Linda Ronstadt - Required Ronstadt (1998)

Promotional CD

Lifted directly from a previous Ronstadt post:

What. A. Voice. About the time Ronstadt was being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I received a text from my buddy Jim that read something like "I'll listen to anything sung by Linda Ronstadt." I'll second that. That simple text message led to the purchase of this box set later that day. Over her career, Ronstadt proved to be something of a musical chameleon, moving effortlessly from country to Cajun to rock to Latin to movie soundtracks to jazz standards to comic opera. She did it all and she did it well (and looked fantastic doing it).

In 1977, Rolling Stone magazine called Ronstadt "rock's supreme torch singer" and I can't improve upon that title so I'll leave it at that. Why Elektra thought Ronstadt needed a promo greatest hits CD is beyond me, but record execs aren't known for making good decisions and it got me this sweet chronological compilation, so I'll shut up now and get to the tracks. Speaking of these tracks, this thing must have been remastered because it sounds fantastic.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart but I believe if Elektra had released this to the general public it would have easily peaked in the top 50.

Tracks (with Billboard chart peaks): as you would expect from such a disc from such an artist, this is "all killer, no filler" stuff. Thanks, Linda.

	Song	Year	Hot 100	AC	Country	Rock
1	Different Drum	1968	13
2	Love Has No Pride	1973	51	23
3	Desperado	1973
4	You're No Good	1975	1	10
5	When Will I Be Loved	1975	2	3	1
6	Heat Wave	1975	5	19
7	Love is a Rose	1975	63		5
8	Tracks of My Tears	1976	25	4	11
9	That'll Be The Day	1976	11	16	27
10	Blue Bayou	1977	3	3	2
11	It's So Easy	1977	5	37	81
12	Tumbling Dice	1978	32	30
13	Back in the USA	1978	16	30	41
14	Ooh Baby Baby	1979	7	2	85
15	How Do I Make You	1980	10
16	Hurt So Bad	1980	8	25
17	Get Closer	1982	29			34
18	What's New	1983	53	5
19	Don't Know Much	1989	2	1
20	All My Life	1989	11	1
21	Oh No, Not My Baby	1993		35
22	The Waiting	1995
23	Dedicated to the One I Love	1996

Songs that peaked in the Top 40 that didn't make the cut for this compilation: Long Long Time (#25, 1970), Poor Poor Pitiful Me (#31, 1978), I Can't Let Go (#31, 1980), I Knew You When (#37, 1983), Somewhere Out There (#2, 1987). And we didn't even cover her journeys into operetta, Spanish language albums, and her Trio albums.

February 28, 1977

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Since Ronstadt provided much of the soundtrack for my youth, there are many. As newlyweds, my wife and I wore out our cassette of Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind (I don't have that album on CD yet, but I just ordered a copy.). We're going on a road trip later this morning and I'm gonna slip this into the CD player in the SUV and give it another listen on the road. Perfect.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Original Album Series (2012)
'Round Midnight (1986)