Album Reviews

The boomer generation is firmly out of cultural control and rock is pretty much dead—not in terms of interest but in the same way big band music is dead—though back in 1980 when this Linda Ronstadt concert was produced and recorded for an HBO special, boomer power peaked.

Linda Ronstadt appeared on CBS Sunday Morning last weekend and it was sad to see her dealing with the effects of Parkinson's Disease. She no longer can sing, but there are the recordings including this newly discovered and released live performance, which is her first on record.

Recorded April 24th, 1980 at Television Center Studios, Hollywood, CA, at the peak of Ronstadt's career, the performance aired on HBO and the tapes filed away. The story goes that Ronstadt's management consultant John Boylan discovered a bad bootleg DVD online and decided to find the original tapes for a possible release but they couldn't be found in HBO's vaults, or Ronstadt's or that of her label at the time Warner Brothers.

Through a bit of luck you'll have to read about in the liner notes, a Warner Brothers engineer found the mislabeled tapes and produced a high resolution digital transfer that Linda Ronstadt distilled down to this twelve song set. It documents Ronstadt in great rocker voice backed by a stellar band of "kids" including ex Stone Poneys guitarist Kenny Edwards, Russ Kunkel, Danny Kortchmar, Little Feat keyboard great Bill Payne and six string and pedal steel guitarist Dan Dugmore. Wendy Waldman—a "front woman" herself—provides back up and even producer Peter Asher contributes percussion. Engineer Val Garay, at the board for most of Ronstadt's studio albums was there for this one as well.

The stage was set for a memorable concert with great sound, though be advised that because it was made for television before the home theater era, the master's sound is dynamically compressed. But don't let that stop you! It's still a great mix and a good recording, especially of Ronstadt's voice, which thankfully was put to tape with little processing or watery reverb.

Bernie Grundman mastered the final edited files (which were also Plangent Processed) and Ian Sefchick cut lacquers at Capitol with records pressed perhaps at GZ Media. The gatefold packaging produced by John "Kosh" who won 3 Grammys for his Ronstadt covers and who designed the iconic Hotel California provides visual "comfort food" for a fading generation and for any youngsters interested in live performance greatness by both the singer and the backing band.

Beginning with "I Can't Let Go" popularized by The Hollies, the 11 other worthy tunes are Buddy Holly's "It's So Easy", Lowell George's trucker anthem "Willin'", "Just One Look", Roy Orbison's "Blue Bayou", J.D. Souther's "Faithless Love", Little Anthony and The Imperial's big hit "Hurt So Bad", Warren Zevon's "Poor Poor Pitiful Me", "You're No Good", "How Do I Make You", "Back in the U.S.A. and of course "Desperado".

This is the soundtrack to a generation on both the originals and Ronstadt's well-known covers brought back to life for one more go round. If you're so inclined you will enjoy this very much and way more so than when PBS inevitably runs with it as $99 dollar fund raiser! I can't wait until the "grunge rock" generation gets the PBS treatments. I should live long enough to watch them lionize Kurt Cobain before an audience of flannel shirt wearing "grungers" after a set by Hole, Mudhoney and The Melvins.

But for now there's this and it will take some of you back for an enjoyable 40 or so minutes. There's an MQA version available on Tidal that sounds very good. This sounds better to me. Must be the distortion that makes it sound more alive.