Rock/pop

Linda Ronstadt: Simple Dreams

Simple Dreams

Music
by Linda Ronstadt | Apr 22, 2013

Music

Sonics

The 1970s was a golden decade for singer/songwriters, and one of the purest voices to bring this repertoire to life was Linda Ronstadt. Known for her inimitable styling, gutsy power, and in later years her ambitious crossover albums, Ronstadt was considered the path to platinum for hit-seeking tunesmiths. Plaintive or sassy, rocking or rootsy, Ronstadt reshaped and personalized a song until her performance and the songwriter’s vision became inseparable. Following Hasten Down the Wind from the year before, Simple Dreams (1977) ultimately went platinum after a few weeks at number one on the Billboard charts, with seminal performances of songs from the Laurel Canyon elite including Warren Zevon’s “Carmelita” and “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” J.D. Souther’s title track, a tribute to Buddy Holly’s “It’s So Easy,” and Orbison’s “Blue Bayou.” Presaging her Trio album is the lovely Dolly Parton duet of the traditional “I Never Will Marry.” MoFi’s vinyl reissue is a revelation. Warmer and cleaner, it eliminates the jangly hype and treble grain of the Asylum originals, and if it can’t entirely shed their peakiness its improved midrange body and lower noise floor make for much more enjoyable listening.

More Info

Media	LP
Label	Mobile Fidelity
Contributors	Linda Ronstadt Primary artist

By Neil Gader

My love of music largely predates my enthusiasm for audio. I grew up Los Angeles in a house where music was constantly playing on the stereo (Altecs, if you’re interested). It ranged from my mom listening to hit Broadway musicals to my sister’s early Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Beatles, and Stones LPs, and dad’s constant companions, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. With the British Invasion, I immediately picked up a guitar and took piano lessons and have been playing ever since. Following graduation from UCLA I became a writing member of the Lehman Engel’s BMI Musical Theater Workshops in New York–working in advertising to pay the bills. I’ve co-written bunches of songs, some published, some recorded. In 1995 I co-produced an award-winning short fiction movie that did well on the international film-festival circuit. I was introduced to Harry Pearson in the early 70s by a mutual friend. At that time Harry was still working full-time for Long Island’s Newsday even as he was writing Issue 1 of TAS during his off hours. We struck up a decades-long friendship that ultimately turned into a writing gig that has proved both stimulating and rewarding. In terms of music reproduction, I find myself listening more than ever for the “little” things. Low-level resolving power, dynamic gradients, shadings, timbral color and contrasts. Listening to a lot of vocals and solo piano has always helped me recalibrate and nail down what I’m hearing. Tonal neutrality and presence are important to me but small deviations are not disqualifying. But I am quite sensitive to treble over-reach, and find dry, hyper-detailed systems intriguing but inauthentic compared with the concert-going experience. For me, true musicality conveys the cozy warmth of a room with a fireplace not the icy cold of an igloo. Currently I split my time between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Studio City, California with my wife Judi Dickerson, an acting, voice, and dialect coach, along with border collies Ivy and Alfie.