Linda Ronstadt - Box Set (4CDs, 1999)

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.

Tracklist:

CD1 - Album Retrospective

01. When We Ran
02. Ruler Of My Heart
03. Cry 'Til My Tears Run Dry
04. We Will Rock You
05. Winter Light
06. Anyone Who Had A Heart
07. I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself
08. Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)
09. Do What You Gotta Do
10. Heartbeats Accelerating
11. Goodbye My Friend
12. Adios
13. Cry Like A Rainstorm
14. Trouble Again
15. Easy For You To Say
16. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
17. Get Closer
18. Hurts So Bad
19. I Can't Let Go
20. Ooh Baby Baby
21. Just One Look
22. Poor Poor Pitiful Me

CD2 - Album Retrospective

01. Blue Bayou
02. Try Me Again
03. Heat Wave
04. Heart Like A Wheel
05. It Doesn't Matter Anymore
06. You're No Good
07. When Will I Be Loved
08. Long Long Time
09. Different Drum
10. Little Girl Blue
11. I Get Along Without You Very Well
12. My Funny Valentine
13. When You Wish Upon A Star
14. It Never Entered My Mind
15. Skylark
16. What's New
17. Quiereme Mucho
18. Frenesi
19. Mentira Salome
20. La Mariquita
21. El Crucifijo de Piedra

CD3 - Collaborations

01. High Sierra (w,Emmylou Harris; Dolly Parton)
02. Lover's Return (w,Emmylou Harris; Dolly Parton)
03. The Blue Train (w,Emmylou Harris; Dolly Parton)
04. Feels Like Home (w,Emmylou Harris; Dolly Parton)
05. Gentle Annie (w,Anna McGarrigle; Kate McGarrigle)
06. Please Remember Me (w,Aaron Neville)
07. After The Gold Rush (w,Emmylou Harris; Dolly Parton)
08. Moonlight In Vermont (w,Frank Sinatra)
09. El Camino (The Road) (w,Michael Ronstadt; Peter Ronstadt)
10. All My Life (w,Aaron Neville)
11. Don't Know Much (w,Aaron Neville)
12. Back In The U.S.A. (w,Chuck Berry)
13. El Sol Que Tu Eres (w,Danny Valdez)
14. Telling Me Lies (w,Emmylou Harris; Dolly Parton)
15. Somewhere Out There (w,James Ingram)
16. I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine (w,James Taylor)
17. I Never Will Marry (w,Dolly Parton)
18. Prisoner In Disguise (w,J.D. Souther)
19. Faithless Love (w,J.D. Souther)
20. I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You) (w,Emmylou Harris)

CD4 - Rarities

01. Gainesville
02. Sandman's Coming
03. My Hero
04. All I Have To Do Is Dream (with Kermit the Frog)
05. Dreams to Dream
06. The Blacksmith
07. Bandit & A Heart Breaker
08. Keep Me From Blowing Away (with The Seldom Scene)
09. The Sweetest Gift (with The Seldom Scene & Emmylou Harris)
10. Freezing (with Philip Glass)
11. Poor Wandering One
12. Sorry Her Lot
13. I Want A Horse (with Wendy Waldman)
14. All That You Dream (with Little Feat)
15. Hearts Against The Wind (with J.D. Souther)
16. Tumbling Dice
17. Border Town
18. Falling Star
19. Honky Tonk Blues (with Emmylou Harris)
20. Lightning Bar Blues
21. Why
22. I'd Like To Know
23. Everybody Has Their Own Ideas (Stone Poneys Single, Sidewalk Records)

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