Volume 3
Showing posts with label Stone Poneys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stone Poneys. Show all posts
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Stone Poneys - Vol 3
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Stone Poneys
Stone Poneys
The Stone Poneys were a folk-rock trio formed in Los Angeles, consisting of Bobby Kimmel (rhythm guitar and vocals), Kenny Edwards (lead guitar and vocals), and Linda Ronstadt (vocals). Their recordings include Linda Ronstadt's first hit song, a cover of Mike Nesmith's "Different Drum". Even at this early stage, Ronstadt was already showcasing her highly expressive performance of an eclectic mix of songs, often from under-appreciated songwriters, requiring a wide array of backing musicians. Additionally, many of her songs, including "Different Drum" were written by male songwriters and had minimal lyric changes, allowing Linda Ronstadt to toy with gender roles that were in ferment in the 1960s and 1970s.
As a testament to enduring interest in the trio, the band's three albums, The Stone Poneys, Evergreen, Volume 2, and Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III, were released together as single CDs for the first time in the 90s in the US (a full 30 years after the music was recorded), with the first two albums reissued in Australia in 2008. Four additional songs from the third album could also be found on the Australian reissue.
During work on the band's third album, in early 1968, Kenny Edwards departed for India. After "Different Drum" hit the charts, Bob Kimmel and Linda Ronstadt rounded up some more musicians, and the reformed Stone Poneys began touring with the Doors Doors frontman Jim Morrison didn't endear himself to Ronstadt; she recalled: "We thought they were a good band, but we didn't like the singer". After this tour, Kimmel too exited the band.
Linda Ronstadt gamely moved forward and, effectively a solo artist already, started taking control of her career. She gathered more sophisticated material for the new album, including three songs by Tim Buckley that would become standout cuts on that album. "Tim used to live in a house that I lived in too, and we both used to move in and out ... that is, we stayed there alternately. It was the house he wrote about in 'Morning Glory,' which I call 'The Hobo'. That was the 'fleeting house.'" Buckley was among those in the group photograph that appeared on the back cover of the third album.
Although their final album still appears to be in the name of the band, the album name, Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III was purposefully vague, without a specific artist's name. Even the two singles from the album were released under different names, though Linda Ronstadt now had the burden of the Capitol recording contract: "See, The [Stone] Poneys were taken off the books after the second album. Since it was a hit, they made royalties off it. But I didn't. I paid all by myself for the third album, which was expensive, and it put me severely in the red by the time I started recording my first solo album."
As a testament to enduring interest in the trio, the band's three albums, The Stone Poneys, Evergreen, Volume 2, and Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III, were released together as single CDs for the first time in the 90s in the US (a full 30 years after the music was recorded), with the first two albums reissued in Australia in 2008. Four additional songs from the third album could also be found on the Australian reissue.
During work on the band's third album, in early 1968, Kenny Edwards departed for India. After "Different Drum" hit the charts, Bob Kimmel and Linda Ronstadt rounded up some more musicians, and the reformed Stone Poneys began touring with the Doors Doors frontman Jim Morrison didn't endear himself to Ronstadt; she recalled: "We thought they were a good band, but we didn't like the singer". After this tour, Kimmel too exited the band.
Linda Ronstadt gamely moved forward and, effectively a solo artist already, started taking control of her career. She gathered more sophisticated material for the new album, including three songs by Tim Buckley that would become standout cuts on that album. "Tim used to live in a house that I lived in too, and we both used to move in and out ... that is, we stayed there alternately. It was the house he wrote about in 'Morning Glory,' which I call 'The Hobo'. That was the 'fleeting house.'" Buckley was among those in the group photograph that appeared on the back cover of the third album.
Although their final album still appears to be in the name of the band, the album name, Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III was purposefully vague, without a specific artist's name. Even the two singles from the album were released under different names, though Linda Ronstadt now had the burden of the Capitol recording contract: "See, The [Stone] Poneys were taken off the books after the second album. Since it was a hit, they made royalties off it. But I didn't. I paid all by myself for the third album, which was expensive, and it put me severely in the red by the time I started recording my first solo album."
Monday, October 22, 2012
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Marie Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden Globe nominations.
A singer, songwriter, and record producer, she is recognized as a definitive interpreter of songs. Being one of music's most versatile and commercially successful female singers in U.S. history, she is recognized for her many public stages of self-reinvention and incarnations.
With a one-time standing as the Queen of Rock, where she was bestowed the title of "highest paid woman in rock", and known as the First Lady of Rock, she has more recently emerged as music matriarch, international arts advocate and human rights advocate.
Ronstadt has collaborated with artists from a diverse spectrum of genres including Billy Eckstine,Frank Zappa, Rosemary Clooney, Flaco Jiménez, Philip Glass, Carla Bley, The Chieftains, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, and Nelson Riddle. She has lent her voice to over 120 albums. Christopher Loudon of Jazz Times noted in 2004, Ronstadt is "Blessed with arguably the most sterling set of pipes of her generation ... rarest of rarities—a chameleon who can blend into any background yet remain boldly distinctive ... It's an exceptional gift; one shared by few others."
In total, she has released over 30 solo albums and 15 compilations or greatest hits albums. Ronstadt charted thirty-eight Billboard Hot 100 singles with twenty-one reaching the top 40, ten to the top 10, three to No. 2, and "You're No Good" to No. 1. In the UK, her single "Blue Bayou" reached the UK Top 40[13] and the duet with Aaron Neville, "Don't Know Much", peaked at No. 2 in December 1989. In addition, she has charted thirty-six albums, ten Top 10 albums, and three No. 1 albums on the Billboard Pop Album Charts. Establishing her professional career in the mid-1960s at the forefront of California's emerging folk rock and country rock movements, genres which later defined post-60s rock music, Linda Ronstadt joined forces with Bobby Kimmel and Kenny Edwards and became the lead singer of a successful folk rock trio, The Stone Poneys. Later, as a solo artist, she released Hand Sown ... Home Grown in 1969, which has been described as the first alternative country record by a female recording artist. Although fame eluded her during these years, Ronstadt actively toured with The Doors, Neil Young, Jackson Browne and others, made numerous television show appearances, and began to contribute her voice to a variety of albums.
Un Official Site
http://ronstadt-linda.com/
A singer, songwriter, and record producer, she is recognized as a definitive interpreter of songs. Being one of music's most versatile and commercially successful female singers in U.S. history, she is recognized for her many public stages of self-reinvention and incarnations.
With a one-time standing as the Queen of Rock, where she was bestowed the title of "highest paid woman in rock", and known as the First Lady of Rock, she has more recently emerged as music matriarch, international arts advocate and human rights advocate.
Ronstadt has collaborated with artists from a diverse spectrum of genres including Billy Eckstine,Frank Zappa, Rosemary Clooney, Flaco Jiménez, Philip Glass, Carla Bley, The Chieftains, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, and Nelson Riddle. She has lent her voice to over 120 albums. Christopher Loudon of Jazz Times noted in 2004, Ronstadt is "Blessed with arguably the most sterling set of pipes of her generation ... rarest of rarities—a chameleon who can blend into any background yet remain boldly distinctive ... It's an exceptional gift; one shared by few others."
In total, she has released over 30 solo albums and 15 compilations or greatest hits albums. Ronstadt charted thirty-eight Billboard Hot 100 singles with twenty-one reaching the top 40, ten to the top 10, three to No. 2, and "You're No Good" to No. 1. In the UK, her single "Blue Bayou" reached the UK Top 40[13] and the duet with Aaron Neville, "Don't Know Much", peaked at No. 2 in December 1989. In addition, she has charted thirty-six albums, ten Top 10 albums, and three No. 1 albums on the Billboard Pop Album Charts. Establishing her professional career in the mid-1960s at the forefront of California's emerging folk rock and country rock movements, genres which later defined post-60s rock music, Linda Ronstadt joined forces with Bobby Kimmel and Kenny Edwards and became the lead singer of a successful folk rock trio, The Stone Poneys. Later, as a solo artist, she released Hand Sown ... Home Grown in 1969, which has been described as the first alternative country record by a female recording artist. Although fame eluded her during these years, Ronstadt actively toured with The Doors, Neil Young, Jackson Browne and others, made numerous television show appearances, and began to contribute her voice to a variety of albums.
Un Official Site
http://ronstadt-linda.com/
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Stone Poneys- Evergreen & Vol II
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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