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Don’t Cry Now by Linda Ronstadt (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Don’t Cry Now
  • Artist name: Linda Ronstadt
  • Year: 1973
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Asylum Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics: hole punched through top right of album
  • Buy it on Amazon: $77.34

Don't Cry Now by Linda Ronstadt

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never listened to Don’t Cry Now, but this will be the sixth Linda Ronstadt record that I’ve reviewed since June. The other five were:

What I expected

Don’t Cry Now was recorded earlier than any of these, so I guess I expect it to be country rock.

What it was actually like

Most of this record was pretty boring and pretty slow.

More country style tracks included I Can Almost See It, Love Has No Pride and Everybody Loves a Winner. Less country tracks included Colorado and the Eagles cover Desperado.

Ronstadt’s cover of Randy Newman’s Sail Away had more of a gospel sound that I didn’t think worked very well, and her cover of Neil Young’s I Believe in You was a fine version, but not better than the original.

The Fast One, Don’t Cry Now and Silver Threads and Golden Needles were all a little livelier than the rest, and the latter especially was somewhat catchy with a faster tempo, but still very country and with a fiddle solo; I guess it was the best song on this otherwise pretty bad record.

Grade

2/5: weak, but I was able to listen to the whole thing

Madman Across the Water by Elton John (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Madman Across the Water
  • Artist name: Elton John
  • Year: 1971
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: MCA Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Buy it on Amazon: $24.98

Madman Across the Water by Elton John

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’m not an Elton John fan, but I’ve previously listened to:

What I expected

I guess more easy listening / soft rock / singer songwriter type vocals with piano.

What it was actually like

No part of Madman Across the Water was any good.

I guess that Tiny Dancer is probably Elton John’s most famous song, and while I don’t think it’s an enjoyable song by any standard, one thing I do appreciate is how weird it is, both musically and lyrically. For someone like Elton John, who makes bland and forgettable music to be played on commercial radio stations like “Mix 107.3,” which is where I must have heard Tiny Dancer while being driven around in my parents’ and friends’ parents’ cars as a child, weirder is better.

I recognized Levon as well, probably also from that period of my life when I was old enough to be sentient but not really yet old enough to have defined musical tastes of my own, and definitely nowhere near old enough to be allowed control over the music selections in the car.

I didn’t listen exceedingly closely to much of the rest of the record, though I did note that All The Nasties had a pretty annoying choral vocal backing group, and that Razor Face had more of a rock sound, though the keyboard was a distraction.

Grade

2/5: bad, but I was able to listen to the whole thing

Home Plate by Bonnie Raitt (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Home Plate
  • Artist name: Bonnie Raitt
  • Year: 1975
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Warner Bros.
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics:
    • Sticker on front of album: PROMOTIONAL COPY / NOT FOR SALE
  • Buy it on Amazon: $9.89

Home Plate by Bonnie Raitt

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I don’t know a whole lot about Bonnie Raitt’s work, but I’ve previously listened to her self-titled debut record, which I thought was pretty good, and earlier to Takin My Time, which was so-so.

What I expected

Songs about America’s pastime?

What it was actually like

Ok, I want to be diplomatic about this, but this record was terrible.

While there wasn’t a dominant style, much of it was in what I would call the “easy listening” genre, employing some elements of rock, but also a great deal of backing vocals, jazz flourishes, funk beats and horn sections.

Several songs had prominent saxophone parts, such as Walk Out the Front Door and Pleasin’ Each Other.

Good Enough was pretty weird, a kind of Oompa Loompa lite, almost a ska beat with horns, but some country style vocals.

The overwhelming majority of the record was extremely boring, though the final song, Your Sweet and Shiny Eyes, a country song that didn’t sound much like the others, was the least bad.

Grade

2/5: bad, but I was able to listen to the whole thing

CSN by Crosby, Stills & Nash (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: CSN
  • Group name: Crosby, Stills & Nash
  • Year: 1977
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Atlantic Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Buy it on Amazon: $11.60

CSN by Crosby, Stills & Nash

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’m not familiar with this confusingly named record, but I do know Crosby, Stills & Nash well from their heyday in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and have recently listened to several records by different configurations of the group:

What I expected

It’s hard to say! I didn’t recognize the album and don’t think I recognize any of the song names. I really wasn’t aware that these three were together and recording music at all in 1977. I guess I have to assume it will be like their earlier work, except in more of a late 1970s style (and worse).

What it was actually like

CSN was an abomination and everything about it was bad, but some parts were certainly worse than other parts.

Fair Game was uncommonly terrible, like some sort of calypso-influenced soft rock, truly horrific.

Parts of Cathedral sounded like the Bee Gees.

Dark Star, Stephen Stills’ ode to Lucifer, was atrocious and tried to be jazzy at times, and the funky bassline was an extreme distraction.

Various songs on the record could be classified as easy listening, which is hard to swallow. I would not recommend this record.

Grade

2/5: bad, but I was able to listen to the whole thing

Tumbleweed Connection by Elton John (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Tumbleweed Connection
  • Artist name: Elton John
  • Year: 1970
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Uni Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics: clipped corner (top right)
  • Buy it on Amazon: $41.91

Tumbleweed Connection by Elton John

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’m not familiar with Tumbleweed Connection, but I did previously listen to two other Elton John records, first Caribou and then 11-17-70. I didn’t really enjoy either of them.

What I expected

More heavily produced singer-songwriter 1970s soft rock with extensive use of the piano.

What it was actually like

Tumbleweed Connection definitely had more a country sound than the other Elton John records, particularly on songs like Country Comfort, which kind of went back and forth between what I would consider to be a more classic Elton John style and a whiny country instrumentation. Similarly, Son of Your Father had only the smallest amount of country wah-wah during the verses, and then the chorus went full honky-tonk.

Many parts of the record had an orchestral quality, like towards the end of My Father’s Gun, and others had more than a hint of funk, like Where to Now St. Peter?

Love Song, meanwhile, was a very simple folk style song.

I didn’t care for Tumbleweed Connection any more than I enjoyed Caribou and 11-17-70, but there is another Elton John record coming up in the next few weeks, and there may be more after that.

Grade

2/5: weak, but I was able to listen to the whole thing