FlashBack! - Linda Ronstadt - Heart Like a Wheel (1974) (album stream)

"Heart Like a Wheel" is Linda Ronstadt's fifth solo album release and the last-ever of her studio projects for Capitol Records, released in late 1974. It is universally considered to be Ronstadt's all-time high watermark masterpiece recording and a pioneering blueprint of Country Rock. It spent 51 weeks on the Billboard album chart and has never been out of print in 37 years.



History
Owing Capitol one more album on her contract, Ronstadt brought in producer Peter Asher, who worked on her previous album Don't Cry Now, and multi-instrumentalist and arranger Andrew Gold. The collaborative effort of Asher and Gold have been credited over the years as contributing significantly to the album's artistic success.

The result, a more refined and streamlined mix of Country and Rock than her previous releases, proved to be Ronstadt's commercial breakthrough. Critics later said the album, with less of a Folk influence, would standardize the musical formula for her subsequent albums in the 1970s. Released in late 1974, Heart Like a Wheel became the first of her three #1 peaks on the Billboard album chart, reaching the perch for the week ending Feb. 15, 1975, alongside the #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100, "You're No Good." Ronstadt was featured for the first time on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in its March 27, 1975, issue. The B-side of the single for "You're No Good," a cover of Hank Williams's "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You)," peaked at #2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. The recording features harmony vocals by Emmylou Harris.

The follow-up single release, a cover of the Everly Brothers' "When Will I Be Loved," spent two weeks at #2 on the Hot 100 in late June 1975. It also became Ronstadt's first #1 hit on the Hot Country Songs chart. The B-side of "When Will I Be Loved," a melancholy cover of a Buddy Holly & the Crickets song, "It Doesn't Matter Anymore", subsequently climbed the Pop, Adult Contemporary and Country charts.

There have been numerous subsequent covers of "You're No Good" by artists including Van Halen, the Swinging Blue Jeans, Aswad, Reba McEntire and Wilson Phillips. Likewise, "When Will I Be Loved" has been recorded by the Little River Band, Dave Kelly, Rockpile, Vince Gill and Silk, among others. "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" has been recorded by Don McLean, Martin Simpson, Vince Gill, Daniel O'Donnell, Danny Gatton, Suzy Bogguss and Eva Cassidy, among others. In 2005, the Corrs included a cover of the Anna McGarrigle-penned title track, "Heart Like a Wheel," on their album Home.

"Willin'" was featured in the film The Abyss.

Reception
Heart Like a Wheel was well regarded from its initial release. Stephen Holden in his review for Rolling Stone found her voice on the album "totally, irresistibly sexy." And later marking it as a classic, Allmusic wrote that "it stands as a landmark of '70s mainstream pop/rock."

Heart Like a Wheel spent 51 weeks on the album chart. Based on her performance on the singles and album charts, Billboard magazine named Ronstadt the top female pop artist of the year. The album was certified Gold in January 1975 by the Recording Industry Association of America and belatedly both Platinum and Double-Platinum in 1991.

Ronstadt won her first of a record 10 Grammy Awards in early 1976 for Best Country Vocal Performance Female for "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)." She was also nominated for Best Pop Vocal Performance Female (losing to Janis Ian for "At Seventeen"), and the album was nominated for Album Of The Year (losing to Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years).

In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Heart Like a Wheel at #164 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

Track listing
"You're No Good" (Clint Ballard, Jr.) – 3:44
"It Doesn't Matter Anymore" (Paul Anka) – 3:26
"Faithless Love" (J. D. Souther) (also singing harmony) – 3:15
"The Dark End of the Street" (Chips Moman, Dan Penn) – 3:55
"Heart Like a Wheel" (Anna McGarrigle) – 3:10
"When Will I Be Loved" (Phil Everly) – 2:04
"Willin'" (Lowell George) – 3:02
"I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)" (Hank Williams) – 2:45
"Keep Me from Blowing Away" (Paul Craft) – 3:10
"You Can Close Your Eyes" (James Taylor) – 3:09

Personnel
Linda Ronstadt – vocals, background vocals
Andrew Gold – guitar, percussion, piano, drums, keyboards, electric piano, tambourine, ukulele, background vocals
Peter Asher – guitar, percussion, background vocals, cowbell
Ed Black – guitar
John Boylan – guitar
Paul Craft – guitar
Kenny Edwards – bass, background vocals
Chris Ethridge – bass
Jimmie Fadden – harmonica
Richard Feves – bass
Glenn Frey – guitar
Emory Gordy – bass
Tom Guidera – bass
Emmylou Harris – harmony vocals
Don Henley – drums, background vocals
Dennis Karmazyn – cello
Sneaky Pete Kleinow – pedal steel guitar
Russ Kunkel – drums
Lloyd Myers – drums
David Lindley – fiddle
Cissy Houston – background vocals
Sherlie Matthews – background vocals
Maria Muldaur – background vocals
Clydie King – background vocals
Wendy Waldman – background vocals
Joyce Nesbitt – background vocals
Herb Pedersen – banjo, background vocals
Danny Pendleton – pedal steel guitar
Dennis St. John – drums
Timothy B. Schmit – bass
J. D. Souther – guitar, background vocals
John Starling – guitar
Bob Warford – guitar
David Campbell – viola, string arrangements

Production notes:
Peter Asher – producer
Gregory Rose – conductor, string arrangements
George Massenburg – engineer
Peter Kelsey – engineer
Peter Swettenham – engineer
John Haeny – engineer
David Hassinger – engineer, mixing
Val Garay – engineer, mixing
Dennis Ferrante – engineer
Bernie Grundman – mastering
Rod Dyer – design
Leandro Correa – photography
Eve Babitz – photography

Links
http://www.elektra.com/lindaronstadt/
http://www.last.fm/music/Linda+Ronstadt
http://ronstadt-linda.com/