Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt, "Heart Like A Wheel", Capitol ST-11358

When Linda Ronstadt left Capitol Records to sign with Asylum (to be with her friends Jackson Browne and the Eagles) she still owed Capitol one more album of new material. This disc "Heart Like a Wheel" fulfills her obligation.

Here we have ten songs, none of them brand new, with the possible exception of "Faithless Love" a J.D. Souther tune which I don't believe has been recorded before. The material ranges from mediocre to superb with only one tune "You're No Good" being really unsuited to Linda Ronstadt's style. It's an old Betty Everett single and Linda is really not a rhythm and blues singer. The rest of the cuts are more into Linda's country style.

Side one contains the only slow spots on this LP. The aforementioned "You're No Good" and Anna McGarrigle's "Heart Like a Wheel" are good tunes, but the latter is a bit too heavily dramatic for the Ronstadt delivery. It's about time the McGarrigle sisters, Kate and Anna, were given the chance to record and interpret their own material. Also Paul Anka's "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" couldn't be saved even by Linda Ronstadt.

Despite the presence of a really weak musical back-up, side two of this album is a beauty. All five tunes here, along with "Faithless Love" and "Dark End of the Street" on side one, really demonstrate how this woman's skill as a vocalist has grown. She hits the high notes with power and conviction and vocally expands every lyric.

The Everly Brothers tune "When Will I Be Loved" is the real stand-out here featuring especially beautiful male back-up vocals. The tune is followed by "Willin'" possibly the best written tune in the pop-country idiom. This cut has all the power of Lowell George's two original interpretations of his song, and, at the same time, Linda infuses it with new melodic freshness. The fact that she is one of the few women who can convincingly sing a truck-driving song like this may be a result of her hangin' out at truck drivers' bars when she was a teenager. The album doses with three of the best "weepers" around. "I Can't Help It If I'm Still in Love With You" is given one of the nicest renderings since the Hank Williams original and is helped along by Sneaky Pete Kleinow on pedal steel. The LP closes with "You Can Close Your Eyes", from James Taylor's "Mud Slide Slim," and manages to sound more inspiring than the song really is. Apparently, the strongest voice this side of Tracy Nelson is getting stronger.

--Bruce Weinberg