FOUR LIVE BROADCAST RECORDINGS FROM;
- My Fathers Place, New York, 1974;
- Berkley Community Centre 1975; Greek Theatre, L.A. 1980
- Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara, 1984
Linda Ronstadt – despite having given up touring and recording due to poor health – remains among the most respected and acclaimed interpreters of song to have made a name in the rock age. Linda would grace every album she released with songs by masters of composition like Lowell George, Glenn Frey & Don Henley, Neil Young, The McGarrigle Sisters and other writers of quality. And when music changed in the late 1970s, Linda changed too and employed the songs of Elvis Costello and Warren Zevon – new kids in town, but ones whose compositional skill Linda recognised immediately. In 1980 she even recorded the old Knickerbockers 1965 garage hit Lies, and made it sound like the raunchiest, rawest new wave anthemth is side of the first Blondie album.
By 1984 however Linda was inclined to look back, and not for her the cheesy synth-driven plastic pop of the day, which even some of those mentioned above were experimenting with (and in many cases, now wishing they hadn't). Instead, Ronstadt went back to The Great American Songbook and released a trio of albums interpreting songs that in many cases had provided a lot of the true inspiration for the contemporary tunes she had previously performed. This three disc collection, featuring a total of four live FM broadcasts, recorded in 1974, 1975, 1980 and 1984 respectively, covering the most pivotal eras of the girls career, all illustrate perfectly the strength of material Linda Ronstadt would always perform and always perform quite superbly.
