Post by alyn on Dec 9, 2023 5:45:17 GMT -5
Will Friedwald’s book ‘Sinatra! The Song Is You’ I’m sure must have been discussed here somewhere before as his opinion on the Ronstadt / Riddle albums is utterly scathing and I can’t imagine it passed by the Eagle Eyes of the LR forumers.
It is my Go To book for in depth and beyond information on every album Sinatra recorded and to that end is really the best book on Frank—and I have many. It’s so good to wallow in the details of everything relevant to every album. He gushes where gushing is due, that’s for sure and does not hold back on the decline of Frank and the horrendous albums he made late in his career, and then the diabolical Duets albums get rightfully torn to shreds.
But I always find myself reading the Ronstadt / Riddle albums chapter in the book and kind of getting a bit angry as when I was playing these albums regularly I absolutely loved them and felt they were a perfect blend of voice and arrangement on some of the greatest songs ever written. It’s a strange thing that an expert who writes about jazz singing, recordings, arrangements saying that these were probably Riddle’s worst work and even comments quite libelously on the photo seen regularly of Nelson & Linda, as looking like a Grandfather with his demented Grandchild (or words to that effect). Of course the records sold massively and his inference is that Nelson was just happy to be raking in the money from them.
Reading it again has not made me doubt myself at all—why should my enthusiasm be dented by reviews, but sometimes I wish I could step back from being a Linda Ronstadt fan and hear them with fresh ears and just wonder how a writer steeped in this kind of knowledge could really dismiss the collaboration so aggressively….
It's a puzzle.
It is my Go To book for in depth and beyond information on every album Sinatra recorded and to that end is really the best book on Frank—and I have many. It’s so good to wallow in the details of everything relevant to every album. He gushes where gushing is due, that’s for sure and does not hold back on the decline of Frank and the horrendous albums he made late in his career, and then the diabolical Duets albums get rightfully torn to shreds.
But I always find myself reading the Ronstadt / Riddle albums chapter in the book and kind of getting a bit angry as when I was playing these albums regularly I absolutely loved them and felt they were a perfect blend of voice and arrangement on some of the greatest songs ever written. It’s a strange thing that an expert who writes about jazz singing, recordings, arrangements saying that these were probably Riddle’s worst work and even comments quite libelously on the photo seen regularly of Nelson & Linda, as looking like a Grandfather with his demented Grandchild (or words to that effect). Of course the records sold massively and his inference is that Nelson was just happy to be raking in the money from them.
Reading it again has not made me doubt myself at all—why should my enthusiasm be dented by reviews, but sometimes I wish I could step back from being a Linda Ronstadt fan and hear them with fresh ears and just wonder how a writer steeped in this kind of knowledge could really dismiss the collaboration so aggressively….
It's a puzzle.
