Evergreen & Vol 2
Often thought of as a Sunset Strip version of Peter, Paul, and Mary because of their two-men/one-woman line-up and their basic acoustically-inclined folk-rock sound, the Stone Poneys, though they only stuck around a short time (their break-up happening more or less in the spring of 1968) and were never hugely successful, clearly benefited from the songwriting strengths of the guys, Bobby Kimmel and Ken Edwards, and the vocal strength of their lead singer, a young Arizonan named Linda Ronstadt. And after much prodding, Capitol/EMI has finally seen fit to release the official two albums of the trio, plus tracks from a third Stone Poneys album that was mostly Linda plus members of the L.A. session mafia, onto a complete CD.
This collection shows among other things that, if the Stone Poneys never got to be as successful as Peter, Paul, and Mary, the Byrds, or the Mamas and the Papas, it sure wasn't for lack of trying. Among the original folk-rooted Kimmel/Edwards compositions like "Meredith (On My Mind)" and "Evergreen", which, besides featuring great vocal harmony work also have occasional splashes of sitar, there's a heartfelt version of the Fred Neil composition "Just A Little Bit Of Rain" that gives us the first indication of where Linda would take her big, untrained voice, along with the Pam Polland-composed "I've Got To Know."
And a review of this collection would not be complete without mentioning the song that serves not only as the lynchpin of the piece, but the lynchpin of Linda's entire career, the Mike Nesmith-penned folk-rock classic "Different Drum", which, thanks to going to #1 on L.A. radio late in 1967, would subsequently hit #13 nationally in January 1968. Among the bonus tracks from the third album is the minor hit "Up To My Neck In High Muddy Water", a very early example of the kind of alternative country music that Linda would set the stage for, not only as part of her own musical mix, but also for her future good friend Emmylou Harris, and women like Lucinda Williams and Tift Merritt.
Linda herself isn't proud of a lot of her recordings, particularly these embryonic ones; but even if they don't match what she would subsequently do, in retrospect they showed very early on not only what kind of a vocalist she would go on to be, but also the kind of team player she would be in helping shape the Eagles, working with Dolly and Emmylou on their "Trio" projects, and working with Ann Savoy on ADIEU FALSE HEART. For just those reasons alone, this collection is essential to have.
This collection shows among other things that, if the Stone Poneys never got to be as successful as Peter, Paul, and Mary, the Byrds, or the Mamas and the Papas, it sure wasn't for lack of trying. Among the original folk-rooted Kimmel/Edwards compositions like "Meredith (On My Mind)" and "Evergreen", which, besides featuring great vocal harmony work also have occasional splashes of sitar, there's a heartfelt version of the Fred Neil composition "Just A Little Bit Of Rain" that gives us the first indication of where Linda would take her big, untrained voice, along with the Pam Polland-composed "I've Got To Know."
And a review of this collection would not be complete without mentioning the song that serves not only as the lynchpin of the piece, but the lynchpin of Linda's entire career, the Mike Nesmith-penned folk-rock classic "Different Drum", which, thanks to going to #1 on L.A. radio late in 1967, would subsequently hit #13 nationally in January 1968. Among the bonus tracks from the third album is the minor hit "Up To My Neck In High Muddy Water", a very early example of the kind of alternative country music that Linda would set the stage for, not only as part of her own musical mix, but also for her future good friend Emmylou Harris, and women like Lucinda Williams and Tift Merritt.
Linda herself isn't proud of a lot of her recordings, particularly these embryonic ones; but even if they don't match what she would subsequently do, in retrospect they showed very early on not only what kind of a vocalist she would go on to be, but also the kind of team player she would be in helping shape the Eagles, working with Dolly and Emmylou on their "Trio" projects, and working with Ann Savoy on ADIEU FALSE HEART. For just those reasons alone, this collection is essential to have.
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