Linda Ronstadt & The Nelson Riddle Orchestra: What's New (Japanese Pressing) CD Track Listing

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Linda Ronstadt & The Nelson Riddle Orchestra What's New (Japanese Pressing) (1983)
What's New (Japanese Pressing)\nLinda Ronstadt & The Nelson Riddle Orchestra\n\nOriginally Released 1983\nCD Edition Released 1986 ??\nDVD-Audio Edition Released November 19, 2002\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: Instead of trying to compete with a newer, fashion-conscious pop marketplace, Linda Ronstadt removed herself from the rat race, recording an album of traditional pop standards with Nelson Riddle. Ronstadt's voice isn't always showcased to a fine effect on these songs, but the record is an interesting change of pace. And it would have been more interesting if she hadn't repeated its formula on her next two records. -- by Stephen Thomas Erlewine\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nGreat Singer-Great Orchestra, February 25, 2007\nReviewer: J. E. Billmann (West Bend, Wisconsin)\n\nRiddle and Ronstadt recorded these albums at a time when Nelson Riddle was nearing the end of his life. Linda knew it based upon the feeling that she puts forth in these standards. Riddle's arrangements are impeccable. He arranged beautifully for the string section but used some outstanding soloists in Bob Cooper (tenor), Plas Johnson,(tenor) Warren Luehning (trumpet) and Chancey Welch.(trombone) to embrace Linda's solos. Welch's solos are tastefully played with a smooth, mellow tone. He represents the epitome of an artist playing the trombone. This is a great album.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nEnjoyable album from Linda Ronstadt, May 20, 2004\nReviewer: Jake Z "holden84" (Canada)\n\nThis was an interesting change of pace in Linda Ronstadt's career. Instead of competing with everyone else, she decided to do an album of old standards with Nelson Riddle. She did three albums like this, and this is by far my favorite. She would have benefitted from not following this up with two others, which are not as cohesive or strong as WHAT'S NEW is. Nevertheless, I think vocally she sounds great on these tracks, and she makes them her own.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nThanks, LR---for bringing old songs to young ears..., April 24, 2004\nReviewer: William E. Adams (Hobbs, NM USA)\n\nBack in 1983, the so-called "Great American Songbook" was largely left on the shelf. Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett and others who could really sing 'em and swing 'em were not as big as they used to be, and a generation of record buyers was growing up without much exposure to The Gershwins, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and other great writers of the first half of the century. Then Linda, a country/folk/rock artist, hooked up with elder statesman bandleader and arranger Nelson Riddle for this album of standards. It sold well, leading to two more collaborations, each of them just about equal to "What's New". (In fact, I might like "Lush Life' just a hair better.) The product proved that Riddle still could deliver the quality he became famous for in the '50's during collaborations with the greatest singers of that era. And to me, already a Linda fan, it proved that she, in many ways, could wear the title "great singer." These nine tracks are mostly mellow, even melancholy, lyrics about lost love, longing for love, and the loneliness of unrequited love. Well done all around.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nTimeless Classics & Excellent Performances, July 20, 2003\nReviewer: "lothar-the-conqueror" (Lotharvania, USA)\nI bought this in 1983 when it first came out on vinyl and played the grooves out of it. After not having it for at least 15 years I recently picked up a copy on cd and am surprised by how fresh and enjoyable it still is. Technically, it's a very clean recording and the performances by Ronstadt and the session musicians (including Ray Brown & John Guerin) are excellent. \nI've read that she originally cut the sessions with Jerry Wexler producing in a mode similar to a Billie Holliday & Lester Young style but Ronstadt canned those sessions and re-recorded them with Peter Asher and a completely different line-up of musicians. It would be interesting if future volumes could include some of those original sessions as bonus cuts to juxtapose against what was ultimately released\n\nRegardless, this is a beautiful set of songs and performances, my favorite of the three albums she released in this style.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nRONSTADT & RIDDLE'S SUPREME COLLABORATION, January 25, 2003\nReviewer: HUGO (HOUSTON, TEXAS United States)\nC'mon people! In it's initial run, WHAT'S NEW, peaked at #3 on the Billboard Album Charts and sold well over three million copies in vinyl alone here in the USA! Her videos from the album were played on MTV & VH-1 BOTH. A popular "IN CONCERT" HBO video was issued commercially, as well as a featurette on ABC's 20/20. To top all that off, LINDA RONSTADT & NELSON RIDDLE, more than any other artists in musical history, bridged the wide musical gap between Rock And Roll and the very wide ranging classic American Standards Songbook of the pre-rock era, with ONE ALBUM. Linda may have lost a few fans during this period, but she gained millions of new fans, both in her parents & grand parents age brackets as well as younger fans. Linda Ronstadt longed to explore the music before her birth, and she chose the finest orchestra leader-arranger-musician to guide her, NELSON RIDDLE. The phenomenal success of WHAT'S NEW led to a 2nd album, LUSH LIFE(another platinum seller)and to a third, FOR SENTIMENTAL REASONS, during whose recording sessions, Nelson Riddle passed away. All three albums are also included completely in the double cd pacakage: 'ROUND MIDNIGHT - LINDA RONSTADT & NELSON RIDDLE ORCHESTRA. The music chosen by Ronstadt & Riddle is timeless and appeals to every generation of music fans. Ronstadt's three Nelson Riddle collaborations are a tribute to his musical legacy and showcase the master arranger-musician in his prime, decades after his commercial peak and much celebrated recordings with Frank Sinatra, Ella Fizgerald, Dean Martin, Eddie Fisher,and many more singers of the post WWII era, as well as his own Nelson Riddle Orchestra best sellers. Thank you NELSON, for the great music you made with my favorite girl singer...she must be very proud. These were Nelson's final encores.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nBreathtaking - Must Have, August 11, 2001\nReviewer: "gemini_j" (Canada)\nUnless you count Ringo Starr's SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY, 1983's WHAT'S NEW, the first of three albums Linda Ronstadt recorded with arranger Nelson Riddle, is perhaps the first major attempt by a bona fide rock artist to come to terms with the Great American Songbook of the Gershwins, Rodgers & Hart, Cole Porter and the other great songwriters who set the musical tone for American life and love before the advent of rock & roll. Possessed of considerable yet unpretentious vocal chops, Ronstadt is a good candidate for this formidable task. She clearly reveres this music and acquits herself winningly by turning in a well-chosen, well-performed set of familiar Sinatra and Billie Holiday-associated songs. Riddle's arrangements lightly support the singer and never upstage her. This late in the game, the master arranger's famous taste is fully in evidence.\n\n\nHalf.com Details \nContributing artists: Plas Johnson \nProducer: Peter Asher \n\nAlbum Notes\nPersonnel includes: Linda Ronstadt (vocals); Nelson Riddle (leader); Tommy Tedesco, Dennis Budimir (guitar); Bob Cooper, Plas Johnson (tenor saxophone); Anthony Terran (trumpet); Chancy Welsch (trombone); Don Grolnick (piano); Ray Brown, James Hughart (bass); John Guerin (drums).\n\nUnless you count Ringo Starr's SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY, 1983's WHAT'S NEW, the first of three albums Linda Ronstadt recorded with arranger Nelson Riddle, is perhaps the first major attempt by a bona fide rock artist to come to terms with the Great American Songbook of the Gershwins, Rodgers & Hart, Cole Porter and the other great songwriters who set the musical tone for American life and love before the advent of rock & roll. Possessed of considerable yet unpretentious vocal chops, Ronstadt is a good candidate for this formidable task. She clearly reveres this music and acquits herself winningly by turning in a well-chosen, well-performed set of familiar Sinatra and Billie Holiday-associated songs. Riddle's arrangements lightly support the singer and never upstage her. This late in the game, the master arranger's famous taste is fully in evidence.\n\n\nROLLING STONE REVIEW\nGive Linda Ronstadt her due. From her earliest days, the first lady of rock has been a great technical singer with no interpretative ability, no nuance. What should a singer who needs work on her interpretative ability do? Study the great singers of the past several decades--Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald. To Ronstadt's considerable credit, she's done precisely that. The result is an album of standards called What's New, and it's a long way from the sacrilege some might have feared.\n\nHer version of George and Ira Gershwin's "Someone to Watch over Me," for example, is poutily poignant and enticingly languorous, especially when she wraps her chops around the song's soaring title line. "Guess I'll Hang My Tears out to Dry" lacks the emotional force of Frank Sinatra's version, but when Linda wails, "Then one day he passed me right by/Oh, well, I guess I'll hang my tears out to dry," by God, you notice. As always, if there are walls to be moved with sheer volume and beauty of vocal tone, Ronstadt can do the job.\n\nIn the past, Ronstadt has compensated for her too-straightforward style by adopting--some would say affecting -- an overly careful approach, as if she were aiming the notes instead of singing them. Happily, she's started to overcome this trait. Her version of "Crazy He Calls Me" pales next to Billie Holiday's, but Ronstadt's relaxed phrasing shows surprising growth.\n\nAh, but what's the point of this record, anyway? If this were your favorite type of music, you probably wouldn't be reading this magazine. An album of standards may not have been a bad idea, but recording them with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra was. Sure, the arrangements are nice, but they'd suit Eydie Gorme just as nicely. Not to place these songs into some kind of contemporary context--as Rickie Lee Jones did on Girl at Her Volcano--is to turn them into museum pieces, and to make Ronstadt's own contribution into a feat, a stunt, fascinating but lifeless.\n\nThat Linda Ronstadt has learned a lot about singing from her exposure to these standards is readily apparent. But had she cast these songs in new settings, she might have introduced them to a whole new audience and proved their lasting greatness in the process. (RS 406 - Oct 13, 1983) -- CHRISTOPHER CONNELLY
This soundtrack cd contains 9 tracks and runs 36min 52sec.
Freedb: 6f08a209
Buy: from Amazon.com

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