“I can give you anything but time.”

This is an Elvis Costello song. The song builds to a crescendo that leaves ME lightheaded.

Very talented singer, I like the national anthem at Dodgers stadium in 1977.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0CzKydbNsQ

One of my favorites....

quote:

Originally posted by rizzle:
Very talented singer, I like the national anthem at Dodgers stadium in 1977.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0CzKydbNsQ

So, so rare. A simple and accurate rendition with no "look-at-me" frills. Sung the way it was written and the way it should be sung. Bravo.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
One of my favorites....

Blue Bayou

I was thinking about this post this morning. It’s pretty universally held that Roy Orbison was one of the best singers this country produced. Orbison wrote the song along with Joe Melson and he owned it. Linda comes along and covers Orbison and, at least in my humble opinion, surpassed him with her rendition. Magnificent.

I remember buying her "new wave" album "Mad Love", and liking it better than the songs Pat Benatar was coming out with at the time. Gave the album away in college after a couple of years, but there were some really good songs on there, Mad Love, and this Hollies cover, her voice in this mid 90s performance was still absolutely amazing despite her older age. The girl was a damn good singer.

One of my favorite albums is What's New -- Linda Ronstadt with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra

I can't listen to her singing Blue Bayou without also hearing the Muppets going "ribbit, ribbit" in the background.

quote:

Originally posted by whanson_wi:
I can't listen to her singing Blue Bayou without also hearing the Muppets going "ribbit, ribbit" in the background.

oh

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
One of my favorite albums is What's New -- Linda Ronstadt with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra

“But what I really luxuriated in — in terms of being able to find interesting textures in my voice and finding interesting melodies and beautiful harmonic atmospheres — were the standards. When I first started singing those, it was just like a whole other world; I just went into another world. It was fabulous. I felt like I had been completely let out of a box. I felt like there was something more I could do with my voice. I didn’t know what it was, but it was always there whispering and saying, “There’s something you’re missing.” And when I started singing that stuff, I went, “Oh my God, there it is, all the rest of my voice, it’s all there.”
- Linda Ronstadt

I DO love the Canciones de mi Padre and at 2½ million US sales, it stands as the biggest selling non-English language album in American record history.

She’s just special. She was stunningly beautiful and possessed an incredible singing voice.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
One of my favorite albums is What's New -- Linda Ronstadt with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra

“... And when I started singing that stuff, I went, “Oh my God, there it is, all the rest of my voice, it’s all there.”
- Linda Ronstadt

It's not just the rest of her voice that's there in What's New, but, you actually get to hear her voice with stunning clarity.

I listen to What's New, then some of her earlier work, such as Blue Bayou and ask myself "Why did they record her through a heavy blanket?"

Rock music, with few exceptions, is very poorly recorded and mixed.

It was an acquaintance of mine that did mixing, mastering, and other sound work for the Motown studios that turned me on to that album. (Paraphrasing) "You gotta get this album," he said, "the recording quality is as good as it gets and, while I wouldn't quite put her up there with Streisand, Ronstadt's vocals are terrific."

There are two other albums she recorded with the Nelson Riddle Band: Lush Life and For Sentimental Reasons. I've been meaning to snag those someday.

Hoyt Axton and Linda together singing his song, “Lion in the Winter.” The video quality leaves something to be desired, but the audio is perfect—as is Linda’s vocal, and especially her singing of the chorus.