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Post by eddiejinnj on Nov 20, 2019 7:35:40 GMT -5
I am not sure if we ever discussed why PID received no Grammy noms? Was it the timing of the album? It had to qualify for some year Grammy, correct? Did they not want to nominate her for two different albums in same qualifying year? eddiejinnj
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Post by RobGNYC on Nov 20, 2019 9:25:24 GMT -5
Yes timing was part of it. Grammy eligibility is generally October to September (for example, records released October 1973 to September 1974 would be eligible for the 1974 awards presented in March 1975). HLAW was released in November 1974, too late for the 1974 awards presented in 1975, so it was nominated for the 1975 awards presented in February 1976. PID was released in August 1975, also in time for the 1975 awards presented in 1976. So Linda had two albums released in less than a year from which the Academy could have chosen that year. They chose HLAW, Linda's big breakthrough and a #1 album (with a #1 single). But also, critics were generally tough on PID, unfairly comparing it to (and finding it lacking against) HLAW. That, and that it didn't do as well on the charts as HLAW and had no #1 singles, may have hurt any chances that it had of being nominated. I also think that timing hurt HLAW's chances--by the time of the 1976 awards, HLAW had been out for more than a year. I wonder if this is partly why Linda started releasing her albums in August and September (PID, HDTW, SD, and LITUSA were all released in August or September).
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Post by eddiejinnj on Nov 20, 2019 9:39:05 GMT -5
Well, it was a Number 4 Pop and Number 2 Country (not a bad follow-up). That seemed to happen to LITUSA. I know it was Number 1 Nov. 1,1978. The album and "Ooh Baby Baby" should have garnered some noms. eddiejinnj
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Post by RobGNYC on Nov 20, 2019 9:52:50 GMT -5
LITUSA was released in time for the 1978 Grammys presented in 1979. Best Female Pop Vocal Performance that year (maybe Linda should have included more tracks with "You" in the title):
Winner: Anne Murray "You Needed Me"
Nominated:
Olivia Newton-John "Hopelessly Devoted to You"
Carly Simon "You Belong to Me"
Barbra Streisand "You Don't Bring Me Flowers"
Donna Summer "MacArthur Park"
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Post by erik on Nov 20, 2019 9:53:57 GMT -5
While it is true that Prisoner In Disguise didn't quite succeed as well as Heart Like A Wheel did. either critically or commercially, I think it is instructive to remember that it wasn't a flop by any means (except for Dave Marsh, of course [LOL]). Both albums were also in the Top 5 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart, with Heart Like A Wheel obviously the biggie at #1 (it also spent four weeks atop Billboard's C&W Album Chart), and Prisoner In Disguise peaking at #4 pop/#2 C&W.
Linda also had one of the most monstrous crossover success stories of all time as the result of both albums when it came to singles. "You're No Good" hit #1 on the Hot 100 during the same chart week (ending February 15, 1975) that Heart Like A Wheel was at #1 on both the pop and C&W album charts, something that no other female artist had ever done before. "I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love With You", the B-side of "YNG", peaked at #2 on the C&W singles chart; and "When Will I Be Loved" peaked at #2 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the C&W singles chart in June. And later in 1975, "Heat Wave" hit #5 on the Hot 100, while the original A-side "Love Is A Rose" peaked at #5 on the C&W singles chart.
To make a long story short(er), Linda was all over the place in 1975.
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Post by eddiejinnj on Nov 20, 2019 10:35:01 GMT -5
"Ooh Baby Baby" should have replaced Streisand as it was a duet. Done deal in my head :-) eddiejinnj
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Post by sliderocker on Nov 23, 2019 13:34:20 GMT -5
Yes timing was part of it. Grammy eligibility is generally October to September (for example, records released October 1973 to September 1974 would be eligible for the 1974 awards presented in March 1975). HLAW was released in November 1974, too late for the 1974 awards presented in 1975, so it was nominated for the 1975 awards presented in February 1976. PID was released in August 1975, also in time for the 1975 awards presented in 1976. So Linda had two albums released in less than a year from which the Academy could have chosen that year. They chose HLAW, Linda's big breakthrough and a #1 album (with a #1 single). But also, critics were generally tough on PID, unfairly comparing it to (and finding it lacking against) HLAW. That, and that it didn't do as well on the charts as HLAW and had no #1 singles, may have hurt any chances that it had of being nominated. I also think that timing hurt HLAW's chances--by the time of the 1976 awards, HLAW had been out for more than a year. I wonder if this is partly why Linda started releasing her albums in August and September (PID, HDTW, SD, and LITUSA were all released in August or September). I don't believe Linda was involved in the business side of deciding when her albums would be released. That would've been the domain of the record companies she was signed to. Albums are released or were released around August-September because it was the approach of the Christmas season, which is or was a time for high record sales. I don't remember which months it was, but there were a couple of months earlier in a year when an album could be released with high sales expectations. As for Linda being nominated for Heart Like A Wheel but not Prisoner In Disguise, the former was released by Capitol whereas the latter was released by Asylum. Record companies are involved behind the scenes, as far as what albums are nominated for the Grammy. I believe Capitol was truly proud of Linda and what she had accomplished with HLAW, despite bolting to Asylum. And they wanted to make sure she was honored with a nomination, even if she wasn't interested in awards or winning awards. Nominations also came with the expectation the artist or band in question would attend the Grammys to accept the award should they win. My bet would be David Geffen and/or Asylum really didn't push all that much for Linda to be nominated, much less winning. It would also be my bet the Grammy people were impressed when Linda finally broke through after almost a decade of in the business. But, as she continued to do it, they were not as impressed. And I'm sure that had as much to do with the other artists and recordings her recording was competing against. And it may have had to do with how her then-current recording stacked up against her earlier recordings. Despite being a million selling album, I think PID could've been the kind of album Linda was making prior to HLAW. The huge success of HLAW gave PID a boost it might not have had if it had been released before HLAW. |
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Post by the Scribe on Nov 23, 2019 13:50:10 GMT -5
I think Capitol wanted to squeeze anything they could out of Linda's last album for them. I recall at the time a Capitol exec smugly saying between the album HLAW and Linda leaving for Asylum that THEY (meaning Capitol Records) got the best of that deal. (pissed me off) As if Linda would never do another great album again. That shows you how much they really cared for her. Good riddance in my book.
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Post by RobGNYC on Nov 23, 2019 17:58:30 GMT -5
I agree that the record company would decide ultimately when an album was released but by the time of LITUSA, I think that Linda would have had at least some input--for one thing, she generally went on a long tour right around the release date.
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Post by erik on Nov 23, 2019 18:25:05 GMT -5
Quote by ronstadtfanaz:
I don't know that the whole of Capitol actually felt that way just because one of their head honchos was so clearly a schmuck. Like any big record label, they like to put their artists into neat little singular boxes; the problem was that they couldn't really do that with Linda. They knew it, and I think Linda did as well, given that her albums with them borrowed equally from country, rock, pop, and contemporary folk. In more recent years, she has expressed no bitterness about her time at Capitol, because she knew that part of her lack of success there was because of her own rampant eclecticism.
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Post by RobGNYC on Nov 23, 2019 18:55:25 GMT -5
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Post by sliderocker on Nov 23, 2019 23:58:56 GMT -5
I think Capitol wanted to squeeze anything they could out of Linda's last album for them. I recall at the time a Capitol exec smugly saying between the album HLAW and Linda leaving for Asylum that THEY (meaning Capitol Records) got the best of that deal. (pissed me off) As if Linda would never do another great album again. That shows you how much they really cared for her. Good riddance in my book. What's Al Coury doing these days? I assume he was the schmuck who made the comment about Linda. He was at RSO when the Bee Gees sued the record label and their manager Robert Stigwood in 1980 over unpaid artist and songwriting royalties after an independent audit turned up unpaid royalties, apparently going all the way back to the 60s. The brothers also discovered discrepancies in their contracts which short changed Robin and Maurice and gave Barry preferential treatment. RSO countersued the Bee Gees for violation of their contracts with the label. The suits and countersuits were settled out of court in 1981 but Coury reignited the matter when he claimed the Bee Gees walked away with their tails between their legs and apologized to their manager because there was nothing to their suits against him or his record label. The Bee Gees, along with their attorneys, took out an ad in Rolling Stone which detailed the settlement, which was some claims were conceded while other claims were proven and paid. The music publishing reverted back to the brothers, with their manager retaining a small percentage of their publishing through 1989. But, it was Coury's loose lips which caused the last salvo to be fired off between the brothers and their former manager. His comments made it look like the brothers were just greedy rather than people who had been cheated out of royalties owed them. Ironically, Stigwood lost his two biggest clients in the Bee Gees and Eric Clapton. Clapton had left RSO a short time before, maybe for the same reason, and the brothers followed suit not all that much later. And I just wonder how much longer Cory remained at the label as although there were other artists signed to the label, none had developed into major artists. |
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Post by sliderocker on Nov 24, 2019 0:19:26 GMT -5
I don't know that the whole of Capitol actually felt that way just because one of their head honchos was so clearly a schmuck. Like any big record label, they like to put their artists into neat little singular boxes; the problem was that they couldn't really do that with Linda. They knew it, and I think Linda did as well, given that her albums with them borrowed equally from country, rock, pop, and contemporary folk. In more recent years, she has expressed no bitterness about her time at Capitol, because she knew that part of her lack of success there was because of her own rampant eclecticism. Linda had her champions at Capitol and she probably could've stayed on Capitol indefinitely, given her albums (except for HLAW) were not big sellers. Linda's rampant musical eclecticism had to have given them fits because she could not be pigeon-holed into one musical genre or another. Or talked into recording certain songs but for which Linda had no interest in recording. I think that could've worked more against her in terms of having great success while at Capitol. I sometimes wonder if the reason she didn't have great feelings for (She's A) Very Lovely Woman was because maybe it was a concession to Capitol, and it just didn't pan out for her or for them? And it made her all the more stubborn and resistant to their song suggestions. If VLW had been a huge hit, I could've seen Linda maybe feeling somewhat different about it. But, it was a flop and as such, I think it allowed Linda to say she was right. (I could imagine Linda telling the Capitol people about VLW, "Yeah, yeah. Okay. I'll record the damned song. Now go away and leave me alone!") |
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Post by eddiejinnj on Nov 24, 2019 9:10:38 GMT -5
For history and collector's sake, I would love to have one of those tees. I wonder how many of them are around. eddiejinnj
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