Post by erik on Jan 8, 2012 14:54:58 GMT -5
Linda was known to refer to the period of 1970-1972 as her "lost years." But were they?
As the new decade began, Linda found herself in the heart of Music City, recording her second solo album Silk Purse with a seasoned group of Nashville's finest session musicians, including bassist/arranger Norbert Putnam, steel guitar master Weldon Myrick, and fiddle player Buddy Spicher, a group known collectively as Area Code 615. Doing the production chores was Elliot Mazer, who had worked with Ian and Sylvia and Neil Young, and who had come highly recommended to Linda by no less a figure than Janis Joplin. Released in March 1970, this was to be Linda's one and (probably) only attempt at making a full-blown conventional country album. She worked quite well with the session musicians; and her working relationship with Mazer was, in her estimation, pretty good. In the end, however, Linda would eventually come to all but disown this album; in March 1975, in an interview with Ben Fong-Torres, she would say of Silk Purse: "I hate that album. I'm sure Elliot doesn't think it's very good either. I couldn't sing then, I didn't know what I was doing. I was working with Nashville musicians and I don't really play country music; I play very definitely California music, and I couldn't communicate it to them." She also had a hard time defending her image to the critics, who really couldn't believe she was anything but a ditsy sex kitten, just based on That Album Cover:
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www.ronstadt-linda.com/silk1.jpg [/img]
It also didn’t help that Capitol’s first choice of a single, a fast, bouncy (and, in the opinion of many, including Linda herself, atrocious) version of the Carole King-penned classic “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” failed to even break the Billboard Hot 100 (and it only got to #98 on the Cashbox listing).
As with practically everything Linda has ever done, however, something of lasting value did come out of it, though she had to fight tooth and nail with Capitol to get it out there.
LONG LONG TIME
08/15/70--#82 (her third Hot 100 entry)
08/22/70--#73
08/29/70--#61
09/05/70--#50
09/12/70--#31 (her second Top 40 hit)
09/19/70--#30
09/26/70--#27
10/03/70--#26
10/10/70--#25
10/17/70--#25
10/24/70--#30
10/31/70--#47
In an example of how Capitol didn't know who they had when it came to Linda, they were adamant about refusing to release "Long Long Time" because it was a "country record" and because it was a ballad, and it was going to put people to sleep. As happened with "Different Drum", however, there was enough demand on L.A. radio, especially at KRLA AM 1110, that they had no choice. Its highly respectable chart placement (it also peaked at #20 on the Adult Contemporary/Easy Listening Chart) was enough to net Linda her first Grammy nomination, for Best Contemporary Female Vocalist (Silk Purse, meanwhile, edged to #103 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart). And although she lost to Dionne Warwick in that category the following March, the success of "Long Long Time" proved that she was more than just a one-trick "Stone Poney."
According to Mazer, the take of “Long Long Time” that they used for the album (it was abridged for the singles release) was the second take; and Linda was supposedly suffering from a head cold on the cold Saturday morning in January 1970 when she recorded it. To top it off, she was so exhausted from that song that, again according to Mazer, she fell asleep in the control room. Following Silk Purse’s release, she did several TV shows, including her second appearance on Johnny Cash’s show, and her one and only appearance on Hee Haw, with further appearances on the Everly Brothers’ summer TV show (in July) and Andy Williams’ (in November) to follow.
During 1970, she toured with a new backing band, Swampwater, featuring John Beland on lead guitar and Floyd "Gib" Gilbeau on fiddle, giving Linda a more Cajunized version of her C&W-influenced rock sound, with one of their big performances coming in October 1970 at the Big Sur Folk Festival in central California. But Linda was still busy in the studio, too, including doing songs for the TV series The Headmaster, and the 1971 made-for-TV drama MAYBE I'LL COME HOME IN THE SPRING. Over the summer, and on and off into 1971, this time with her new producer John Boylan and with a new musician from Detroit, one Glenn Frey, she traveled down South to Muscle Shoals and Memphis, the heart of gritty R&B music, to do sessions that would mix R&B and country. It seems a lot was recorded there, but whatever was recorded never coalesced into a complete album, even with the extremely high quality of the Muscle Shoals and Memphis musicians. Still, one end result was what everyone called the Long Lost Linda Ronstadt record.
SHE'S A VERY LOVELY WOMAN
01/23/71--#90 (her fourth Hot 100 entry)
01/30/71--#88
02/06/71--#73
02/13/71--#70
02/20/71--#75
This was Linda's most overt and pure "pop" single to date (its B-side was "The Long Way Around", from Hand Sown, Home Grown); and without benefit of being on an album, it stalled on the Hot 100, though it actually went higher on the Adult Contemporary Chart than "Long Long Time" did, peaking at #17. It wasn't until October 2009 that this obscure song, a reworking of a minor 1967 hit by the group Merry-Go-Round (originally "You're A Very Lovely Woman"), even saw the light of day on a compilation release, when Australian import label Raven put it as the bonus track on its re-release of Linda's first two albums. When it finally did, of course, Ronstadt fans all over were ecstatic.
In the meantime, Linda's career continued to slowly progress. After she had spent a little time in Europe, she came back with a renewed sense of purpose. With a thoroughly out-of-left-field appearance on jazz musician Carla Bley's massive album Escalator Over The Hill behind her, she formed another country-rock backing band, and this one would turn out to have an incredible impact on her and the rest of the music business. Glenn Frey was now joined with former Poco/Stone Canyon Band bassist Randy Meisner; Don Henley, the drummer from the Texas country-rock outfit Shiloh; and Bernie Leadon. The line-up backed Linda on a summer tour of the South and the Atlantic, plus a weeklong stint at Disneyland in Anaheim. They and much of the rest of the L.A. country-rock session mafia also backed Linda on her self-titled album Linda Ronstadt, released at the end of January 1972. By that time, Henley, Frey, Meisner, and Leadon had parted ways with Linda and formed the Eagles. Linda wasn't bitter, however. Both she and the Eagles would remain very close musical compatriots from that point on. In the meantime, a very progressive example of country-rock came off of that album, in the form of "Rock Me On The Water", written by emerging songwriter Jackson Browne.
ROCK ME ON THE WATER
03/04/72--#90 (her fifth Hot 100 entry)
03/11/72--#87
03/18/72--#85
Both the relative failure of the song on the Hot 100, and the low album chart placement of Linda Ronstadt itself (only #163 on the Top 200 album chart) could be ascribed to Linda still being a bit too far ahead of her audience. But Boylan defended the album, which contained not only fine examples of Linda's knack for contemporary singer/songwriter material (including "Birds", by Neil Young), but also such hard-core C&W classics as "Crazy Arms" and Patsy Cline's immortal "I Fall To Pieces." The album also found its way onto Billboard's Country Album Chart, peaking at a respectable #35. Her reputation as the premiere female country-rock singer of her time was becoming more solidified, even if album sales and radio airplay didn’t quite yet indicate it. Her reputation was further enhanced when she made her performing debut at what was then the pre-eminent country and western nightclub in the world, the Palomino in North Hollywood, on December 7, 1971. Over the next three years, every single one of her appearances there was sold out—a record that was never to be broken by any other artist who appeared there (the “Pal”, sadly, closed its doors in 1995).
Linda would continue being her relentless self into 1972. And in 1973, after seeming to look disorganized, her career would start to accelerate and coalesce, thanks to changes in the way she did things. That story comes in the next segment.
As the new decade began, Linda found herself in the heart of Music City, recording her second solo album Silk Purse with a seasoned group of Nashville's finest session musicians, including bassist/arranger Norbert Putnam, steel guitar master Weldon Myrick, and fiddle player Buddy Spicher, a group known collectively as Area Code 615. Doing the production chores was Elliot Mazer, who had worked with Ian and Sylvia and Neil Young, and who had come highly recommended to Linda by no less a figure than Janis Joplin. Released in March 1970, this was to be Linda's one and (probably) only attempt at making a full-blown conventional country album. She worked quite well with the session musicians; and her working relationship with Mazer was, in her estimation, pretty good. In the end, however, Linda would eventually come to all but disown this album; in March 1975, in an interview with Ben Fong-Torres, she would say of Silk Purse: "I hate that album. I'm sure Elliot doesn't think it's very good either. I couldn't sing then, I didn't know what I was doing. I was working with Nashville musicians and I don't really play country music; I play very definitely California music, and I couldn't communicate it to them." She also had a hard time defending her image to the critics, who really couldn't believe she was anything but a ditsy sex kitten, just based on That Album Cover:
It also didn’t help that Capitol’s first choice of a single, a fast, bouncy (and, in the opinion of many, including Linda herself, atrocious) version of the Carole King-penned classic “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” failed to even break the Billboard Hot 100 (and it only got to #98 on the Cashbox listing).
As with practically everything Linda has ever done, however, something of lasting value did come out of it, though she had to fight tooth and nail with Capitol to get it out there.
LONG LONG TIME
08/15/70--#82 (her third Hot 100 entry)
08/22/70--#73
08/29/70--#61
09/05/70--#50
09/12/70--#31 (her second Top 40 hit)
09/19/70--#30
09/26/70--#27
10/03/70--#26
10/10/70--#25
10/17/70--#25
10/24/70--#30
10/31/70--#47
In an example of how Capitol didn't know who they had when it came to Linda, they were adamant about refusing to release "Long Long Time" because it was a "country record" and because it was a ballad, and it was going to put people to sleep. As happened with "Different Drum", however, there was enough demand on L.A. radio, especially at KRLA AM 1110, that they had no choice. Its highly respectable chart placement (it also peaked at #20 on the Adult Contemporary/Easy Listening Chart) was enough to net Linda her first Grammy nomination, for Best Contemporary Female Vocalist (Silk Purse, meanwhile, edged to #103 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart). And although she lost to Dionne Warwick in that category the following March, the success of "Long Long Time" proved that she was more than just a one-trick "Stone Poney."
According to Mazer, the take of “Long Long Time” that they used for the album (it was abridged for the singles release) was the second take; and Linda was supposedly suffering from a head cold on the cold Saturday morning in January 1970 when she recorded it. To top it off, she was so exhausted from that song that, again according to Mazer, she fell asleep in the control room. Following Silk Purse’s release, she did several TV shows, including her second appearance on Johnny Cash’s show, and her one and only appearance on Hee Haw, with further appearances on the Everly Brothers’ summer TV show (in July) and Andy Williams’ (in November) to follow.
During 1970, she toured with a new backing band, Swampwater, featuring John Beland on lead guitar and Floyd "Gib" Gilbeau on fiddle, giving Linda a more Cajunized version of her C&W-influenced rock sound, with one of their big performances coming in October 1970 at the Big Sur Folk Festival in central California. But Linda was still busy in the studio, too, including doing songs for the TV series The Headmaster, and the 1971 made-for-TV drama MAYBE I'LL COME HOME IN THE SPRING. Over the summer, and on and off into 1971, this time with her new producer John Boylan and with a new musician from Detroit, one Glenn Frey, she traveled down South to Muscle Shoals and Memphis, the heart of gritty R&B music, to do sessions that would mix R&B and country. It seems a lot was recorded there, but whatever was recorded never coalesced into a complete album, even with the extremely high quality of the Muscle Shoals and Memphis musicians. Still, one end result was what everyone called the Long Lost Linda Ronstadt record.
SHE'S A VERY LOVELY WOMAN
01/23/71--#90 (her fourth Hot 100 entry)
01/30/71--#88
02/06/71--#73
02/13/71--#70
02/20/71--#75
This was Linda's most overt and pure "pop" single to date (its B-side was "The Long Way Around", from Hand Sown, Home Grown); and without benefit of being on an album, it stalled on the Hot 100, though it actually went higher on the Adult Contemporary Chart than "Long Long Time" did, peaking at #17. It wasn't until October 2009 that this obscure song, a reworking of a minor 1967 hit by the group Merry-Go-Round (originally "You're A Very Lovely Woman"), even saw the light of day on a compilation release, when Australian import label Raven put it as the bonus track on its re-release of Linda's first two albums. When it finally did, of course, Ronstadt fans all over were ecstatic.
In the meantime, Linda's career continued to slowly progress. After she had spent a little time in Europe, she came back with a renewed sense of purpose. With a thoroughly out-of-left-field appearance on jazz musician Carla Bley's massive album Escalator Over The Hill behind her, she formed another country-rock backing band, and this one would turn out to have an incredible impact on her and the rest of the music business. Glenn Frey was now joined with former Poco/Stone Canyon Band bassist Randy Meisner; Don Henley, the drummer from the Texas country-rock outfit Shiloh; and Bernie Leadon. The line-up backed Linda on a summer tour of the South and the Atlantic, plus a weeklong stint at Disneyland in Anaheim. They and much of the rest of the L.A. country-rock session mafia also backed Linda on her self-titled album Linda Ronstadt, released at the end of January 1972. By that time, Henley, Frey, Meisner, and Leadon had parted ways with Linda and formed the Eagles. Linda wasn't bitter, however. Both she and the Eagles would remain very close musical compatriots from that point on. In the meantime, a very progressive example of country-rock came off of that album, in the form of "Rock Me On The Water", written by emerging songwriter Jackson Browne.
ROCK ME ON THE WATER
03/04/72--#90 (her fifth Hot 100 entry)
03/11/72--#87
03/18/72--#85
Both the relative failure of the song on the Hot 100, and the low album chart placement of Linda Ronstadt itself (only #163 on the Top 200 album chart) could be ascribed to Linda still being a bit too far ahead of her audience. But Boylan defended the album, which contained not only fine examples of Linda's knack for contemporary singer/songwriter material (including "Birds", by Neil Young), but also such hard-core C&W classics as "Crazy Arms" and Patsy Cline's immortal "I Fall To Pieces." The album also found its way onto Billboard's Country Album Chart, peaking at a respectable #35. Her reputation as the premiere female country-rock singer of her time was becoming more solidified, even if album sales and radio airplay didn’t quite yet indicate it. Her reputation was further enhanced when she made her performing debut at what was then the pre-eminent country and western nightclub in the world, the Palomino in North Hollywood, on December 7, 1971. Over the next three years, every single one of her appearances there was sold out—a record that was never to be broken by any other artist who appeared there (the “Pal”, sadly, closed its doors in 1995).
Linda would continue being her relentless self into 1972. And in 1973, after seeming to look disorganized, her career would start to accelerate and coalesce, thanks to changes in the way she did things. That story comes in the next segment.