Linda Ronstadt - The '80s Collection (7 CD, 2014) [24-192]

(1980) Mad Love

(1982) Get Closer

(1983) What's New

(1984) Lush Life

(1986) For Sentimental Reasons

(1987) Canciones de Mi Padre

(1989) Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind

Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris - The Complete Trio Collection [3 CD, 2016/FLAC]

 

Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris have three careers unparalleled in music history. Together they have sold over 200 million albums worldwide and performed for decades in front of countless fans around the globe. It s no surprise that when their three voices united to release their debut collaboration, the results were remarkable. The threesome released two albums together, Trio (1987) and Trio II (1999), which have combined to sell more than five million copies worldwide and win three Grammy® Awards. Both of these classic albums have been newly remastered for a three-CD collection packed with rare and unreleased music produced by Harris. The bonus disc is loaded with 20 songs, including alternate takes and completely unreleased recordings from the trio spanning both album sessions.

Linda Ronstadt - Transmission Impossible [3 CD, 2015] (FLAC + 320)

 THREE CD SET FEATURING THE VERY BEST OF LINDA RONSTADT LIVE.

 Sadly, now retired following a diagnosis of Parkinson s disease, Linda Ronstadt lent her quite extraordinary voice to over 120 albums, and sold more than 100 million records, during her lengthy career, which spanned more than 45 years from the mid-1960s until 2011, when Linda was forced to quit. One of the world's best-selling artists of all time, Christopher Loudon, of Jazz Times (not a journal that readily commends pop and rock performers) wrote in 2004 that Linda Ronstadt is "blessed with arguably the most sterling set of pipes of her generation . 

This 3CD set celebrates Linda Ronstadt s musical achievements, by featuring herein broadcast recordings of some of the finest concerts the girl from Arizona ever performed. DISC ONE, includes Linda s superb performance at The Record Plant in Sausalito, CA, on 18th November 1973, while DISC TWO captures her show at The Universal Amphitheatre in LA on 3rd November 1976. Concluding this exceptional boxed set, DISC THREE features Linda Ronstadt with The Nelson Riddle Orchestra, performing together at The Arlington Theater, Santa Barbara, on 9th March 1984. 

Linda Ronstadt - Original Album Series (5 CD, 2009/FLAC)

 

Disc 1: Prisoner In Disguise - 1975

Disc 2: Simple Dreams - 1977

Disc 3: Living In The U.S.A. - 1978

Disc 4: Mad Love - 1980

Disc 5: Cry Like A Rainstorm - 1989

 

 

Linda Ronstadt - Box Set (5 CD, 1999/FLAC)

 Linda Ronstadt's generically titled four-CD, five-hour, 86-track box set retrospective attempts with considerable success to encompass the many types of music she's sung from the mid-'60s to the late '90s. The album is divided into five unequal parts, with 31 tracks given over to an "Album Retrospective," followed by seven tracks from "The Nelson Riddle Sessions," her three albums of classic pop, then five songs "En Español," drawn from her three Spanish language albums. That takes up the first two discs, with the third disc consisting of 20 "Collaborations" and the fourth 23 "Rarities." It is significant that the first section is called "Album Retrospective," signaling to the listener that Ronstadt is not interested in presenting her hit singles as such. In fact, most of her chart hits do turn up somewhere on the set, but a whole chunk of them is missing. At the time that Ronstadt was peppering the singles charts in the late '70s, she caught flack for her covers of Motown and rock & roll standards, and she herself has disavowed her recordings of such work, so maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that she has chosen to forget "Heat Wave," "Tracks of My Tears," "That'll Be the Day," "It's So Easy," and even modern rock songs like "How Do I Make You," with "Back in the U.S.A." and "Tumbling Dice" included only in live versions. A critic can hardly object, but Ronstadt fans should note that, as a result, the box set will not allow them to throw their Greatest Hits albums away. Also, the omissions tend to make Ronstadt seem like more of a balladeer than she has been in her career. She is much more interested in emphasizing her non-rock work. The "Rarities" disc really only contains five previously unreleased songs, and they are hardly revelations, including outtakes of material written by the likes of J.D. Souther and Karla Bonoff, longtime Ronstadt favorites. But the disc does suggest the singer's range, from the art songs of Carla Bley and Philip Glass to theater songs from The Pirates of Penzance and Randy Newman's Faust. The Linda Ronstadt Box Set clearly had major input from the artist herself, and its contents may not be what a Ronstadt fan or chart researcher would have chosen. But it certainly makes the case for Ronstadt as a hard-working performer who constantly challenged herself by trying styles beyond the Southern California folk-rock for which she remains best known.