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Post by Richard W on Feb 23, 2018 19:18:29 GMT -5
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Post by erik on Feb 23, 2018 19:42:40 GMT -5
Quote by Richard W. re Canciones De Mi Padre:
It certainly does, in many ways, not only in the fact that it helped those who are of Mexican heritage to appreciate or (in Linda's case) reclaim their roots, but also to open up the fact that Linda is in fact of that heritage.
And to be truly honest, it is a good thing that Linda had made Canciones when she did, in 1987, and was able to get away with it at that time. I doubt that album would have been anywhere as successful, even if she still had her voice, had she made it today.
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Post by the Scribe on Feb 23, 2018 22:00:42 GMT -5
Just curious why you would think that Erik?
Mexican American pride for their heritage has risen leaps and bounds since Canciones (and in part because of it) that had Linda released it today I think it would be especially popular particularly because of what is going on politically and her legendary status now.
I will add this to my Ronstadt Cultural thread. Thanks for posting Richard!
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Post by erik on Feb 23, 2018 23:33:57 GMT -5
Quote by ronstadtfanaz:
It's kind of hard for me to articulate my opinion in easy-to-understand terms, but I feel that the album's impact was due to the commercial and artistic clout that Linda commanded at the time. There was nobody out there at that time with her track record who could make that kind of an album and make it stick in terms of album sales. And even with Linda's track record, an album in a style that most of her fans weren't used to, and in a language that most of them didn't speak all that fluently (even Linda herself), wasn't a sure commercial hit by any means, something that even Linda acknowledged later on. Neither her record label nor her manager Peter Asher thought it was anything but a potential career killer, and that was before she even started recording it. The fact that it sold upwards of 2.5 million copies, which I think is still more than any foreign-language album released before or since, is because of Linda herself, and her ability to articular what she had in mind to her audience.
The part about Mexican American pride growing leaps and bounds since Canciones De Mi Padre was released is, in my opinion, accurate so far as it goes, but that's a pride that was generated by an album released in 1987, not in 2017. It was an album that sold as well as it did in a recording industry and an America that were far different back then. I doubt that it would have sold anywhere close to the 2.5 million copies it sold in 1987-88 had it been released in our present context, because I cannot conceive of any major record label that would release such an album, nor of any artist with the kind of force Linda commanded to make such an album to begin with. Canciones De Mi Padre was an album of its time, and for all time, and that's how I think we need to appreciate it.
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Post by Dianna on Feb 24, 2018 3:48:15 GMT -5
I'm not sure how well Linda would have done had she released Canciones in 2017 ..and the same age now as she was in 1987.. . only because she was still contemporary in terms of selling records being hip.. i.e SNL Appearances..What's New was also a huge hit and no other rock artist that I know of had done something like that.. Nowadays it's more common for contemporary or rock/pop artists to change genres.. everyone from Rod Stewart to Amy Winehouse have done this, sang standards.. and even back in 1987 we had Gloria Estefan, who with even the casual fan knew she was a latina and Cuban. Gloria sang cross over pop/spanish/dance..nowadays even Justin Beiber sings in Spanish. It wasn't common at all for a white girl rocker with Mexican heritage to do a complete album of traditional old.. I mean really old.. Mexican Music.. that was unheard of. It wouldn't be as shocking or a big surprise to many people.. so yes, Linda is a trailblazer, in terms of originality singing different styles, I suppose if it had never been done before and Linda released it now, maybe it could have sold well but or perhaps even with all the other cross over artists like Selena and Gloria ect. Linda could have still pulled off record breaking sales because of her beautiful vocals, song choices and talent
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Post by eddiejinnj on Feb 24, 2018 6:47:07 GMT -5
Just the rationale that albums are not selling in number like they used to vs buying singles/streaming music would indicate that the album probably would not have been as successful today. Maybe select tracks would have been bought in some numbers but not the album as a whole imo. We were discussing adam lambert yesterday with a friend who said he has all his albums. We looked up sales and he has sold like 3 million albums I think in US. Considering the number of albums he has out and being a quote contemporary artist that is not many. eddiejinfl
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