Linda Ronstadt: Mad Love CD Track Listing

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Linda Ronstadt Mad Love (1980)
Originally Released 1980\nCD Edition Released July 1987\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: Released in 1980, Mad Love featured Linda Ronstadt taking on new wave with mixed results. At this point, her albums with producer Peter Asher became routine and repetitive. This album's predecessor, Living in the U.S.A., hit the cutout bins, so a change was in order. While many may miss the customary Ronstadt here, most of Mad Love does indeed work. The insinuating "I Can't Let Go" and the playful "How Do I Make You" do help Ronstadt attain a certain cuteness and freshness. The biggest hit, the cover of Little Anthony & the Imperials' "Hurts So Bad," has a great vocal and is made even better by Danny Kortchmar's emotive guitar solos. While the originals and style of guitarist Mark Goldenberg did predominate, Mad Love is mostly known for its three Elvis Costello covers. Although the often pitch-perfect Ronstadt is more than antithetical to Costello's angst, she more than connects with "Party Girl." Costello's "Talking in the Dark" closes the album on an oddly sweet note. The strange thing about Mad Love is that it did include a lot of players from Ronstadt's previous albums. Kortchmar, Russ Kunkel, Andrew Gold, and Nicolette Larson's great backing vocals all appear here. For the most part, Mad Love stood the test of time and is certainly different from the Ronstadt albums that preceded and followed it. -- Jason Elias\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nfinds Linda in straightforward rock 'n' roll territory; suffers from weak material and obnoxious vocals, November 22, 2004 \nReviewer: Dave "missing person" (United States)\nLinda Ronstadt's 1980 album "Mad Love" finds her very much in straightforward rock 'n' roll/ new wave territory, with barely any trace of country influence. The album credits inform us that the album was recorded from October 24th, 1979 through January 10th, 1980. However, it really sounds like the kind of album that gets knocked out in a couple day-long sessions. Peter Asher once again handled the production duties, & with musicians such as Russell Kunkel (drums), Bob Glaub (bass), & Bill Payne (keyboards) playing on track after track, you can rest assured that you get excellent musical performances on here. However, the material is a huge problem. With this album containing 10 songs & running less than 32 minutes in the first place, there's really no margin for error, & track upon track is weak & rote. Also, although Linda's vocal abilities are clearly intact, her vocals here leave a lot to be desired--at times she gives an exhausting 'pouty teenage girl' treatment to the material, & other times she makes painfully forced attempts at sounding dramatic. All that said, this album is strikingly reminiscent of the debut album by Carole King's daughter Louise Goffin, who was in her teens at the time she made it--that album, entitled "Kid Blue", came out in 1979, was on the Elektra/ Asylum label just like "Mad Love" is, & features more than a few of the same musicians this album does. The "Kid Blue" album isn't bad overall, and although Goffin was at times obnoxious & amateurish on it, it was quite understandable considering her age at the time & the fact that it was her debut. On the other hand, for the veteran Ronstadt, who was 33 when this was recorded, to be sounding this way is quite shocking, & when you add to this the weak raw material, you end up with a heck of a disappointing album. The riffy title track does get the album off to an irresistibly fun start--it was written by guitarist Mark Goldenberg, another key player on this album. Unfortunately, his other two songwriting contributions include the rote rocker "Cost Of Love" (with annoying Ronstadt vocals), & "Justine" which is quite sluggish & exhausting. The hit "Hurt So Bad" is melodramatic, yet undeniably catchy, featuring great guitar work from Danny Kortchmar, as well as some impossible-to-resist tormented vocals from Ronstadt. The uptempo "How Do I Make You" does have some catchiness, but the slight lyrics about wanting attention from some guy, along with the repetitive chant of the title make it tiring. "I Can't Let Go" is one of those "you're no good for me but I love you anyway" songs, & it's slight, has overblown vocals, & has a Beatle-esque guitar line that gives the song a sugariness that makes it even more annoying. "Look Out For My Love", a Neil Young cover, is a dull ballad, & the power ballad-ish "Party Girl", written by Elvis Costello, is even worse, with its 'emotive' vocals & atrocious lyrics. "Girls Talk", another Costello tune, is really catchy & has a great Ronstadt vocal, but likewise, it's let down by the annoyingly whiny lyrics, & the heavy repetition of the title on the fade is eye-roll inducing. In the end, it's easy to why Linda would be accused for her late '70s/ early '80s stylistic shift, because this album is a sadly blown opportunity and a major disappointment. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nA FAR BEAT FROM A DIFFERENT DRUM, June 17, 2001\nReviewer: Patrick Earley (Edmond, Oklahoma USA)\n"Mad Love" is Linda Ronstadt's early 80's foray into the world of punk. For the most part, I think she pulled it off rather well. She proved here that you don't have to be an angry english anarchist to do good punk, especially when you're using 3 of Elvis Costello's best songs on you're album. Ronstadt's never been a songwriter, but she's always made the songs she sings sound like her own. For this record, she hired the good new wave/punk band the Cretones to back her. This band can definitly rock out, but unlike a lot of bands of this era, these guys could play. Three of the hardest rockers here is the opener "Mad Love", "How Do I Make You", and "Justine". Justine is a good song that also appears on the Cretones first album, which is also a very good album, if you can find it. The band, just like on this record, sound a little like early Tom Petty. Other songs here; Chip Taylor's "I Can't Let Go", which rivals the Hollies version. She does a rocked up version of Neil Young's "Look Out For My Love", which would have fit better on one of her earlier country albums.It's the Elvis Costello songs though, that are my favorites here. "Party Girl", a slow burner off of Costello's "Armed Forces" album, one of the best pop records ever made. She does her best singing on this one, along with one of the better sounding synthesizers I've heard. Costello's other two songs are "Girls Talk", which has been covered numerous times. The best being Dave Edmunds version. And the album closer "Talking In The Dark", another great Costello pop gem. Country rock purists who liked Linda Ronstadt from her Stone Poneys days, and her days with the California rock mafia of the Eagles, Jackson Browne, and J.D.Souther, panned this album when it came out. But being the rocker that I was, I liked it, and it got a lot of listens in the 8 track. I respect artists like Ronstadt that are always willing to take chances and try new things like pop standars, jazz, mariachi, country, and even punk. Just chalk "Mad Love" up as another successful Ronstadt venture.\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nHolds up better than you'd expect, June 20, 1999\nReviewer: A music fan\nLinda Ronstadt caught a lot of flack with this album for daring to jump on the punk/new wave bandwagon in the 80's, but for all that, this album stands up better than many others from that era. For one thing, Ronstadt has talent, something most of the other acts from that time were lacking. Granted, the title song is bombastic overkill and Elvis Costello's "Talking in the Dark" is a throwaway. But her take on his "Party Girl" is powerful and "Girls Talk" is as terrific as Dave Edmonds version. "How Do I Make You" is awesome: a very convincingly hard-edged rocker. She also puts an edgy spin on her remakes of The Hollies "Can't Let Go" and Little Anthony and the Imperials "Hurts So Bad" that, in my opinion, top the originals. It probably was wrong for this album to get tagged as punk when really its your basic power pop, done with the same taste and professionalism Ronstadt has shown thoughout her career.\n\nHalf.com Album Credits\nNicolette Larson, Contributing Artist\nVal Garay, Engineer\nPeter Asher, Producer\n\nAlbum Notes\nPersonnel: Linda Ronstadt (vocals); Peter Bernstein (acoustic guitar); Dan Dugmore, Danny Kortchmar (electric guitar); Mark Goldenberg (electric guitar, background vocals); Mike Auldridge (dobro); Bill Payne (keyboards); Bob Glaub (bass); Russell Kunkel (drums); Peter Asher, Steve Forman (percussion); Rosemary Butler, Waddy Wachtel, Kenny Edwards, Andrew Gold (background vocals).\n\nRecorded at Record One, Los Angeles, California between October 1979 and January 1980.\n\nSince the 1960s, Linda Ronstadt has gone down many different musical paths in her career, but with MAD LOVE it's quite clear she was in a rockin' state of mind. Kicking off with the title track (written by new wave band the Cretones, who back here on this album), Linda shows that rock can also mean pop, as this is as catchy as they come. "Party Girl" is the first of three Elvis Costello covers, and this version should have made Elvis proud. The Blondie-ish hit "How Do I Make You" features Nicolette Larson on background vocals.\n\n"I Can't Let Go", shows that a beautiful voice can also be a rock & roll one. "Hurt So Bad" is the sole ballad on the album and is a soulful cover of Little Anthony & The Imperial's hit. The covers continue with an excellent version of Neil Young's "Look Out For My Love." The album concludes with Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk" and "Talking In The Dark." Linda had covered Elvis' "Alison" on her LIVING IN THE USA album and continues the tradition here. MAD LOVE is a high energy, rousing record with catchy riffs, fantastic vocals and solid production.
This rock cd contains 10 tracks and runs 31min 16sec.
Freedb: 6707520a
Buy: from Amazon.com

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