HASTEN DOWN THE WIND

Hasten Down The Wind, released in 1976, was the first Linda Ronstadt album I purchased and the one that turned me into a lifelong fan. To celebrate I am looking back at the recording, release and success of the album. The majority of the text in this article is taken from my e-book Linda Ronstadt-A Life In Music which was published back in 2009 although there is additional/edited text throughout. The illustrations have also been added specially for this article.

Photograph: Ethan A. Russell

By 1976 Linda Ronstadt was riding high with two very successful albums, Heart Like A Wheel (Capitol ST11538) which reached #1 on both the Billboard US Top Country Charts and Top 200 Album Charts and Prisoner In Disguise (Asylum 7E-1045) which peaked at #2 on the Country Charts and #4 on the Album Charts. Both albums would go on to achieve platinum status by the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA).

She also had success on the Billboard Singles Charts. From Heart Like A Wheel chart success came with You're No Good (#1 on the Top 40 Singles Chart), When Will I Be Loved (#1 on the Top Country Singles and #2 on the Top 40 Singles Chart), I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You) (#2 on the Top Country Singles) and It Doesn't Matter Anymore (#54 on the Top Country Singles).

Prisoner In Disguise would give her chart success with Love Is A Rose (#5 on the Top Country Singles), Tracks Of My Tears (#11 on the Top Country Singles and #25 on the Top 40 Singles Chart), The Sweetest Gift (#12 on the Top Country Singles) and Heatwave (#5 on the Top 40 Singles Chart).

Despite her increasing following in the United Kingdom, chart success evaded her with only the single Tracks Of My Tears b/w Prisoner In Disguise (Asylum K13034) charting at a disappointing #42 and neither of her recent albums achieving any chart action, although this would change with her next release.

Meanwhile at the 1975 Grammy Award Ceremony, held at the Hollywood Palladium on 28 February, 1976, more success came her way when she was nominated in the 'Album Of The Year' category for Heart Like A Wheel, 'Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female' for Heart Like A Wheel and walked away with a Grammy award for I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You) in the 'Best Country Vocal Performance, Female' category. Peter Asher was also nominated for an award in the 'Producer Of The Year' category but was beaten by Arif Mardin.

Her confidence must have been high when she returned to the studio to work on her new album Hasten Down The Wind. Sessions were held between March and June 1976 at The Sound Factory in Los Angeles, produced by Peter Asher and engineered by Val Garay.

Musicians appearing on the album included regulars Andrew Gold (guitars, piano, bass), Kenny Edwards (bass, acoustic guitar, mandolin), Dan Dugmore (guitar), Mike Botts (drums) and Peter Asher (tambourine, cowbell, handclaps) along with Waddy Wachtel (guitars), Russ Kunkel (drums), Clarence McDonald (piano) while the string arrangements were handled by David Campbell. A host of backing vocalists included Peter Asher, Andrew Gold, Kenny Edwards, Karla Bonoff, Wendy Waldman, Don Henley and Herb Pedersen.

Mike Botts, who played drums on the sessions, has good memories of the recording of Hasten Down The Wind, “It was before drum machines and samplers so typically the sessions would consist of Linda and a full rhythm section, bass, drums, keyboard and two guitars."

"She was always active in the arrangement process and would provide ‘work vocals’ during the basic tracking sessions to help guide us through the nuances of the arrangement. Once a final take had been chosen, she would then come in to put on the final vocal along with any instrumental overdubs that may have been necessary."

The exception to this was That'll Be The Day and Botts was impressed with how she handled the song in the studio. “She wanted to record it just the way Buddy did, live with no overdubs! So we rehearsed the arrangement for a couple of days and then went in to record it,” recalled Botts. “ It was not only recorded live in the studio but, amazingly, we nailed it on the first take. Now that’s really rare. It was a wonderfully creative time with some really talented and gifted artists. I’m quite proud to have been part of it.”

Unlike many singers, Linda writes few of her own songs, preferring to choose from the multitude of talented singer/songwriters that were around. In the past she had fallen back on the work of people like John David Souther, James Taylor, Lowell George and Neil Young, but with this new release, she turned to a new crop of talented writers including Karla Bonoff, Warren Zevon and Tracy Nelson. However, it wasn’t to the new writers that she turned to for the first single.

For the second time she chose to cover a classic Buddy Holly rock and roll track from the fifties. Back in 1974 she had recorded and released It Doesn't Matter Any More and in August her cover of That’ll Be The Day was issued with Try Me Again as the b-side (Asylum E-45340). The single just failed to reach the top ten on the Top 40 Singles Chart stalling at #11 while on the Top Country Singles Chart it had a worse fate only reaching #27. Released in the UK with the same b-side (Asylum K13053) it fared even worse spending just one week at #52.

Hasten Down The Wind (Asylum 7E-1072 / Asylum K53045) was released in the USA and UK on 9 August 1976. The cover featured a sexy image of Linda on the beach near her home in Malibu taken by Ethan A. Russell. The album cover was designed by John Kosh who first worked on Prisoner In Disguise and would go on to design many more of her album covers including Simple Dreams, Living In The USA, Mad Love, her Spanish/Mexican albums and her trio of recordings with Nelson Riddle. Despite working with many other artists, including The Beatles Abbey Road album and The Eagles Hotel California, his only Grammy's were for Linda Ronstadt albums... Prisoner In Disguise, Get Closer and Lush Life.

The album was presented in a gatefold sleeve with other images from the photoshoot and included an insert with song lyrics and credits.

The cover of her early album Silk Purse had gone a long way in portraying Linda as a sex symbol and the cover of Hasten Down The Wind, which showed her in a sexually teasing pose wearing a low-cut dress that clearly showed she wasn’t wearing a bra, set against a backdrop of a California sunset, only added to the image.

In an interview she spoke about the cover, “I didn’t have a concept for this album cover, and neither did anyone else. I wanted a picture of me in mid-air, falling. I wanted to look like I was floating.”

They tried several ideas, shooting in a swimming pool and jumping off a ladder but it didn’t look right. They finally settled on the beach scene. The photograph was actually unplanned as photographer Ethan A. Russell recalled, “We were shooting pictures outside Linda’s Malibu home when the horse ran by in the background. Linda said, ‘Don’t shoot, you’ll scare the horse.’ Happily, I ignored her.”

After the shoot was over and she saw the photos there was talk of retouching the image to cover up the fact that she was wearing nothing under the dress but she remarked, “I never looked that good a day in my life anyway.”

They didn’t set out to produce a sexy cover and unfortunately this was counterproductive as people were beginning to see her as more of a sex symbol than a serious recording artist.

Mind you Linda is fully aware of her sexy image as she explained, “I love sex as much as I love music, and I think it’s as hard to do. I don’t know how good a sex symbol I am, but I do think I’m good at being sexy. The sexual aspect of my personality has been played up a lot, and I can’t say it hasn’t been part of my success. But it’s unfair in a way, because I don’t think I look as good as my image.”

Three of the tracks were written by Karla Bonoff who had worked in a group with Andrew Gold. Bonoff was born and raised in Southern California and with her sister Lisa started writing and performing under the name ‘The Daughters of Chester P’, named after her father.

Despite an audition with Elektra Records, where they recorded an 11-song demo, she could not get a record deal. She had many musician friends including Kenny Edwards and Wendy Waldman and along with Andrew Gold they decided to form Bryndle.

An unreleased album made for A&M Records, and a single produced by Lou Adler, who also produced the Mamas and the Papas, failed to help their career and the band split. Then both Edwards and Gold went to work with Linda. 

Photograph: Unknown

This led to Linda hearing a demo of Lose Again. Bonoff recalled her saying “Hey, you know that's real good. What else have you got?” Bonoff also provided both Someone To Lay Down Beside Me and If He's Ever Near to the new album. It was Lose Again that opened the album and it is a great song with its emotional opening lines, 'Save me, Free me, From my heart this time.'

Linda described Someone To Lay Down Beside Me as a song 'about a prostitute' and the melody is full of dramatic moments. The song closes the album and is a strong performance by Linda on a song with great lyrics.

The album’s title track was a Warren Zevon composition. Zevon, who was born in Chicago in 1947, began his professional music career in the mid-1960s as part of a boy/girl folk-singing act called Lyme and Cybelle. His own version of the song was still unreleased when Linda recorded her own take on the song. Don Henley joins her for the vocal harmony and the result is another beautiful performance.

Linda had already dabbled with the Jamaican music style of reggae, with some success, on her previous album, covering Jimmy Cliff’s Many Rivers To Cross and continued this trend with John and Johanna Hall’s Give One Heart which includes an a cappella prelude of Rivers Of Babylon. John Hall was a member of the group Orleans and the song had appeared on their 1975 album Let There Be Music.

Along with Johanna, his lyrical partner, he has written songs recorded by artists including Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt, James Brown, Steve Wariner, The Doobie Brothers, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt and many others.

Although the album leaned heavily towards less well-known material, it did contain two covers. As well as That’ll Be The Day, a firm concert favourite for years to come, she also covered the Patsy Cline hit Crazy. Written by Willie Nelson it became a number one for Cline in 1961 and was one of her biggest hits.

She would return again to the Holly catalogue for her next album and the reason for her desire to record his songs can be traced back to her early days in Arizona where she probably heard a lot of his songs on the radio.

Furthermore, Hasten Down The Wind was the first album to showcase her song-writing skills. Try Me Again, a story of cheating and confession, was co-written with Andrew Gold. Featuring another confident vocal from Linda that demonstrates the power and drama in her performance.

In an interview he remembered her first attempt at song-writing. “She was kind of shy and she was telling Peter and I that she’d written this little melody with a few words and it wasn’t finished and maybe she could sing it but she was just too shy. It’s funny now because she’s not shy at all." 

"So, anyway she finally said, ‘I’ll sing it for Andrew’ so I went up to her room, closed the door and she sat on one bed and I in the other and she just sang it. I had a guitar and tried to put some chords to it. It was so funny because we opened up the door and it was like one of those cartoons where all these people fell. It was Peter and the band just dying to know what this song was.” Gold made a few suggestions, additional chords and music for the bridge, but Try Me Again was mainly Linda’s song.

The Spanish Lo Siento Mi Vida was a joint effort with Kenny Edwards and Linda’s father Gilbert. With its simple backing of just acoustic guitar, pedal steel, bass and drum, it is a beautiful performance by both band and singer and is one of the best foreign language recordings she ever made, pre-dating her Spanish/Mexican albums by at least ten years.

In the sleeve-notes to her 2004 compilation Jardin Azul/Las Canciones Favourites Linda talked about the writing and recording of the song. “My oldest musical compatriot, Kenny Edwards, was enamoured of a beautiful girl who was a Spanish major and played great blues guitar. Lo Siento Mi Vida was a phrase that stuck from that romance and one that he always loved, so he came up with a snatch of a melody for it, a few chords—and nothing else.”

Photograph: Unknown

Linda’s grasp of Spanish was not great and she called her dad to help with the lyrics as she went on to describe: “The three of us came up with some lyrics and worked and worked on them. I decided we’d write the bridge in English, because it was too hard to get my dad on the phone again.”

Edwards recalled how the song came together: “I was on the road with Linda and we had a day off in some god-forsaken town and so we were killing time at the motel. I had been playing with a melody that had a kind of Tex-Mex vibe to it and Linda responded, suggesting we write it. I think we came up with the title then and planned to finish it sometime."

Back in LA we got together to do so and found we didn't know enough Spanish to get through the lyrics unaided so we called Linda’s dad on the phone and it was like, ‘…so how do you say blah, blah...?’ And he would tell us and we’d plug it into the song.”

It was a song that would cause problems for Andrew Gold when Linda performed it in concert. He couldn’t speak Spanish so learnt it phonetically and never really knew what he was singing.

Gold had also offered other songs to her, “we tried on at least two occasions to record my song Love Hurts. I was always offering her songs but, alas, she didn’t do any. She liked them though, especially Lonely Boy.”

The Tattler is a blues/gospel song that dates from the 1920s and written by Washington Phillips. The song was covered by Ry Cooder on his 1974 Paradise And Lunch album and Linda follows a similar arrangement.

Tracy Nelson was an American country and blues singer whose career started in the mid-1960s with the release of her debut album, Deep Are The Roots. She moved to San Francisco in 1966 and became a part of the local music scene. It was during this period that she wrote and recorded Down So Low which appeared on her Living With The Animals album. It was a song that she would re-record on a number of occasions. Nelson has spoken about the inspiration for the song... her broken heart in the aftermath of her break-up with the musician Steve Miller. It was a perfect song for Linda to cover and is often cited as the best cover version of the song.

The album had a very depressive feel, as Linda said herself. “It was a very down album. I was very depressed then.” The entire album was full of sadness and heartbreak and although there was a heavy quality to the music her voice was, at times soulful and at times beautiful. This was something that many reviewers would pick up on.

Press coverage for the album was mixed. Circus magazine in their review in November 1976 by Ken Tucker felt that she had not released one consistently good album and that she should record an upbeat album with fast country, fast rock and roll and fast rock. The album was criticised for having too many maudlin songs although Tucker did praise both That’ll Be The Day and her version of Crazy. Talking about Karla Bonoff he joked that: “The only thing interesting about Ms Bonoff is that her name, at a quick glance, looks like an acronym for Boris Karloff.”

David McGee, writing in Rolling Stone in September was more impressed feeling that the album was “…a fine album that begs closer inspection.” In particular he picked out her cover of That's Be The Day saying, "I've always appreciated Ronstadt's good-natured approach to her remakes of rock 'n' roll oldies. The version of That'll Be The Day included here neither alters my feelings for nor threatens the Buddy Holly original. Her reading could be tougher, but the music behind it - particularly the solo sparring between guitarists Andrew Gold and Waddy Wachtel - has enough bite to overcome vocal shortcomings." He also felt her other cover, Crazy, was an inspired choice.

"Hasten Down The Wind is not the easiest Linda Ronstadt album to 'get' the first time one hears it, but it may be the classiest and longest-lived one she has done so far", wrote Noel Coppage in the November issue of Stereo Review. He went on to praise many of the tracks and ended the review by saying, "It's the kind of album I don't listen to one cut at a time anyway - It's the kind I listen to a whole lot. The thing has hardly been off the turntable since it got here. It's there now, and I'm anxious to get back to it for what must be the hundredth time in the last few days. That's the kind of judgement about an album I trust most."

Billboard rated That'll Be The Day, Lose Again, Give One Heart, Try Me Again and Rivers Of Babylon as the best cuts on the album and had nothing but praise for the album. They wrote, "That Queen of Lost Ladies whose golden heart is always broken by unfeeling men is back again with another unique delivery of country/pop/rock-oldies laments and defiant good-time pledges. Ronstadt's highly effective stage image of the romantic female loser leads the listener smoothly through a wide variety of music by a staggering variety of songwriters." They went on to say, "It took Ronstadt a long and determined time to get to the top of the heap, but if she can keep up the quality of albums like this, she'll be on top even longer." They also gave credit to Peter Asher for his remarkable production.

The mixed reaction didn’t affect sales with the album reaching #1 on the US Country Charts and #3 on the Top 100 Album Chart. Despite only reaching #32, it did give Linda her first chart album in the UK and went on to receive a silver disc from the British Phonographic Institute (BPI). If further proof of the album’s success were needed, gold and platinum awards from the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) within a month of its release should have been enough to silence even the harshest critics.

Another Grammy Award came Linda's way at the 1976 Grammy Award Ceremony, held at the Hollywood Palladium on 19 February, 1977, when Hasten Down The Wind won the 'Best Vocal Performance, Female' category.

In support of the album, Linda embarked on a lengthy US tour in early August with sell-out concerts across the USA. A concert review appeared in the December 1976 issue of Playboy where they said, "A few days after Linda Ronstadt released Hasten Down The Wind, we caught the country singer in concert. During the next few hours, she moved through old favourites and introduced the audience to the songs on her new album. The verdict was unanimous: Ronstadt is stronger and more confident than ever before, and with good reason - the new material is equal, if not superior, to the best of her standards." They also praised her band, who they felt were one of the strongest in the business.

In November her fans in the United Kingdom finally had the opportunity to see her in concert when she undertook a short tour of the UK and Europe. There were dates in London at The New Victoria Theatre, the Odeon Theatre in Birmingham, Apollo in Glasgow, the Rai Congrescentrum in Amsterdam and Musikhalle in Hamburg. There were three shows in London with the final show an Old Grey Whistle Test Special, introduced by 'Whispering' Bob Harris.

Photographs: Unknown

During the concerts Linda would perform several songs from Hasten Down The Wind including, Lose Again, That'll Be The Day, The Tattler, Crazy, Lo Siento Mi Vida and the title track. She also turned to earlier material with When Will I Be Loved, Silver Threads And Golden Needles, Love Is A Rose and Tracks Of My Tears.

Backing her on the tour were Andrew Gold (keyboards, guitar and backing vocals), Kenny Edwards (bass, harmonica, backing vocals), Waddy Wachtel (guitars, backing vocals), Dan Dugmore (guitar, steel guitar, backing vocals) and Mike Botts (drums). Andrew Gold was also the supporting act on the tour.

In November a second single (Asylum E-45361) was issued, Someone To Lay Down Beside Me which stalled at #42 on the Pop Charts, although it was the other side, Crazy, that became a #6 country hit. Its success was probably down to the popularity of the song as many were aware of the Patsy Cline original and, although nobody could ever match that, Linda’s version was certainly an excellent performance. Released in the UK a few months later (Asylum K-13071) it failed to create much interest chart wise.

Unfortunately a third single (Asylum 45402), pairing Lose Again with Lo Siento Mi Vida, released in May 1977, could not create any interest and disappeared without trace. It was the same fate in the UK where the single (Asylum K-13065) failed to chart. It was issued in the UK in October 1976 with a picture sleeve featuring a lovely portrait of Linda and on the reverse were the upcoming tour dates.

The chart positions were by no means a reflection of the quality of the material and could be put down to the fact that Linda was becoming more of an album artist at this stage of her career.

Hasten Down The Wind shows the maturity in her voice and demonstrates how much further she had come as a vocalist. The music is emotional and moving, very soulful and for those raised on her earlier work it may have been a difficult album to come to terms with.

However, it was becoming obvious with Hasten Down The Wind, her tenth album, that Linda was getting restless with performing the same old country and country-rock material and wanted to stretch herself by moving into far more complex musical areas. This would become more evident with the release of future albums like Simple Dreams, Living In The USA and Mad Love.

Next year Hasten Down The Wind celebrates its fiftieth anniversary and time for an expanded and remastered edition with, if available, bonus tracks that could include alternate or early versions, demos, songs recorded but not used along with a detailed booklet with comprehensive liner notes, photos and memorabilia. To be honest all her catalogue is way overdue for re-issue. I can always hope. 

LINDA RONSTADT - MAD LOVE 1980

By 1980 Linda Ronstadt was enjoying herself and had plans to expand her talent into other areas. “I’m not going to do rock and roll forever,” she said at the time. Asher was looking at other possibilities too. He was considering Broadway as well as producing a rock musical starring Linda and although she seemed interested he remarked, “It’s all vague at this point.”

What wasn’t vague, at least to Linda, was the direction her next album would take. She would see in the new decade with a new look and attitude. She was ready to move on, to break from the past and predictability and was planning a number of surprises. The first people would see of this newly found desire to expand was when she appeared in public sporting a cropped ‘punk’ hairstyle.
 
By the mid-seventies many rock stars from the previous two decades, now in their late-thirties and forties, had little to say to the new generation of teenagers, many of whom were unemployed. Likewise many of the groups around at that time, Abba, The Bee Gees and Queen did not appeal to the vast number of youngsters who were looking for something different. The punk rock movement, spearheaded by bands such as The Sex Pistols, emerged to challenge these groups and would take a stranglehold on the UK music scene.

The music, which was raw, negative and occasionally full of obscene lyrics, was often shouted over melodies that had little or no tune. It also had its own associated fashion, safety pins through the ear and nose, chains, mohican hairstyles and outrageous clothes.

However, it was a fairly short-lived movement and many of the punk groups survived into the eighties by developing a more sophisticated style, groups like The Clash, The Jam, and the Stranglers. At this time its American version, new wave, lent a respectable aim to the movement allowing it to continue.

Linda’s new album would signify America’s partial acceptance of this new music form. If any more evidence was required that the album was also a means of appealing to the UK market and new wave followers they needed to look no further than the three Elvis Costello tracks she covered.

Art Fein, who worked for a variety of record companies, including Elektra/Asylum where he worked in the publicity department, remembered seeing Linda at a Clash concert taking notes before she started work on the album. She also took time out to check what was going on in the clubs in Los Angeles and New York. She caught shows by Pat Benatar and Debbie Harry, of Blondie, and made her mind up that this was the route she should take.

To recharge her batteries there had been a break of close to fifteen months between finishing her last album and starting the new one. Sessions for the album, which took place at Record One in LA, commenced in late-October 1979 and ran through till January the following year. Among those musicians appearing on the album were many who had collaborated with Linda in the past, Dan Dugmore, Mike Auldridge, Bill Payne, Russ Kunkel and her manager, Peter Asher.

Two members of the group The Cretones, Mark Goldenberg and Peter Bernstein, also appear on the album. Goldenberg, as well as the composer of three of the tracks, shares the electric guitar duties with Dugmore, while Bernstein plays acoustic guitar. Danny Kortchmar, who would tour with Linda, also doubled up on electric guitar although, like Bernstein, does not feature on many of the tracks.

Danny Kortchmar won fame, or notoriety, playing guitar for West Coast artists like James Taylor, Carole King and, of course, Linda Ronstadt. He also co-wrote songs with Jackson Browne and branched out into record production with his first credit being on an album with Carole King’s daughter, Louise Goffin, in 1979. “The producers I had worked with as a guitarist really did a lot to prepare me,” he explained in an interview. “Especially Peter Asher, Linda Ronstadt’s producer. Peter really encouraged all the musicians he worked with to think like producers, to play parts a producer would tell you to play. After working with him for so many years, I felt I was pretty qualified to produce.” One of his favourite places to work in was Record One, owned by Los Angeles producer, Val Garay, and home to many of Ronstadt’s sessions.

Providing backing vocals on the album were, Kenny Edwards, Andrew Gold, Waddy Wachtel, Nicolette Larson and Rosemary Butler.

Peter Asher also produced the sessions but it was Mark Goldenberg who was truly at the helm. His arrangements were heavily dominated by fuzzy guitars, organ, bass and drum while this time the vocal back-up is kept to a minimum. “I’m more excited about this album than about any other one I’ve done,” she said once the recording was over.

A single was issued in January 1980, How Do I Make You backed with Rambler Gambler, and became a top ten pop single in the United States. Rambler Gambler was not included on the album and sounds like it was recorded much earlier than the rest of the material.

With its country feel, it was no surprise that Rambler Gambler appeared on the country charts, albeit only reaching #42. The sessions were still underway when this single was issued and more than likely there was no other material from the sessions available when considering what tracks to use. This may be why they went back to what appears to be a much earlier recording.

Released in March 1980 Mad Love, Ronstadt's tenth album, went platinum within a couple of months and during its 36 week residency in the album charts it would peak at #3. In the UK, where they may have expected better things from the album, it failed miserably.

The track How Do I Make You was nominated in the ‘Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female’ at the Grammy Awards but was beaten by Pat Benatar with her track Crimes Of Passion. Success also came her way when she was a joint winner in the ‘Best Recording For Children’ category for her contribution to the album In Harmony/A Sesame Street Record.
 
The album artwork was far removed from previous efforts. Gone were the sexy, provocative cover photos. This time Kosh, who had designed many of her album sleeves, went for a shocking pink and black graphic with a photo of Linda with her new cropped hair style.

Mad Love, Cost Of Love and Justine were all written by Mark Goldenberg and had all appeared on the Cretones album Thin Red Line, released at almost the same time as Mad Love. All three are well-handled by Linda and feature excellent support from the band, especially Goldenberg’s guitar playing, Bill Payne on organ and Russ Kunkel on drums.

Linda once again turns to Elvis Costello for three tracks covering Party Girl, Girls Talk and Talking In The Dark. These were good performances although she seems to struggle more with these songs than she did on the Goldenberg tracks as well as her earlier recording of Costello’s Alison, which had appeared on her 1978 album Living In The USA.

With a great drum intro How Do I Make You is without doubt one of the highlights on the album and was written by Billy Steinberg. He was one of the most successful songwriters of the eighties and nineties and, along with co-writer Tom Kelly, had written five number one singles including Madonna’s Like A Virgin and Cyndi Lauper’s True Colours. As Rolling Stone would point out in their review Ronstadt sounds like she is trying to imitate Debbie Harry from Blondie.

Two tracks date back to the mid-sixties, a soulful cover of the Little Anthony and The Imperials hit Hurt So Bad and the Hollies I Can’t Let Go. Despite being vintage tracks they both fit perfectly on the album and this is down to her ‘new wave’ interpretation.

However, the outstanding track on the album is her reworking of Neil Young’s Look Out For My Love which is as good, if not better, than his original.

Many critics compared Linda’s efforts to the new wave energy of Pat Benatar who had achieved success in the US with a succession of hit singles, including Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Love Is A Battlefield and We Belong and three top five albums, Crimes Of Passion, Precious Time and Get Nervous.

Benatar trained as an opera singer and went on to become a major hitmaker in the early eighties finding success with both mainstream rock and powerful ballads that focussed on personal relationships and sexual politics.

Linda laid herself open for a lot of criticism for going down the ‘New Wave-Punk’ road. Many reviewers picked up on the fact that maybe this was the wrong sort of material for her to record. Stephen Holden, in his review in Rolling Stone wrote “Mad Love’s theme is passion – not the reflective, yearning romanticism that’s infused most of Ronstadt’s best work, but brutal, nervous, teenage sexuality,” and went on to say “No matter how tough she acts, she can’t help sounding pretty.” He also criticised the production, feeling that it was too mechanistic and that it would be hard to imagine the songs performed live because everything is so high-tech. Summing up, he reckoned the album wasn’t a major exhibition more a fascinating failure.

Rock Critic Richard Meltzer was more scathing and savaged the album in his review calling it “even more corrupt, gawky and anachronistic than such regional stalwarts of sixties-revisionist new wave as the Naughty Sweeties”, an LA band that played many of the local punk shows. He went on to say that it was the “nadir of retrograde, psuedo-punk rock.”

Producer Peter Asher pointed out, as printed in Goldmine magazine in 2003, that “it’s just that she likes good music and recognized how good punk was, and that isn’t the same thing as trying to jump on a bandwagon. I think it’s a genuine question of her excellent musical taste.”

Stereo Review, while echoing many of the comments in Rolling Stone, thought that, while sincere, Ronstadt probably wasn’t taking it that seriously although they felt it was “a well intended, spirited almost plucky little album.” Understanding that music styles come and go and new wave would soon be superseded for the next craze, along with Linda’s ability to turn her hand to many different styles, they ended their review with the comment, “Linda Ronstadt can go back to being Linda Ronstadt any time she wants to, and the rest of the new wave can’t.” How true that statement would become.
 
In March and April, to promote the album, Linda undertook a lengthy US Mad Love tour with Danny Kortchmar as special guest.

Backing her on the tour were, Kenny Edwards (guitar, banjo and backing vocals), Dan Dugmore (guitar and pedal steel guitar), Danny Kortchmar (guitar), Bob Glaub (bass), Bill Payne (keyboards), Russ Kunkel (drums), Peter Asher (percussion and backing vocals) and Wendy Waldman (backing vocals).

Opening on 22 March with a show at the Capital Center in Landover, Maryland the tour would find her playing concerts across America including dates in Raleigh, North Carolina, Lexington, Kentucky, Nashville, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Detroit, Michigan and St Paul, Minnesota.

There were sell-out shows in Pittsburgh, Detroit and St Paul with crowds of between 12-16,000. These and other concert dates on the tour made regular placings in Billboard’s ‘Boxscore’ chart that detailed top grossing shows. During the tour live promotional videos were filmed for both ‘How Do I Make You’ and ‘Hurt So Bad’.

In his review of her 3 April performance at the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Walter Carter, in the Tennessean, wrote: “Just the presence of Linda Ronstadt on the Municipal Auditorium stage Thursday night was enough to charm a sold-out audience into extended applause, and her singing through the 95-minute performance only heightened the sensation.” He had nothing but praise for the band, who had no trouble in switching between her new hard-edged material and her old country songs of the past few years. He recalled that people were throwing bouquets of flowers on stage, prompting Linda to laugh and comment “Does this mean I’m going to be a bride... I doubt it.” There were probably many disappointed males in the audience!

She was also taking time out to support presidential campaigns, not least that of her then current boyfriend Jerry Brown. In December 1979 she had played two benefit concerts, along with The Eagles and Chicago, in San Diego, to raise money for Brown.

During her Mad Love Tour, on 21 April, she played a show at the Five Seasons Center in Cedar Rapids, Idaho, in support of Gary Hart’s senatorial bid in Colorado. Reviewing that particular show The Cedar Rapids Gazette wrote, “Linda Ronstadt appears to be the new record holder for the most standing ovations given a performer in one 90 minute concert at the Five Seasons Center. She received too many to count.” 
 

 
Following the Harrisburg Three Mile Island nuclear incident in 1979, in which a faulty cooling system caused radioactive gases to be released into the air, she had taken part in a benefit on the steps of the State Capitol building in Pennsylvania on 29 March 1980.

On 24 April, at the Television Center Studios in Hollywood, the show was filmed for a special to be broadcast by Home Box Office (HBO), the American subscription TV service.

The special was considered by many fans to be a high point in her career and the electrifying performances of many of her current and past hits captured America's most popular female rock singer at the peak of her career.

Meanwhile, further singles were issued following the tour. Hurt So Bad reached #8 while I Can’t Let Go just failed to hit the top thirty. By mid-1980, Linda had racked up enough hits to release a second volume of hits which included two tracks from Mad Love.

Over the years the HBO Special has been made available, albeit unofficially, on various video, DVD and CD releases.

The first official release of any tracks from the show was in 2017 when the 40th Anniversary edition of her 1977 album Simple Dreams featured three bonus tracks, live recordings of It's So Easy, Blue Bayou and Poor Poor Pitiful Me.

It would be a further two years before Linda Ronstadt's first official live album would be released. Live In Hollywood, released by Rhino Records, was released in February 2019 and featured the following songs... I Can't Let Go, Willin', Just One Look, Faithless Love, Hurt So Bad, You're No Good, How Do I Make You, Back In The USA and Desperado along with the three tracks, previously available on the aforementioned Simple Dreams release, It's So Easy, Blue Bayou and Poor Poor Pitiful Me.

There were many great performances on the album with a six-minute version of You're No Good being one of the highlights. The song, written by Clint Ballard Jr., had been recorded by Linda back in 1974 for her album Heart Like A Wheel and was a song she had been closing her shows with back in 1973. It was band member Kenny Edwards who suggested she record it.

There were three tracks from the Mad Love album, I Can't Let Go, Hurt So Bad and How Do I Make You and the remaining tracks were from earlier in her career and some of her best known songs. From her 1973 Don't Cry Now album came Desperado, both Willin' and Faithless Love were originally released on Heart Like A Wheel in 1974 while Just One Look and Back In The USA were from 1979's Living In The USA album.

 

Reviews were positive with Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic writing, "These 12 tracks casually illustrate her facility with both soft rock and old-time rock & roll, and if the set list leans heavily on oldies, the combination of guts and polish makes her renditions memorable.

Hal Horowitz of American Songwriter praised her vocal delivery saying, "She's in terrific voice throughout with a few standout performances like the closing Desperado - a knockout, dramatic vocal accompanied only by Payne's piano - and a powerful take on Roy Orbison's Blue Bayou, has anyone done that song better?" 

Also concentrating on her vocals was Jim Harrington of Mercury News, "Her vocals are strong, clear and convincing as she moves through such winners as It's So Easy, Just One Look, and Poor Poor Pitiful Me. And the stunning version of Blue Bayou... wow. That's one for the time capsule."

There were many more great reviews but in his On The Records review Phil Bausch captured it perfectly in just a few words, "It's important that recordings like Live In Hollywood exist to remind the world Linda Ronstadt once possessed one of the greatest rock and pop voices of all time."

The physical CD, Live In Hollywood, was a welcome release for fans but only featured twelve of the twenty tracks performed during the HBO Special and it would be another five years before the whole concert would find a release, albeit in digital format only.

 
Released in October 2024, Live In Hollywood Deluxe, was only available as a digital download and marked the first time the complete performance had been available. It is unknown if there are any plans to release the whole concert on CD in the future but a physical copy would be welcome.

It has been reported that following the TV taping in 1980 plans were made to release her first live album but for years the master tapes were unavailable or lost. It was only a chance conversation between John Boylan, producer of the album, and an audio engineer from Warner Brothers Records that would result in the tapes being located.

The audio was specifically mastered for streaming and downloading to ensure the best possible quality for the listener. The whole album sounds excellent with Linda's powerful vocals to the fore while every instrument and backing vocal is clear and perfectly balanced. 

The eight previously unreleased songs included, four from the Mad Love album, Party Girl, Look Out For My Love, Mad Love and Cost Of Love along with Hank Williams classic, I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You), the Holland-Dozier-Holland composition Heat Wave, a 1963 hit for Martha and The Vandellas, which Linda recorded for her 1975 album Prisoner In Disguise and Silver Threads And Golden Needles, a song she had recorded twice previously, firstly for her 1969 solo debut Hand Sown... Home Grown and again in 1973 for Don't Cry Now. One song performed at the show and finally released was Lies, originally released in 1965 by The Knickerbockers, it was a song Linda had already recorded in the studio but would not release until 1982 on her Get Closer album.

Mad Love was a complete departure for Linda Ronstadt and while she would return to her county, country-rock and rock roots in the future she would also venture into new genres. Over the next few years her career would find her working with Nelson Riddle on a trio of albums featuring classic standards from the 1940s and 1950s and returning to her Mexican roots with albums of Mariachi and Spanish music.

COLLECTING MUSIC & FILM MEMORABILIA

My love of music dates back to the early-seventies and over the fifty years that followed my music collection has gone from vinyl and cassettes to Compact Discs and, despite not being a great fan of the medium, digital downloads.

Anyone that knows me will know that I have a wide taste in music and listen to everything from rock 'n' roll to blues, country, Americana, country rock, pop and even jazz and orchestral. To be honest the only styles I am not interested in are rap and opera.

Just a few of my favourite artists are Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Fleetwood Mac, The Beatles and The Beach Boys, although this is only a small section of my music tastes.

I also enjoy films although my tastes are the films from the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s rather than the big blockbusters from the past few decades. However, there are still some favourites from the later years with Die Hard being top of my list. My favourite male and female movie stars all date back to the great days of Hollywood... James Stewart and Gene Tierney. You can read more about Gene Tierney here on my blog in the article Gene Tierney - Hollywood Beauty.

Although not an avid collector who has to have everything, I do collect items of music and film memorabilia including promo CDs, press photos, sheet music, lobby cards and press books. A few items from my collection are pictured below.

This brings me to books on collecting music and film memorabilia of which I have several in my library including The Lyle Price Guide - Film & Rock 'n' Roll Collectables by Tony Curtis,  The Elvis Collector - An Introductory Guide To Collecting UK Film Memorabilia 1956-1977 and The Elvis Collector - An Introductory Guide To Collecting UK Memorabilia 1956-1977 the latter two compiled and written by Harry Carrigan.

I recently received three books from Schiffer Publishing which cover Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Sheet Music from the 1960s, all three of which are reviewed below.

Elvis Presley Memorabilia - An Unauthorized Collectors Guide (Sean O'Neil) (Schiffer Publishing 2001 - ISBN 0-7643-1382-7) 

Following a brief introduction which covers prices and counterfeit items the 160-page book is split into seven chapters which cover Elvis' career - Elvis In Concert, Elvis Presley Enterprises and Novelty Items, Sun Records and RCA Victor Records, Magazines, The Movies, One-of-a-Kind and Autographs, Photos and Other Paper. Each chapter opens with a short introduction.

The Concert section features early press ads, photo albums that were sold at the concerts, ticket stubs and much more. Moving into the seventies there are more ads and souvenir photo albums, a few which I still have in my own collection.

The items produced by Elvis Enterprises ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous with record cases, photo cards and record players to jewellery and even  'I Like Elvis' and 'I Hate Elvis' badges, the Colonel certainly catered for both camps.

The Records section was of special interest to me as I love the old RCA ads and various sheet music featured.

Of the remaining sections there are various magazines from the 1950s through to the 1970s, movie posters, lobby cards and advertising, rare items that don't fit in any other part of the book, so are given their own chapter and finally some festive items. Christmas was a special time for Elvis and every year the Colonel produced a postcard, some classy and others less so... Elvis in a jumpsuit by a Christmas tree!

The book is beautifully produced, with mostly colour illustrations and includes a brief description of each item along with the then current values.

The Beatles Yesterday & Tomorrow - A Collector's Guide To Beatles Memorabilia (Courtney McWilliams) (Schiffer Publishing 1999 - ISBN 0-7643-0852-1) 

A preface explaining condition of memorabilia and an introduction that covers the early days of the group in Liverpool and Hamburg is followed by nine chapters covering various areas of collecting. Over 210-pages  the book covers - Vintage Beatles, All Movie Memorabilia, Fan Club Memorabilia, Jewellery, The Beatles As Art, Music Mediums, Ephemera, Solo Efforts and Something New.

Following the same format as the Elvis book this is a treasure trove of Beatles memorabilia, beautifully illustrated with an introduction to each chapter and every item has a brief description and guide to value.

I really enjoyed the sections on the movies with all the posters, lobby cards, press ads and stills. The records section includes the well known UK releases but also the albums released on Capitol in America, Beatles '65, The Early Beatles and Beatles VI. The infamous 'Butcher Cover' which was originally planned to be the cover of the Capitol album The Beatles Yesterday and Today is also included. One of the rarest Beatles items that nowadays is almost impossible to find and is worth at least the $6,000 - $12,000 value quoted for a copy in mint condition.

Like Elvis Presley there are items that fall into the same category... from the sublime to the ridiculous. Beatles wigs, masks, lunch boxes, thermos flasks and, depending who your favourite band members was, badges with 'I Love Paul', 'I Love John', 'I Love George' and 'I Love Ringo'. I couldn't see any 'I Hate The Beatles' badges and maybe none were ever produced.

A chapter on their solo work seems to devote more pages to John Lennon than Paul, George or Ringo which is had to understand when you look at the amount of solo work released by the other three ex-Beatles.

The final chapter, Something New, covers some of the more recent items available and those issued after the break-up in the 1970s.

Collecting Rock 'n' Roll Sheet Music Of The 1960s  (Valerie Carallo) (Schiffer Publishing 2006 - ISBN 0-7643-2373-3) 

Split over 176-pages this book includes an introduction which explains what sheet music is, the differences between USA, UK and Australian sheet music and value and condition. The book then covers seven different genres of music - Twist and Shout (The Beatles), Wipe Out (Surf and Folk), Psychotic Reaction (Garage, Hard Rock and Psychedelia), Lightnin' Strikes (Pop and Rock), Going To A Go-Go (R&B, Soul and Motown), Catch Us If You Can (The British Invasion) and Thank U Very Much (Bubblegum, Girl Groups, Novelty Songs etc).

I particularly enjoyed the chapter on The Beatles with many great cover images and designs including those for Ask Me Why, A Day In The Life, Till There Was You, Girl and Back In The U.S.S.R. A few foreign items are displayed... Tu Mano Cogere (I Want To Hold Your Hand) from Spain, Elle (Il) T'Auime (She Loves You) from France and the German issue of Twist im Blut (Twist And Shout).

Many of my favourite artists are covered in the book with The Beach Boys featured heavily with Sloop John B, Dance Dance Dance, The Man With All The Toys, God Only Knows and my personal favourite sheet music cover from the group, Surfer Girl.

With over 600 illustrations there are too many to cover in this review. However, besides those already mentioned these are just a few of my personal favourites... Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (Bob Dylan), Mrs Robinson (Simon & Garfunkel), I'm A Boy (The Who), These Boots Are Made For Walking (Nancy Sinatra), Alternate Title (The Monkees), A Boy Named Sue (Johnny Cash) and Ode To Billy Joe (Bobbie Gentry). The latter has the title misspelled as the title is actually Ode To Billie Joe.

Being a big fan of Linda Ronstadt I couldn't end this review without mentioning the inclusion of Different Drum by The Stone Poneys which features the lovely Linda on the cover.

Many of those, me included, who collect sheet music are not buying them because they can read music but because of the images featured on the covers many of which were rare and differed from the image featured on the 45rpm single. 

Like the Elvis and Beatles books this one is beautifully produced, illustrated in full colour and printed on high quality, glossy paper. Each chapter has a brief introduction and, like the previous books, includes a description of each item featured along with a guide to the value.

I really enjoyed going through these books and seeing the amount of items that were produced with the names Elvis Presley and The Beatles, some tacky and some very collectable. I wonder how many of the items have survived in their original packaging and in mint condition. Likewise, the sheet music book, was a fascinating insight into what is still a very collectable market.

Although all three books were originally published between 1998 and 2006 they can still be found on various sites on the internet and if you are like me and find this kind of information fascinating then I recommend checking them out.

With thanks to Victoria Hansen at Schiffer Publishing Ltd for providing copies of the books for this article.