Disco de Linda Ronstadt: “The Linda Ronstadt Box Set [Box]”

Linda Ronstadt's career has spanned over 30 years, with 35 released albums in folk-rock, country, rock, pop, Latino, and classic ballads.

This box set provides a great compilation of her great hits across all years and genres. The last (of 4) CD in the set is titled "Rarities," and includes unreleased material as well as some pieces released but little known. Among these are recordings of Randy Newman's musical "Faust" - a duet with Kermit the Frog - a haunting Phillip Glass/Suzanne Vega piece recorded with the Kronos Quartet - and songs recorded with the bluegrass band The Seldom Scene.

The collaborations with Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Aaron Neville are extraordinary numbers of perfectly blended voices. Some of her later solo pieces have a soft, almost new-age sound to them. Quite entrancing is her lullaby rendition of Queen's "We Will Rock You."

For baby boomer fans from the '70's and '80's like me, there are dozens of songs by the Ronstadt "posse": Andrew Gold, Waddy Wachtel, Wendy Waldman, Anna & Kate McGarrigle, and Nicolette Larson.

There are almost 5 hours of music in this set. Only her 2000 Christmas album is not represented.

Caution: the liner notes [box set booklet] are a serious disappointment. No lyrics are given. The artist biography is anorexic. The information on the songs (composer and musicians) is printed in microscopic typeface.

Despite the drawbacks of the printed material, I heartily recommend this set. Ronstadt is a performer of astonishing talent and range.

If you don't buy this collection for any other reason buy it for the excellent sound quality. It's a fairly comprehensive presentation of Ronstadt's material except the the sound in most cases is much better than on the original CD releases. Also included is a disc of unreleased rare material that makes this boxed set a must for any Ronstadt fan. The only negative thing is that there are no selections from the incredible Don't Cry Now album and not enough material from the #1 album Heart Like A Wheel, but well worth the price for anyone who loves Linda Ronstadt's voice.

This box set contains many rarities and unreleased tracks, as well as a great overview of her solo albums and collaborations with others. It focuses on ALL of Ronstadt's musical genres, not just on rock. Hence, it is missing some of her (rock) hits, so it would help to get (or keep) her 2 Greatest Hits albums for a complete hits collection. But you won't feel cheated by this box. It covers rock, pop, country, folk, Mexican canciones, Latin pop, Early Americana, lullabies, operetta, and standards from the Great American Songbook. And the rarities disc alone is worth the price. Ronstadt possesses one of the greatest voices of our generation, and her incredible work gathered in this box is all the proof anyone needs.

Since her folk-rock debut in 1967, Linda Ronstadt has been one of the greatest voices in pop music history. The 1999 Linda Ronstadt Box Set does as good a job as possible of reflecting Linda's vast career.

Although one can quibble at the number of hits and classic album tracks that are missing ("Desperado", "I Will Always Love You", etc.), there's still pretty much everything else in the way of those, including the deliciously macabre "Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me", the intensely haunting "Blue Bayou", and Linda's songwriting masterpiece "Try Me Again." I will agree with those who say that it puts a lot more emphasis on her Nelson Riddle and Latin music projects than they wanted.

It is the Rarities section, however, that is the real revelation here--not surprisingly. "Border Town" and "Falling Star" are both great 1978 tracks, as is "Lightning Bar Blues", a real bar-band country-rocker with Linda on fiddle. If ever there is a decision to put out another single Rarities CD of Linda's, then it should include not only "Rambler Gambler" (as one other reviewer has suggested) but also her REALLY rarely heard 1971 single "She's A Very Lovely Woman."

All in all, the Box Set rates a 5-star rating--and it clamors to force Linda's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

This is a collection that although expensive is also fairly comprehensive. I remember first hearing Linda Ronstadt's amazing voice come crashing out of the radio sometime in the late sixties as the lead vocalist for the folk-rock group, the Stone Ponies. Her distinctive melodic scream of a vocal style is so distinctive it is hard not to compare with Roy Orbison, whose hit song of "Blue Bayou" is covered here in Linda's own hit cover version is included in this terrific collection of many of her best work over a thrity year period, including her big band and "lush" sounds cahracteristic of her more recent work.

Given all that is included here, it is hard to not appreciate a voice so singular and versatile, even if it is most usually delivered with a fevered wail. I once saw her in a small venue in Lenox, Massachusetts in a small amphitheater setting, with the audience sprawled over an expansive lawn that gradually rose above the covered stage area. She was so good with just her guitar and small group that it is difficult to describe her in words short of superlatives such as phenomenal.

All of her seminal work is included here for you casual enjoyment, from "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me" to "When Will I Be Loved", from "You're No Good" to "It's So Easy", and all the others, including "Blue Bayou", Long, Long Time", "That'll Be The Day", "Love Is A Rose", "Different Drum", "Heat Wave", and many others. This album gives us all of Linda's formidable hits, all here in a definitive and fairly comprehensive play list that anyone would want to have to ensure an accurate representation of her volumes of work, from dozens of hit albums recorded and released over more than thirty years of popular work. This is an essential album for your collection, and one I have both in the house and in the car. For easy listening as I zoom down the highway. Other than the Beach Boys, on the one hand, or Jackson Browne on the other, nobody articulates the southern California folk rock style as well or as consistently as Linda Ronstadt, the little woman with the big, big voice. Enjoy!