Very Best Of Linda Ronstadt CD

The very best of Linda Ronstadt packs a single CD with 21 Ronstadt classics released by Capitol and Elektra/Asylum from 1967-1993. 2002.

Personnel includes: Linda Ronstadt, James Ingram, Aaron Neville (vocals); The Stone Poneys.
Producers include: Peter Asher, Nick Venet, Elliot Mazer, Steve Tyrell, Linda Ronstadt.
Compilation producers: James Austin, Gary Peterson, John Brenes.
Recorded between 1967 & 1993. Includes liner notes by David Ritz.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
Audio Remasterer: Pat Kraus.
Liner Note Author: David Ritz.
Photographers: Neal Preston; Jim Shea; Henry Diltz; Jim Britt; Richard McCaffrey; Bonnie Lippel.
If Rhino had merely combined Linda Ronstadt's Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 and volume two, they would have a compilation that captured her at her peak. They didn't do that for 2002's The Very Best of Linda Ronstadt, but they did follow that basic blueprint very closely, with 16 of the 21 songs culled from her '70s heyday, with the remaining five drawing from her late-'80s/early-'90s adult contemporary comeback, including "Don't' Know Much" and "Somewhere out There." That these songs don't quite fit musically with the laid-back Californian soft rock of the '70s doesn't matter, nor does it matter that her excursions into other genres -- her traditional pop albums with Nelson Riddle, her Mexican records, her country albums with Trio -- are missing ("Different Drum" with the Stone Poneys is here), because this collection expertly delivers her biggest hits in an enjoyable fashion with very little fat. Those original hits records remain first-rate, but it's nicer to get all of these on one disc instead of two. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Linda Ronstadt established herself as one of the primary female song stylists of '70s pop-rock. She was not a writer herself, her hits all being penned by others, reflecting the production values of the era in which they were created. Producer Peter Asher (formerly of the '60s UK singing duo Peter & Gordon) brought her to the top of the charts, with a style that helped set the template for the LA sound of the '70s.
Ronstadt imbued a wide range of songs with passion and style, singing often-definitive versions of songs by contemporaries such as Warren Zevon and Anna McGarrigle, as well as dipping into the songbooks of Smokey Robinson, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, and Phil Everly. This set culls material from 1967 to 1993, the earliest being "Different Drum," written by Mike Nesmith and recorded when she was lead singer for The Stone Poneys.

Rolling Stone (10/02, p.74) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...A rare combination of intelligence, feeling and sheer skill..."