Monday, August 26, 2013

Poor, Poor Pitiful Me

Linda Ronstadt has announced that she has Parkinson's Disease, and the condition has left her unable to sing a note.

Some may be too young, or simply too uninterested, to remember, but LR pretty much owned the pop airwaves in the 1970s, releasing a succession of chart-topping albums featuring revived early rock, Motown, country, and covers of  various singer-songwriters (JT, Bonoff, Zevon, Souther).  In preparation for this post, I uncovered some material I'd never seen before.

Here, with the Wichita Lineman (Rhinestone Cowboy for you young 'uns/replacement Beach Boy for oldsters) himself:


A couple of guys apparently formed some sort of band while playing in Linda's:


Obscure trivia tidbit: Mr. J. Fidler Walsh was one of the models
for the Easter Island maoi stonecarvers.  Or so I heard.

And an absolutely beautifully orchestrated (love the cello) cover of The Left Banke's Walk Away Renée:


This Karla Bonoff song, one of three of the songwriter's on Hasten Down The Wind, and its opening track, showcases the power of Linda's voice (and is one of a few from that era not recorded at the Offenbach, Deutschland concerts).  Despite a mild bit of tape hiss, it's clearly the best of three I found of this song, and closest to the recorded version, though seemingly lacking the Aphex Aural Exciter punch and clarity.



Finally, a lovely a cappella Rivers of Babylon (Ps. 19:14):



6 comments:

RPM said...

I was wondering how you were going to take the news. Sad that such a beautiful voice has been lost.

an Donalbane said...

Definitely a shame that it's been silenced.

Nonetheless, I'm grateful for the Audio Technica .0004 x .0007 inch radii diamond elliptical stylus that frequently & faithfully ferrets out that voice from those vinyl grooves.

(Full disclosure - even a neo-Luddite like myself more often listens to CDs than LPs. But I do still have a turntable connected to the receiver...)

RPM said...

If you ever listen to Classic Vinyl on Sirius/XM they often start their songs with a needle drop + pop & hiss. I know it's a prerecorded sound bite, but it still makes you all warm & fuzzy.

el chupacabra said...

She was one of my crushes when I was a kid. I would say Karen Carpenter but we all know Richard had that one in the bag.

an Donalbane said...

...but we all know Richard had that one in the bag.

Never had heard that, although it appears the Interwebs swirl with theories of one or both being gay.

I'm thinking it's anyone's guess...For All We Know.

an Donalbane said...

Chico Escuela - thank you berry, berry much para las palabras amables - but I no the kind of gringo do the viejo "show me su blogger, I show mi blogger a ud."

I'm kinda old-fashioned that way.