|
Post by sliderocker on Dec 18, 2011 17:53:23 GMT -5
This is something I've been wondering about for ages but have never found any information on the internet as to any unreleased recordings by Linda. Anybody have any ideas as to what may be out there?
I know Linda sang the theme for Andy Griffith's early 1970s TV series "Headmaster," and that the song's title was "If He's Only a Man." It wasn't much of a song, a fair ballad that probably would've been better suited to the Carpenters at the time rather than to Linda. I believe it remains unreleased to this day.
I also recall reading that Capitol pressured Linda in 1971 to record "Stand By Your Man" and "Help Me Make It Through the Night," but believe it was reported she rejected both songs and refused to record either of them. She disliked the message in the Tammy Wynette song and the Kris Kristofferson song had at that time been a recent hit for the late Sammi Smith. As I recall, she also disliked that song's lyrics as well but I've often wondered if she gave the songs a try out just to please her corporate sponsors at Capitol and that neither song worked for her?
It would be nice if there was a website for Linda's recording sessions which listed everything she recorded, like there is on other artists. Maybe someone could put together a site focusing on her recording sessions, although that would likely involve getting the cooperation of the record companies she has recorded for.
I also know there's some concert performances that have never been released on cd, which is another subject as I believe Linda is the only major artist not to have officially released a concert performance of some kind on CD or DVD/Blu-ray. I've seen quite a few DVD bootlegs listed in Goldmine and back in the day of the vinyl LP, recall there were three or four bootlegged albums of live recordings. Some of that probably has turned up on youtube, but it's any unreleased recordings I'm interested in at the moment.
|
|
|
Post by erik on Dec 18, 2011 20:08:44 GMT -5
I don't think Linda would have ever thought of recording "Stand By Your Man", as the message it sends leans too far towards the idea of "women should be submissive to their husbands (even if they are carousers)." And Linda did criticize Tammy Wynette once for that song on those grounds, though she didn't cite the line in it that riles feminists to this day: "If you love him, you'll forgive him." As for "Help Me Make It Through The Night"--I don't think she found anything objectionable in the lyrics; she just may have felt she couldn't do the song the justice it deserved, and I think she feels that way about anything she's ever done. With respect to live recordings, the only legitimate ones out there are the two she did for the 1978 film F.M. ("Tumbling Dice"; "Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me"), and the three ("I Fall To Pieces"; "Birds"; "Rescue Me") she recorded live at the Troubadour in August 1971 for her self-titled 1972 album. However, there is a site where you can download a number of rare, unreleased Ronstadt recordings: home.comcast.net/~jarvid/LR.MP3_Page.html...and every once in a while on our previous forum, several of our enterprising members have unearthed such recordings for downloading. Stay tuned.
|
|
|
Post by rick on Dec 19, 2011 3:33:17 GMT -5
This is something I've been wondering about for ages but have never found any information on the internet as to any unreleased recordings by Linda. . Perhaps in Linda's memoirs we will find out about songs she attempted and decided not to release. I am assuming that "The Shoop-Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" is one she recorded in the studio, but decided not to release. And, yet, she performed it live notably on "SNL" and "The Muppet Show." I think of Linda as being someone who has very strong ideas in her head about how a finished song should sound. I am sure there are unreleased songs/sessions from her work with Nelson Riddle that we may see ... someday. And, yes, we have been fortunate on this board to have members post unreleased recordings, or alternate versions of songs. Somewhat related, there is a Barbra Streisand fan site that has an entire section devoted to "Unreleased Recordings." barbra-archives.com/record/unreleased_streisand_songs.html Of particular note to people of this board might be that in 1979, for her "Wet" album, she recorded "Tracks of My Tears," but left it on the shelf.
|
|
|
Post by ausfan2 on Dec 19, 2011 6:54:59 GMT -5
A couple come to mind:
Studio Sessions: - Even Closer - bootleg CD contains outtakes and alternate versions from the Get Closer sessions. - Recordings from the Cry Like A Rainstorm sessions
Live recordings: - What.s New Video - Canciones De Mi Padre DVD Both shows were released as either video or DVD but not as a record / CD.
Live Bootleg - The Star Spangled Girl double LP bootleg album. A concert recorded at the Universal Amphitheatre in September 1977. During the concert Linda tells the audidence that the concert is being recorded.
The old forum had an extensive list of Linda's various recording sessions which included a number of songs recorded but never released. It was noted that whilst extensive details are available for the Capital sessions, the details of the Asylum and later sessions do not contain the same level of detail and omit to mention songs discarded from the 2 sessions mentioned above.
|
|
|
Post by sliderocker on Dec 19, 2011 13:24:37 GMT -5
I don't think Linda would have ever thought of recording "Stand By Your Man", as the message it sends leans too far towards the idea of "women should be submissive to their husbands (even if they are carousers." And Linda did criticize Tammy Wynette once for that song on those grounds, though she didn't cite the line in it that riles feminists to this day: "If you love him, you'll forgive him." As for "Help Me Make It Through The Night"--I don't think she found anything objectionable in the lyrics; she just may have felt she couldn't do the song the justice it deserved, and I think she feels that way about anything she's ever done. With respect to live recordings, the only legitimate ones out there are the two she did for the 1978 film F.M. ("Tumbling Dice"; "Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me"), and the three ("I Fall To Pieces"; "Birds"; "Rescue Me") she recorded live at the Troubadour in August 1971 for her self-titled 1972 album. However, there is a site where you can download a number of rare, unreleased Ronstadt recordings: home.comcast.net/~jarvid/LR.MP3_Page.html...and every once in a while on our previous forum, several of our enterprising members have unearthed such recordings for downloading. Stay tuned. First, thanks for that link. Your recollection of Linda's objections to "Stand By Your Man" is what I remember being reported in Rolling Stone and in a 1977-78 mini-bio that was published at the time to capitalize on Linda's superstardom. As for Linda's objections to "Help Me Make It Through the Night," I seem to recall her mentioning not liking the lyric that opens the song, 'take the ribbon from my hair....' Of course, it's all more likely she just didn't want to do the song because Capitol wanted her to record the song. One thing you noticed about country and pop artists on certain labels like Capitol was that nonwriting artists tended to record songs that had been recent hits for others. And that was especially true for the country artists. At the time, I thought the reason for the artist was covering the song was to rip off the original in the hopes that people would pick up their album, see that song and think they were the one who recorded the song. Bear in mind this was an attitude I had in my teens, but not later on when hearing of artists' complaints about not having artistic control over their recordings. It seemed like many of the record companies and the managers knew what was best for the artist, and that the artist didn't know what he or she (or they) were doing. It's altogether possible Linda may not have felt she could've done justice on "Help Me Make It Through the Night." But I also think it possible that Linda just didn't see the song as being the kind of song she wanted to do - at least not when judged against the other songs she was recording and performing at the time.
|
|
|
Post by sliderocker on Dec 19, 2011 13:41:15 GMT -5
This is something I've been wondering about for ages but have never found any information on the internet as to any unreleased recordings by Linda. . Perhaps in Linda's memoirs we will find out about songs she attempted and decided not to release. I am assuming that "The Shoop-Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" is one she recorded in the studio, but decided not to release. And, yet, she performed it live notably on "SNL" and "The Muppet Show." I think of Linda as being someone who has very strong ideas in her head about how a finished song should sound. I am sure there are unreleased songs/sessions from her work with Nelson Riddle that we may see ... someday. And, yes, we have been fortunate on this board to have members post unreleased recordings, or alternate versions of songs. Somewhat related, there is a Barbra Streisand fan site that has an entire section devoted to "Unreleased Recordings." barbra-archives.com/record/unreleased_streisand_songs.html Of particular note to people of this board might be that in 1979, for her "Wet" album, she recorded "Tracks of My Tears," but left it on the shelf. While I think it would be interesting to see Linda discussing songs she considered for recording and took a pass on, or recorded but never released, most musical artist auto-bios have never covered their total musical sessions. They may include a discography but not a sessionography (not sure this is a word or that I'm spelling it right) because even they may not remember all the songs they may have worked on. Some people assume there's hundreds of unreleased little gems taking up space on some shelf in a vault but with some artists, what you got on the albums was usually most of what there was. The artist may have recorded a few extra songs to have as potential replacements or for use as non-album sides - back in the day of 45s but not now - or they had doubts as to a song's worth and recorded something else that they liked better. My guess though as to Linda's bio is that it will cover the usual bio stuff, childhood, career, life, her romances, maybe her kids. And definitely her music, though I'm hoping she'll be a little kinder on her musical past than what she has been over the past few years.
|
|
|
Post by erik on Dec 19, 2011 14:32:29 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by sliderocker on Dec 19, 2011 16:13:42 GMT -5
Thanks for this link, Erik. It provides quite a bit of information though I wish it was better formatted but it's something to go by. I just took a look to see what may or may not be out there. Interesting that Linda first attempted "Love Has No Pride" a couple of years before the version that was released in '73. Have to wonder how different that early version was? Another curio I noticed was "Silver Wings," which has to be the Merle Haggard song. That's kind of a surprising choice for Linda if it could be confirmed. I have to wonder if that song was by her choice or if she was trying to please or had to please the powers that be at Capitol? Of course, I think it was also Linda working out with the Eagles before they were the Eagles and SW has kind of a similar feel as "Tequila Sunrise," so maybe it was their choice?
|
|
|
Post by Partridge on Dec 19, 2011 18:31:54 GMT -5
Silver Wings has been released commercially.
It's on the album I Saw the Light with a Little Help from my Friends by the Earl Scruggs Revue.
She also sings Rock Salt and Nails in duet with Tracy Nelson on that album.
|
|
|
Post by erik on Dec 19, 2011 19:39:52 GMT -5
Quote by sliderocker re. earlier version of "Love Has No Pride":
It may have been quite a bit different, because during the summer of 1970 and on into 1971, Linda actually recorded a lot of stuff down South, at Muscle Shoals in Alabama, and at American Studios in Memphis (the latter, not coincidentally, where Elvis recorded some of the greatest material of his life). The only things ever officially released from those sessions, as far as I can tell, were "I Won't Be Hangin' Round" (on Linda Ronstadt), and "She's A Very Lovely Woman", which was only released as a non-album single in January 1971, reaching #70 on the singles chart. It wasn't until Austrlian import label Raven put out its Hand Sown, Home Grown/Silk Purse CD in October 2009 that that particular song made its debut on even a CD, as a very-much-welcomed bonus track.
|
|
|
Post by Partridge on Dec 19, 2011 20:32:37 GMT -5
... during this time in concerts, Linda was known to do Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released", which almost certainly... I think a recording of I Shall Be Released is in the vaults. Maybe it will turn up as a bonus track when Capitol's Retrospective is released on CD.
|
|
|
Post by sliderocker on Dec 19, 2011 23:24:48 GMT -5
... during this time in concerts, Linda was known to do Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released", which almost certainly... I think a recording of I Shall Be Released is in the vaults. Maybe it will turn up as a bonus track when Capitol's Retrospective is released on CD. Does Capitol still own the rights to the recordings Linda made for them? As I thought I had read that Warners somehow ended up with the rights and that they were at one time forcing some people to remove a picture video of Linda, using the song "Long, Long Time" on youtube, citing copyright infringement. I thought wait a minute, they don't own the rights to Linda's Capitol recordings. They didn't even own the music publishing on "Long, Long Time." But, the people who had posted videos on youtube using "Long, Long Time" said the cease and desist had come from Warners and not Capitol. Given Capitol only a few years ago had released Linda's four Capitol album on two cds, Warners issuing a cease and desist on a track they didn't own seemed strange.
|
|
|
Post by philly on Dec 20, 2011 3:06:02 GMT -5
Don't forget Julian's bootlegs: www.galeon.com/ronstadt/ronstadtbootlegs.htmI notice he's got the Get Closer outtakes for instance... Not sure if he's still trading/selling any of his treasures, but it's a great collection he has!
|
|
|
Post by erik on Dec 20, 2011 10:04:14 GMT -5
Quote by sliderocker:
These copyright laws are really quite strange, I know.
A bit of history may be in order, because it may have some bearing on this issue. Linda still owed Capitol one album on the seven-album contract she signed as a member of the Stone Poneys in 1967 when she jumped ship and signed with David Geffen's Asylum label in June 1972. Capitol's promotional department really didn't seem to know how to market her, in part because Linda often veered between folk, country, and rock on the same album, and because, like many of the big labels, they sometimes can't think outside of a compartmentalized box. It wasn't that they didn't mean well, but Linda did get frustrated about her inability to make headway on Capitol. Of course, going out the door, she gave them Heart Like A Wheel near the end of 1974, and that totally changed her world, and ours, forever.
|
|
|
Post by MokyWI on Dec 20, 2011 10:54:23 GMT -5
if anyone has links to any unreleased songs they could post the links to, please post them to this thread. I am trying to make a CD of unreleased songs that have been recorded. I remember someone having a link to "I'm Dreaming" the J. Warnes song. Someone posted a demo Ronstadt did of the song a while back.
|
|
|
Post by Richard W on Dec 20, 2011 14:08:31 GMT -5
Mike: are you thinking of the demo Linda did of "I'm Restless," the song Warnes actually released?
Don't forget the unreleased tracks from the Box Set: "Border Town," "Falling Star" and the most-excellent duet with Emmylou on Williams's "Honky Tonk Blues."
"She's a Very Lovely Woman" always reminds me of a James Bond movie song that never was.
|
|
|
Post by erik on Dec 20, 2011 14:28:56 GMT -5
Quote by richwar re. "She's A Very Lovely Woman":
It is certainly different from what she was doing at the time; this is pure pop, in contrast to the large amount of folk/country material of her albums.
One would have to wonder what the sessions she did in Muscle Shoals (which is where "Woman" was recorded) and Memphis would have sounded like had they been assembled into a full album. If they were anything like what Elvis had done in '69 in his own hometown, oh, boy!.....
|
|
|
Post by sliderocker on Dec 20, 2011 21:58:04 GMT -5
Quote by sliderocker: These copyright laws are really quite strange, I know. A bit of history may be in order, because it may have some bearing on this issue. Linda still owed Capitol one album on the seven-album contract she signed as a member of the Stone Poneys in 1967 when she jumped ship and signed with David Geffen's Asylum label in June 1972. Capitol's promotional department really didn't seem to know how to market her, in part because Linda often veered between folk, country, and rock on the same album, and because, like many of the big labels, they sometimes can't think outside of a compartmentalized box. It wasn't that they didn't mean well, but Linda did get frustrated about her inability to make headway on Capitol. Of course, going out the door, she gave them Heart Like A Wheel near the end of 1974, and that totally changed her world, and ours, forever. Linda sort of had the same problems with Capitol that Michael Nesmith had at RCA in that that label didn't know how to market him. Like Linda, he was striving to be a country singer but RCA was marketing him in the pop and rock genres. But, then when he went for a harder rock sound with the country sound on "Tantamount to Treason, Vol. 1," RCA scratched their corporate head and said they didn't know what to do with the album. The problem for both was neither really had their hearts in Nashville, and Nashville had a preference for their artists being played on the country radio stations. They also had a very nasty attitude towards rock artists moving from rock to country as their popularity faded on the pop-rock charts. Never mind that artists like Linda and Nesmith might have been more at home as country artists than as rock artists. But, it was interesting to see Linda release "Don't Cry Now" on Asylum but then go back to Capitol for "Heart Like a Wheel," and then see that album and its attending singles go on to be huge hits. I'm surprised Capitol promoted the album and singles like they did, instead of stiffing it altogether. Usually, when an artist left a record company, they had no interest in promoting what was left behind. It must've ticked off Asylum to see Capitol get a big hit out of "Heart Like a Wheel," and then maybe Capitol getting ticked off to see Linda head back to Asylum. Had I been the head at Capitol at that time, I would've been trying to find a way to keep Linda with the company rather than let Asylum reap the benefit of their success with her.
|
|
|
Post by sliderocker on Dec 20, 2011 22:06:32 GMT -5
Quote by richwar re. "She's A Very Lovely Woman": It is certainly different from what she was doing at the time; this is pure pop, in contrast to the large amount of folk/country material of her albums. One would have to wonder what the sessions she did in Muscle Shoals (which is where "Woman" was recorded) and Memphis would have sounded like had they been assembled into a full album. If they were anything like what Elvis had done in '69 in his own hometown, oh, boy!..... Ever heard Jackie DeShannon's 1972 album, "Jackie," which was recorded in Memphis using the same musicians that played on Elvis's '69 sessions? It was as good as the songs as on Elvis's Memphis albums, though with more contemporary songwriters. Jackie wrote four of the songs, which was surprising given that she was and is a songwriter who didn't need songs from outside sources. Even so, it was still a great album! Rhino Handmade reissued it a few years ago - unfortunately Handmade being the operative word, that meant the reissue was limited to about 5,000 copies. I haven't seen it in a while on their site, so I presume they've sold all existing copies and the title is deleted.
|
|
|
Post by MokyWI on Dec 21, 2011 10:55:07 GMT -5
Yes I meant "I'm Restless" ...yeah I know of all the boxed set unreleased songs, I have the set. I also have a download of "Price Of Love" I was hoping through this thread we might get a list going of all songs known she recorded but never released and maybe even download links to them. Then we could guess if not already known what album session they were recorded in.
|
|
|
Post by fabtastique on Aug 23, 2012 9:40:20 GMT -5
Linda has been famously dismissive and uncaring of studio out-takes and live recordings. The few tracks on the boxset that were real gems were things like Falling Star, Border Town, Bandit & A Heartbreaker plus the few live tracks (Seldom Scene in particular) that I'd not heard before.
There are more, but how many and what are they?? We've heard I'm Restless and Every Little Bit Hurts from the CLAR sessions - anyone have more info to share. Will they ever see the light of day?
The reason for this post is because Babs Streisand is releasing a new CD of unreleased tracks - some of these have been around in poor quality bootleg version for years but others are complete unheard of. According to the press release for this CD Babs has a vault and keeps in there the masters of all her recordings for her 50 year career (she's rumoured to have videod every recording session for around the last 20 years too). Smart lady ... If only Linda had been that diligent.
|
|
|
Post by the Scribe on Aug 23, 2012 21:43:43 GMT -5
Didn't I recently read from Peter Asher that he video recorded all of Linda's Nelson Riddle sessions or did I read that wrong? I think there is enough unheard of stuff out there to keep us happy for years.
|
|
|
Post by rick on Aug 23, 2012 22:39:17 GMT -5
Linda has been famously dismissive and uncaring of studio out-takes and live recordings. The few tracks on the boxset that were real gems were things like Falling Star, Border Town, Bandit & A Heartbreaker plus the few live tracks (Seldom Scene in particular) that I'd not heard before. There are more, but how many and what are they?? We've heard I'm Restless and Every Little Bit Hurts from the CLAR sessions - anyone have more info to share. Will they ever see the light of day? The reason for this post is because Babs Streisand is releasing a new CD of unreleased tracks. <snip> www.barbrastreisand.com/us/news/release-me-barbras-new-compilation-unreleased-material-debut-september-25 I was going to post that in the General Music Discussion. As for Linda, I think Linda, while very different from Streisand in a lot of ways, is like Barbra in that they are both perfectionists. What is the story we've heard on here for a long time about Dolly Parton being impatient with Linda wanting to do numerous takes ? Am sure that there are songs from Linda, such as "The Shoop Shoop Song", somewhere in the vaults. Thankfully people here have shared unreleased tracks such as "Every Little Bit Hurts" and "I'm Restless," but it would be nice if the powers-that-be would get crackin' about releasing this stuff. Judy Garland has been gone since 1969 and this is 2012 and we are still getting unreleased tracks/songs/sessions. That is 43 years. Motown (via Hip-O Select) continues to release unheard Diana Ross and The Supremes tracks and Ross left the group in January 1970. I would think it would make more sense for the suits to release this stuff while the fan bases are still young(er).
|
|
|
Post by erik on Aug 23, 2012 22:50:44 GMT -5
I really do wish Linda would go back and reconsider her stance on things like live recordings, because it's a lot easier to spend time in a studio getting it perfect, but (and this is only my opinion) a much greater and more rewarding challenge to be able to present the songs live. In the back of her mind, I think she knows that challenge has often yielded a lot of rewards for her, even if she has not really ever been comfortable in front of thousands of fans.
|
|
sassy
A Number and a Name
Posts: 1
|
Post by sassy on Aug 26, 2012 19:23:30 GMT -5
Wasn't STAR SPANGLED GIRL originally going to be an official live album? I thought Elektra was going to release it partly due to her record breaking sell out stint at the Ampitheatre, but Linda vetoed it at the last minute.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2012 7:06:33 GMT -5
I also recall Linda vetoing a tribute album a number of years back..
|
|
|
Post by eddiejinnj on Aug 27, 2012 8:38:55 GMT -5
she is way tooooo modest!!!!!! unfortunately for us fans, we don't get such material out there from her. eddiejinnj
|
|
|
Post by fabtastique on Aug 27, 2012 14:06:50 GMT -5
A real top notch live album from the CLAR era would have been fantastic!
|
|
|
Post by Richard W on Aug 27, 2012 15:45:07 GMT -5
A real top notch live album from the CLAR era would have been fantastic! I know! Because the few bootlegs I've heard from that tour, especially "I Keep It Hid" and CLAR itself, are just, well, fabtastique! IKIH is so stunning that the first time I heard it through my headphones, I stood slack-jawed on the train platform -- and missed the train!
|
|
|
Post by MokyWI on Aug 27, 2012 18:13:23 GMT -5
Linda Ronstadt was at the height of her voice around 94-96, but having said that, I agree, a live album from the CLAR-WL-FLH tours, any of those would have produced a great live album of her pop/country/rock years. I missed the CLAR tour myself. I had tickets but a friend said he had front row and VIP tickets so I sold the ones I had. Well he ended up not having those front row tickets much less the VIP passes. The show had sold out at Great Woods just south of Boston. I was royally screwed on that one. A couple years later i moved to LA and met Mark Islam and he got us tickets to all her shows and back stage in California. Her voice was really something and the tour she did with Marvin Hamlish I would say that tour was her voice at its highest. I have heard several live recordings of the CLAR tour and that just made it worse knowing I had tickets but sold them and didn't see the show.
|
|