in your tracks.

But that's just me, I guess. I don't dislike Miles Davis despite his drug problems. I don't judge musicians on their intelligence. It's all about the music, and in the end that's all that matters. A really smart person who makes bad music is still making bad music. If you're going to describe an artist as "clueless" it's probably wise to give an example of why that term applies, no? And what does how "bright" someone is matter, even a little? Ronstadts instrument was her voice, that's all you need to know to appreciate her gift.

Edited August 27, 2013 by Ligeti

[Larry Kart]

Different strokes, but though her voice is sumptuous, albeit in a fairly generic way IMO, I find Ronstadt's version of "When I Fall In Love" to be an annoyingly obtuse reading of the song -- as in, lots of candy-sweet voice, little understanding of what is or should be going on in the song dramatically:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECI0RRV7RCw

By contrast, Nat King Cole:

[7/4]

Different strokes, but though her voice is sumptuous, albeit in a fairly generic way IMO, I find Ronstadt's version of "When I Fall In Love" to be an annoyingly obtuse reading of the song -- as in, lots of candy-sweet voice, little understanding of what is or should be going on in the song dramatically:

Who's that guitar player on her version?

[Larry Kart]

Different strokes, but though her voice is sumptuous, albeit in a fairly generic way IMO, I find Ronstadt's version of "When I Fall In Love" to be an annoyingly obtuse reading of the song -- as in, lots of candy-sweet voice, little understanding of what is or should be going on in the song dramatically:

Who's that guitar player on her version?

"[Ronstadt] wisely continued her relationship with arranger/orchestra leader Nelson Riddle whose experience and talent kept her and the project true to the sound and style of the material. For his part, Riddle recruited such musicians as guitarist Bob Mann (who'd go on to play for Rod Stewart in his forays into the same type of material), drummer John Guerin, bassist Bob Magnusson, and pianist Don Grolnick, all of whom were veterans of the big band and lounge scene, making them perfect for this project."

[JSngry]

"Clueless" and "shallow" as in I hardly ever felt that she was really inhabiting the lyrics, not even on a "show biz" level. It was almost like she was singing phonetically in her native tongue.

That's never really stopped me from enjoying her on the radio or anywhere else she popped up to sing. It has, however, stopped me from taking her seriously as an "interpreter". Ever. An excellent "coverer", yes. Oh my, yes. But interpreter? Not for me, thanks.

[etherbored]

i have to agree. i recently reassessed the riddle sessions and i was struck by how generally unengaging i found her to be. that being said, there are moments where the material and her strengths do cross paths, such as 'skylark'. afterwards i reinvestigated the remainder of her capital and early asylum catalog and found that, of course, that's the material and production that suits her best.

[Ligeti]

Yeah, it's a bit unfair to point to the Riddle albums and use those to define Ronstadt. When all is said and done, they are a minor part of her legacy. She mostly spend time in the Country/Rock vein, where there are countless wonderful performances. Of course, some things didn't work as well as others, but that's to be expected. Flaws include Costello's Alison, and Newman's Sail Away. But the good outweighs the bad by a country mile, imo.

I still think using terms such as "clueless" to be, well, clueless. I'd rather applaud the fact that she gave things a go. I mean, come on, how many singers really compare to Nat King Cole for goodness sakes.

Still, each to their own. As I say, the Riddle albums are like choosing the most obtuse part of someones catalog, and then drawing career conclusions on it. A strange thing to do. Usually artists are remembered for their best work, not their middling or poorer releases. I see no reason to slap a negative label on the lady when, in reality, her catalog is chock full of heartfelt renditions of songs that did work well........

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Back in the day, I bought some of Ronstadt's albums for the covers and wound up keeping them for the music. The lady could sing.

I've never even heard the Riddle LP. At the time it came out, it was not in my wheelhouse at all. Maybe I should give it a spin now.