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Post by Dianna on Jun 19, 2014 16:20:41 GMT -5
I feel the same way about young whitney in her prime as jennifer hudson.. no doubt both could sing DSL I can hear it in all its glory. I never purchased any albums of whitney's and only know her radio hits. I think the closest song Richard is describing would be Saving all my love for you. It still had a few embellishments but not as over bearing as typical WH. I was listening to Linda; Hasten Down the Wind on the wonderful Duets CD... I never noticed it before but it sounds like Linda is mimicking a little bit of ONJ? Or it sounds more like Olivia style song.. Either way I enjoy the song
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Post by sliderocker on Jun 19, 2014 17:33:15 GMT -5
I feel the same way about young whitney in her prime as jennifer hudson.. no doubt both could sing DSL I can hear it in all its glory. I never purchased any albums of whitney's and only know her radio hits. I think the closest song Richard is describing would be Saving all my love for you. It still had a few embellishments but not as over bearing as typical WH. I was listening to Linda; Hasten Down the Wind on the wonderful Duets CD... I never noticed it before but it sounds like Linda is mimicking a little bit of ONJ? Or it sounds more like Olivia style song.. Either way I enjoy the song I've never thought Linda sounded like she was mimicking Olivia Newton-John on "Hasten Down the Wind," although I think that song could've fit Olivia as easily as it fit Linda. Would've been interesting if those two had paired up for a song or album back in the day, as Linda and Olivia generally did some good duets with other artists. The only artist pairing Olivia didn't work out so great on was when RCA had her add her voice to one of Elvis's Christmas songs for the "Christmas Duets" projects. Olivia's track was the weakest and the worst offender on the "Christmas Duets" cd. Of course, that whole cd was pretty offensive. Linda was the only artist (not related to Elvis) worthy enough to sing with him and I always wondered if she had been asked to participate? But that album was released about the time she was experiencing the symptoms of Parkinsons and possibly explains her omission. I'd rather have had Linda sing on all of Elvis's Christmas songs than the artists they did in. My sister got me that cd for Christmas the year it came out but it's one recording I don't play at all. Elvis's original, yes, duets, no.
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Post by erik on Jun 19, 2014 21:55:35 GMT -5
Quote by sliderocker re. Linda and Olivia Newton-John:
I think Linda and Olivia could have worked well together, though Olivia might also have been slightly overwhelmed by Linda's vocal force. But then again, Linda could very easily have accommodated herself for her Australian contemporary because she is as much of a collaborator as she is a leader.
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Post by fabtastique on Jun 19, 2014 22:45:25 GMT -5
I like Olivia, but can't really hear much similarity between her and Linda on Hasten Down The Wind....
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Post by reel2014-take two on Jun 19, 2014 22:47:36 GMT -5
Whitney had a fabulous voice, I just didn't care much for her songs or her always over singing everything. I always thought it would be interesting to hear Whitney take on an album of Linda's, say Hasten Down the Wind, and sing songs outside of her pop/soul comfort zone and turn down the "fierce diva" dial. I mean, I imagine her singing Down So Low or Try Me Again more in Linda's vocal style but with Whitney's own instrument. I would imagine that would be one sweet album. I mean, think of what Whitney's voice would sound like singing Linda's arrangement of Crazy--minus the vocal craziness that made so many of her songs sound hysterical to me. Still, you can't deny Houston's gift. But good grief, that live performance of Linda's of Down So Low (from Germany?) is just stunning. She digs deep and she delivers a payload, and is just as arresting to watch, even though her eyes remain closed through the entire song, as to listen to, so committed is she to the song. And it's not an easy song to sing, as I'm sure reel2014 can attest! I love down so low the best...of all of her stuff...but I can't find a track of it!!! so when I supposedly "sing it"...I'm cheating cuz its a dub!...dang!!!
On a good note,,,I found a track of try me again...so I'm gonna go with that one and the dub tomorrow....landlords are gone....
Whitney's original hand picked music director, Loris Holland, is my mentor for over 13 years now---I agree,,,her vocal on these songs would be interesting...but ...bottom line
ya gotta melisma it up if ya gonna talk Whitney!
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Post by sliderocker on Jun 20, 2014 0:18:28 GMT -5
]I think Linda and Olivia could have worked well together, though Olivia might also have been slightly overwhelmed by Linda's vocal force. But then again, Linda could very easily have accommodated herself for her Australian contemporary because she is as much of a collaborator as she is a leader. Being overwhelmed is what I think happened to Olivia when singing on Elvis's version of "O Come All Ye Faithful." On paper, it probably sounded like a good idea but in execution, it just didn't come off. Olivia's voice was just no match for Elvis's voice. Strange as it may seem, I don't think it was their voices that were mismatched but the song. Elvis's vocal had an otherworldly, almost profoundly sad feel to it. Olivia couldn't find that place where Elvis was singing. A better song choice might have been "Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees" or the countryish but not really sounding like a Christmas song, "It Won't Seem Like Christmas (Without You)." With Linda and Olivia, I think any recording or album they could've made would've required some very strong songs which could highlight both of their voices. Linda worked pretty well with any singer she chose to sing with and I think as long as the right songs were chosen, Linda's and Olivia's voices likely would've blended very well together. Olivia had some songs on her 70s albums that I could've seen Linda doing if she had gotten to them first and expressed an interest in doing. And I could've seen Olivia doing some songs Linda had done, but the deal killer likely would've been one of the record labels either insisting only they could release the work or deep sixing the project altogether. Both RCA and Asylum were keen on releasing a proper version of the bootlegged Elvis-Linda "duet" of "Love Me Tender." But both labels dug in their heels and insisted the record could only be released by one label, and each label was wanting to be that label. It ended up not being released. I don't think Olivia's label, MCA. would've had an issue loaning Olivia to Asylum for a one-off recording with Linda. They loaned her to RCA to make a record with John Denver, which was a big hit. A whole album, though, might have been another matter altogether. And as Asylum had refused to loan Linda to RCA for the Elvis duet, would they have deep sixed loaning Linda to MCA? I don't think Asylum had an issue with Warners handling the "Trio" album but as Asylum and Warners were part of the same corporation, it was keeping it in the same family so to speak. The only record company that was the odd label out was Dolly's record company, which at that time I think was Columbia. But, they had no problem loaning her so they probably were compensated in some way there.
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Post by erik on Jun 20, 2014 9:42:04 GMT -5
Quote by sliderocker:
Yes, record label issues on dream projects like this are always messy. But it is kind of interesting to know about some of the parallels in Linda's and Olivia's music during the period in question (middle to late 1970s). Both of them were very successful at crossing over between pop and country, though it's weird that Olivia's presence on the country charts at the time was so controversial (perhaps because she isn't American), while Linda managed to avoid it, even though she placed a distinct rock-oriented approach to what she did.
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Post by sliderocker on Jun 20, 2014 15:03:43 GMT -5
Yes, record label issues on dream projects like this are always messy. But it is kind of interesting to know about some of the parallels in Linda's and Olivia's music during the period in question (middle to late 1970s). Both of them were very successful at crossing over between pop and country, though it's weird that Olivia's presence on the country charts at the time was so controversial (perhaps because she isn't American), while Linda managed to avoid it, even though she placed a distinct rock-oriented approach to what she did. With Olivia, I think the controversy was that she was a "foreigner" on one hand, and that her country wasn't really Nashville's country. Recall the contingent of Nashville's finest revolted - led by Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton - when Olivia took some lousy country music award they felt should've gone more to a home grown artist. I suspect Dolly's part in that little revolt wasn't her idea but Wagoner's. The only "foreigners" Nashville seemed to tolerate was country singers from Canada, and it probably was because Canadians were part of the same continent. My guess is that on Linda, because she strongly identified herself as a country singer, they were more accepting of her than they would've been if she'd had a back catalog of rock albums and rock singles that had charted. Then, it might have been a whole other deal as in Linda, the former rock queen turning country to keep her career going. Country has never been one to throw out the welcome mat for former pop-rock stars. Nicolette Larson wasn't exactly made to feel welcomed when she switched to country. Of the artists who were successfule in switching from pop and/or rock to country, I think the ones who were successful were always regarded as country performers in the first place. That's why someone like Conway Twitty wasn't given a hard time. Waylon Jennings was considered country from the start, even though he also had some rock leanings and was accepted by the rock crowd. But, what was hard to figure out were artists like John Denver, who were more country than rock yet hated vehemently by the country establishment. It was weird to see how they reacted to him. They reacted favorably to Linda but that could've gone so easily the other way.
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Post by eddiejinnj on Jun 20, 2014 16:22:30 GMT -5
linda has said she is not a country singer but that may be her resisting being categorized in ANY way. she always would say she is a SINGER foremost and of course pursued her interests based on the varied catalog she heard at home before age 10 or 11 (I think lol). that must be the quote she has said the most in her career imo. 2 examples that converted well from pop/rock to country I can think of is the group "exile" (though they did not have extensive pop history at least to my knowledge) and also Hootie aka Darius Rucker more recently has done pretty well in the country genre. eddiejinnj
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Post by sliderocker on Jun 20, 2014 17:50:44 GMT -5
linda has said she is not a country singer but that may be her resisting being categorized in ANY way. she always would say she is a SINGER foremost and of course pursued her interests based on the varied catalog she heard at home before age 10 or 11 (I think lol). that must be the quote she has said the most in her career imo. 2 examples that converted well from pop/rock to country I can think of is the group "exile" (though they did not have extensive pop history at least to my knowledge) and also Hootie aka Darius Rucker more recently has done pretty well in the country genre. eddiejinnj Linda may resist being categorized in any musical genre these days but at the outset of her solo career, she wanted to be a country singer. She had to deal with a manager who did not want her going down that road. I think her "age 10" claim is largely a new claim for her as I don't recall seeing her ever mentioning that in any interview in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Likewise, her story about listening to Sinatra in her home around the same age. There was an interview in the 80s or 90s where she said J.D. Souther was the one who got her into listening to Sinatra, and after hearing Sinatra, decided she was never singing rock and roll again. But, she has always expressed a preference for ballads and ballads can fit into any musical genre. The "age 10" claim to me sounded like an attempt to rewrite her musical history from the age she is now or more recent times. She had always had a problem of not liking her own recordings and I think that may be why she didn't want to be categorized, although one does wonder if the big band/Mexican recordings had stiffed, would she have disowned those recordings as well? She was what she was and she can't rewrite her musical recordings to fit the image she has of herself these days. Exile, I alwys thought was more of a country group that managed to get lucky on the pop charts. They were sort of like Dr. Hook in having a more heavy country influence. Both of them were more countryish than what the Eagles were. Darius Rucker had always spoken of being heavily influenced by country music and I think Nashville saw him as a potential later day Charlie Pride. But, I also think Nashville performers and establishment types are more open to former rockers today than the ones back in the day who were opposed to them. Most of the old timey country performers from those days have retired or died off. But, even where there is resistance - and there is some, it's not the former rockers they have an issue with, it's those performers and groups who go to Nashville who are essentially rock performers, have a rock sound to their music but whose labels won't market them as rockers because, I guess, they don't look like rockers but more like the stereotypical good ol' boys..
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Post by erik on Jun 21, 2014 15:51:12 GMT -5
Quote by sliderocker:
I think the "age 10" thing is a new claim too, but in her memoir, she did say that, while she did want to do a lot of the country music she heard as a young'un in Arizona, she wanted to do it with a more California twist. I always refer to that approach as very "left-of-center'.
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Post by sliderocker on Jun 23, 2014 12:30:49 GMT -5
]I think the "age 10" thing is a new claim too, but in her memoir, she did say that, while she did want to do a lot of the country music she heard as a young'un in Arizona, she wanted to do it with a more California twist. I always refer to that approach as very "left-of-center'. "Left-of-center" is probably why Linda didn't succeed too wildly as a country singer, as in choosing not to record in Nashville, she was ostensibly outside Capitol's promotional machinery in Nashville, which preferred to promote the country singers who recorded there. Of course, Capitol Nashville did promote Buck Owens. who preferred to stay in Bakersfield, but Owens got built up before that machinery with its "our way or the highway" approach got so entrenched. The Capitol A&R departments in Los Angeles and New York had little to no interest in promoting country artists but I think they did give Linda some support. Just not enough. But, if Linda had been successful with her "left-of-center" approach to country from the start, I don't think she would've had the success she had in 1975 with "You're No Good" and "Heart Like a Wheel," and everything else that followed. Or at best, it may have been put off for another time. I believe she would've stayed with what had been successful for her. That's what the record company would've wanted and insisted upon - if you write a hit song or you're the lead singer, they want you to write the next song and/or sing it. That kind of mindset can be bad for any group with multiple singers and songwriters. I always thought Capitol knew what they had in Linda but their L.A. base couldn't put her "left-of-center" country over. And Linda and Nashville didn't mix. Capitol may have wanted Linda to sing pop and/or rock all along but as headstrong as she's been reported to be, I could've seen her insisting on singing what she wanted. There's a certain irony in that as record companies in the 60s and early 70s still insisted on calling the shots as to what the artists recorded. The artists making that call on a wide scale was something that didn't happen until the mid-70s. Linda was lucky in being able to call the shots and I think the reason Capitol was so agreeable was they knew Linda was going to make the right record that would catapult her into superstardom. The probably hated losing her to Asylum but she gave them a going away present in HLAW which also benefitted her and benefitted Asylum.
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Post by Tiny Dancer on Jun 23, 2014 18:14:58 GMT -5
Down So Low is even better performed live, as others have said:
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Post by eddiejinnj on Jun 23, 2014 18:50:53 GMT -5
she has said the age 10 thing for a lot of years. as far back as I recall. probably started more consistently around the release of what's new on. Re: the country issue; my recollection it was more of a record company push and since linda gets her way she ended up releasing the first alt-country album by a female. She put the edge to it at times and also some country rock. eddiejinnj
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Post by sliderocker on Jun 24, 2014 0:48:20 GMT -5
she has said the age 10 thing for a lot of years. as far back as I recall. probably started more consistently around the release of what's new on. Re: the country issue; my recollection it was more of a record company push and since linda gets her way she ended up releasing the first alt-country album by a female. She put the edge to it at times and also some country rock. eddiejinnj I've been trying to find her first reference to the age 10 thing but haven't been able to find a mention in the articles posted online, unless I missed it. It just seemed a very new, very recent comment. Like her comment about listening to Sinatra when she was a kid: it conflicts with a statement she made in an interview (that's in one of the articles posted online) in which she said she and J.D. Souther listened to some Sinatra records and that was where she became a fan. Of course, it is possible she could've listened to Sinatra's music as a kid but it's strange there was no mention of that before the "What's New" era. As for Linda's singing country, she wasn't pushed into that by the record company. It was her decision, one that even her first manager was dead set against and tried to talk her out of. Capitol, I think, tried to persuade her to record certain songs but don't think they had any luck in that. It was mentioned they wanted her to record "Stand By Your Man" and "Help Me Make It Through the Night" but she rejected both songs. I've always been curious about her rejection of "Help Me Make It Through the Night." Did that come before Sammi Smith recorded her hit version or after? If it was before, she missed a big opportunity but it seemed a more after the fact that someone else had already recorded it. Many of Capitol's non-writing country artists recorded songs that had been hits for other artists - hits that weren't limited to the country genre. But, I feel Linda didn't want to be just another in the long line of average country singers. The world didn't need an umpteenth version of some old country song although Linda did record some old country songs.
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Post by eddiejinnj on Jun 24, 2014 7:50:10 GMT -5
she sang some country songs but she did not consider herself a country singer. if she said it; it was a brief part of her history imo. in early interviews, she discussed lola beltran being her idol and also liking edith piaf. she was an eclectic artist right from the beginning. what I meant re: the record company was that,as we have discussed on here, they were trying to figure out how to market her but Linda's tastes were hard to put a simple label on. I believe she mentions the 10 yo thing in some of her rolling stone interviews but on that exactly I could be wrong. doesn't she mention it in that great tonight show interview with johnny which was soon before "what's new was out? am just emphasizing it is not a new thing but recently she has said it much more. eddiejinnj
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Post by erik on Jun 24, 2014 9:16:41 GMT -5
Quote by sliderocker:
I think they were very disappointed that she jumped ship to Asylum, but at the same time they seemed to try their level best to promote her. By Linda's own admission, her music simply wasn't all that easy for Capitol to categorize in such a neat box. Was it country? Was it folk? Was it rock? I think we all know the answer to that, in that it was a bit of each; but four decades ago, record companies were not yet used to such rampant eclecticism in one artist, let alone a female artist.
Linda could really have been vindictive towards Capitol, but she wasn't; and I don't think that's in her nature, anyway. She simply asked to be released because she knew she didn't fit in very easily. The great thing is that she left them with Heart Like A Wheel, which I think is still one of the biggest-selling albums by any female artist that was ever at Capitol.
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Post by sliderocker on Jun 24, 2014 10:55:03 GMT -5
she sang some country songs but she did not consider herself a country singer. if she said it; it was a brief part of her history imo. in early interviews, she discussed lola beltran being her idol and also liking edith piaf. she was an eclectic artist right from the beginning. what I meant re: the record company was that,as we have discussed on here, they were trying to figure out how to market her but Linda's tastes were hard to put a simple label on. I believe she mentions the 10 yo thing in some of her rolling stone interviews but on that exactly I could be wrong. doesn't she mention it in that great tonight show interview with johnny which was soon before "what's new was out? am just emphasizing it is not a new thing but recently she has said it much more. eddiejinnj Country was a big part of Linda's sound, as all of her official solo albums before "Heart Like a Wheel" were mostly country affairs with occasional mixing of rock and folk. I think she had decided at the outset of her solo career that her best chance for success was as a country singer, irrespective of her musical idols. I remember her talking about Edith Piaf in the early 70s but not so much Lola Beltran, but as she never actually did their songs (during that time), they were likely more of an influence as to her singing and more of what she listened to.. But, even in Linda's book, she mentioned listening to George Jones and Tammy Wynette. Jones, I could see but Wynette was an out there surprise, not something I would've expected from Linda. But, I don't believe Linda started declaring herself as not being a rock singer or not being a country singer on a big scale until the "What's New" era. But, I considered Linda a country singer based on her first four solo albums. It was a sound which wasn't successful for her for the most part, but Linda not wanting to be defined by any one musical genre wasn't something in play until the "What's New"-era Linda. But, Linda was defined by the albums she made and had the country sound been successful for her, again, I think she would've stayed within that genre because it was a genre she was comfortable in.
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Post by sliderocker on Jun 24, 2014 11:18:32 GMT -5
I think they were very disappointed that she jumped ship to Asylum, but at the same time they seemed to try their level best to promote her. By Linda's own admission, her music simply wasn't all that easy for Capitol to categorize in such a neat box. Was it country? Was it folk? Was it rock? I think we all know the answer to that, in that it was a bit of each; but four decades ago, record companies were not yet used to such rampant eclecticism in one artist, let alone a female artist. Linda could really have been vindictive towards Capitol, but she wasn't; and I don't think that's in her nature, anyway. She simply asked to be released because she knew she didn't fit in very easily. The great thing is that she left them with Heart Like A Wheel, which I think is still one of the biggest-selling albums by any female artist that was ever at Capitol. If I would've been at Capitol, I would've been fighting tooth and nail to have kept Linda on the the label. Capitol seemed to believe in her although they mau have recognized the problem wasn't the singer but the material she had to work with. And maybe the producers and some of the musicians she worked with didn't have a firm idea on the arrangements for the songs. Another problem was Linda's albums retreaded many old songs and few new songs. If anything, Linda's albums needed more new songs and fewer old songs but I have to wonder if someone at Capitol sent her demos of newly written songs to her for her to consider for her possible albums? Or did Linda refuse to listen to any demos sent her way? Capitol shouldn't have let her go without a fight.
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Post by erik on Jun 24, 2014 11:55:50 GMT -5
Quote by sliderocker:
These are the kinds of questions that I hope someone asks of Linda, because it is one of the more mysterious aspects of her career, and one that she didn't touch on in her memoir. I'm sure Linda had her reasons for not doing "Help Me Make It Through The Night", for instance; and I'm reasonably sure that "Stand By Your Man" was something that Linda would never have touched because she didn't believe in what the song said (in fact, she went after Tammy Wynette for that song in a May 1974 interview with Rolling Stone, though, ironically, not for the reasons so many feminists then and now do ["If you love him, you'll forgive him"]). They did their level best, I think, to promote her, but they may not have known what they had until she was already out the door to Asylum.
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Post by sliderocker on Jun 24, 2014 13:14:28 GMT -5
These are the kinds of questions that I hope someone asks of Linda, because it is one of the more mysterious aspects of her career, and one that she didn't touch on in her memoir. I'm sure Linda had her reasons for not doing "Help Me Make It Through The Night", for instance; and I'm reasonably sure that "Stand By Your Man" was something that Linda would never have touched because she didn't believe in what the song said (in fact, she went after Tammy Wynette for that song in a May 1974 interview with Rolling Stone, though, ironically, not for the reasons so many feminists then and now do ["If you love him, you'll forgive him"]). They did their level best, I think, to promote her, but they may not have known what they had until she was already out the door to Asylum. I have to wonder if Linda would answer questions about the parts of her career she didn't cover in her book? That she didn't cover parts of her career in her book was disappointing as it leaves it to future biographers to answer the questions. And they may get it totally wrong when they do. I sometimes wondered if Capitol had tried talking her into recording "Help Me Make It Through the Night" before Sammi Smith had recorded and had a hit with the song, did she regret that decision? Dionne Warwicke, lover of all songs Bacharach-David, passed on "What the Workl Needs Now." She didn't like the song, didn't think it was a hit and then when it was a big hit for Jackie DeShannon, Warwicke recorded her "official" version after the fact. Of course, I could've seen Linda being more interested in "Me and Bobby McGee" but Janis Joplin and Gordon Lightfoot had already covered that song and Joplin's version would be a postmortem hit for her. But, I couldn't have seen Linda recording HMMITTN either as it just didn't seem right for her. Of course, I didn't think it was right for Elvis either and he recorded it as well in June 1970, I believe, - maybe early 1971 - before Sammi Smith's version had been recorded and released. And I remember Linda criticizing Tammy Wynette for "Stand By Your Man," which I thought was somewhat out of line as Wynette had a right to what she believed, just as much as Linda had a right to her beliefs. Wynette also co-wrote the song and had an issue with feminists who had zero tolerance for anyone who didn't agree with their beliefs. I thought SBYM had a kind of naive, very simplistic point of view and Linda was right to reject that song. I thought Linda's career at Capitol was one big misfire, given the sluggish sales and the blame can usually be placed at the doorsteps of the record company. But, I think Capitol was wanting something from Linda she hadn't given or found (before HLAW) and they just couldn't get excited or behind the recordings she had done for them. But, her decision to bolt to Asylum may have been because the pressure was on to come up with something. As she herself said, if HLAW hadn't happened, her career might have been over at that point. That might be an exaggeration but maybe not by much. I think she would've remained a singer but would she have been bumped to recording for small, local labels if HLAW had stiffed and Asylum had dropped her?
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Post by POP80 on Jul 1, 2014 18:16:44 GMT -5
I have to agree with Erik re: Tift Merritt... Erik has stated that she may be the best singer to come out this decade, and I can't argue with him...
If any of you are in NY on August 7th, Tift Merritt is giving a free concert at the Atrium in Lincoln Center at 7:30pm. I'm planning to check it out, since you gave her such high praise.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2014 21:37:23 GMT -5
I have to agree with Erik re: Tift Merritt... Erik has stated that she may be the best singer to come out this decade, and I can't argue with him...
If any of you are in NY on August 7th, Tift Merritt is giving a free concert at the Atrium in Lincoln Center at 7:30pm. I'm planning to check it out, since you gave her such high praise. Enjoy... she is always worthwhile seeing... keep us apprised..
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Post by erik on Jul 2, 2014 21:29:36 GMT -5
Quote by robertaxel:
More like this century, so far, since Bramble Rose came out twelve years ago (YIPE!!). I would be curious to know if she has done any of Linda's songs in concert--not that it would make me like her any less if she hasn't, but just out of curiosity. She is, after all, one of "Linda's Girls".
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2022 11:21:43 GMT -5
Linda did not sing TMA on her 1976 European tour, but did sing "Down So Low".
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2022 11:50:40 GMT -5
she sang some country songs but she did not consider herself a country singer. if she said it; it was a brief part of her history imo. in early interviews, she discussed lola beltran being her idol and also liking edith piaf. she was an eclectic artist right from the beginning. what I meant re: the record company was that,as we have discussed on here, they were trying to figure out how to market her but Linda's tastes were hard to put a simple label on. I believe she mentions the 10 yo thing in some of her rolling stone interviews but on that exactly I could be wrong. doesn't she mention it in that great tonight show interview with johnny which was soon before "what's new was out? am just emphasizing it is not a new thing but recently she has said it much more. eddiejinnj Country was a big part of Linda's sound, as all of her official solo albums before "Heart Like a Wheel" were mostly country affairs with occasional mixing of rock and folk. I think she had decided at the outset of her solo career that her best chance for success was as a country singer, irrespective of her musical idols. I remember her talking about Edith Piaf in the early 70s but not so much Lola Beltran, but as she never actually did their songs (during that time), they were likely more of an influence as to her singing and more of what she listened to.. But, even in Linda's book, she mentioned listening to George Jones and Tammy Wynette. Jones, I could see but Wynette was an out there surprise, not something I would've expected from Linda. But, I don't believe Linda started declaring herself as not being a rock singer or not being a country singer on a big scale until the "What's New" era. But, I considered Linda a country singer based on her first four solo albums. It was a sound which wasn't successful for her for the most part, but Linda not wanting to be defined by any one musical genre wasn't something in play until the "What's New"-era Linda. But, Linda was defined by the albums she made and had the country sound been successful for her, again, I think she would've stayed within that genre because it was a genre she was comfortable in. Where Linda related to Tammy (who was influenced by Skeeter Davis) was Tammy's heartbreak/broken style of singing, with inflections & forlorn stories. "Long Long Time", "Faithless Love" & " Try Me Again", actually most of HDTW... Imagine if Linda HAD gone to Nashville, she would have been part of the "Nashville Sound" era, ruled over by Owen Bradley, Chet Atkins & Billy Sherrill etc.
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