Customer Reviews

Feels Like Home

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Many of the songs from this album resulted from the TRIO II sessions with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton, which Linda participated on. However TRIO II wasn't released until early 1999, and was recorded in 1994, so I'm sure Linda wanted to pick up a few of the songs and make them her own on FEELS LIKE HOME. "High Sierra", "After The Goldrush", "Feels Like Home", "Lover's Return" and "The Blue Train" also appear on TRIO II. There are once again some stunning covers, most notably a cover of Tom Petty's "The Waiting" which she tears it up on and makes it her own. That off the bat is a definite highlight here. She also covers Matraca Berg's "Walk On", and Neil Young's "After The Goldrush". Once again she does not disapoint, vocally she is up to par and sounds magnificent. Highlights include "The Waiting", "Blue Train", "High Sierra", "Feels Like Home", and "After The Goldrush", but there is no filler here to be found.

FEELS LIKE HOME is the perfect title for this excellent Linda Ronstadt album. After a rather overlong bypass with pit stops at Mexican Mariachi music, Cuban rhythms and even sentimental lounge ballads, Ronstadt has finally come back to what she does best...belting out pop tunes with a down home, West coast feel.

And belt she does, from "The Waiting" to "Walk On" and "High Sierra" (with a vocal quality reminiscent of her huge success "Blue Bayou"), Ronstadt comes full circle and returns to her full voice blast out of the water style that is so recognizably hers.

But she's grown too, that is what makes FEELS LIKE HOME a hidden gem. Sure, she belts, but she's been doing that since "You're No Good"; but while before she was merely a girl yelling at a cold hearted lover, now she is a woman, in full voice, crying for her soul as well as her man.

Special attention must be paid to the luxurious, rich state of Ronstadt's voice on this album. It's never been better. Her lung capacity seems to have only increased with age and her ability to hit a huge range of notes with such richness is unparalleled by any singer currently recording. Her opera training and years of singing experience have paid off handsomely. You won't hear a bum or weak note on this album.

The material is all wonderful, and Emmylou Harris does some backing vocal magic on "High Sierra" and blends with Ronstadt to create a heavenly duo on "Blue Train."

Overall, a stunning achievement and a wonderful showcase of Ronstadt's skills at their prime. The title track is classic Randy Newman, interpreted magically.

Feels Like Home is Linda Ronstadt's 28th album(!) and was released in April of 1995. Ms. Ronstadt has always been something of a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to singing styles, but in this album she returns to her roots in light rock and country music. The rocky songs (such as The Waiting and After the Gold Rush) are as excellent as always, but it is the country songs that really shine in this album! Emmylou Harris helped out on some of these songs, and they are excellent, especially Lover's Return and Women `Cross the River.

This is an excellent CD, one that is a real joy to listen to. If you are a fan of Linda Ronstandt, or just like good, easy-to-listen-to songs, then I highly recommend this CD to you.

Aptly titled, "Feels Like Home" offers a seamless musical blend of bluegrass, folk, and rock recorded with the lush harmonies of herself, Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton and presented with unprecedented conviction. The Appalachian tossed salad of musical regality gathered for these sessions influenced Ronstadt's choice of material. She included the Carter Family's sublime "Lover's Return," treats the listener to beautiful, lush harmonies in "High Sierra," eclipses Neil Young's original "After The Gold Rush" and Matraca Berg's "Walk On," and even garnered a hit single with "Blue Train." The real highlight here is Ronstadt's astounding version of Tom Petty's "The Waiting," combining a rock treatment with Ronstadt's sparkling tenor and adding mandolin and fiddle as backing instruments. The result surpasses Petty's original, and was wisely released as a single. Five of these selections appeared in 1995 on the "Trio 2" CD release, but in this case, the waiting was not the hardest part.

In her own way, Linda Ronstadt has always defied the rules ofthe music business. A popular vocalist with an impeccable ear for songs and arrangements, Ronstadt has long leaped from genre to genre, bucking popular trends and creating new ones. Imagine, a rock star who personified the mellow Southern California sound of the '70s turning to pop standards, traditional Mexican recordings and opera!

FEELS LIKE HOME marks the glorious comeback of the Linda Ronstadt that became a superstar in the first place. Returning to her country/bluegrass roots and joined on fivecuts by long-time collaborator Emmylou Harris, Ronstadt has made one of the strongest country-rock recordings of her entire career. The album's spirit is perfectly captured on "Blue Train," a mid-tempo country rocker that is a forlorn affair, immediately enveloping the listener.

That Ronstadt has not abandoned her rock roots or her sharp interpretive skills is evident throughout FEELS LIKE HOME, particularly on the gorgeous cover of Neil Young's "After The Goldrush," as well as the wonderfully understated mandolin and acoustic guitar intro to Tom Petty's "The Waiting"--a song seemingly tailor-made for her. That Ronstadt retains her gift for assembling solid gold musical outfits and arranging them to perfection, can be discerned from the list of virtuoso players who appear on FEELS LIKE HOME.

...who has followed Linda's career since the beginning. I've bought much of her work through the country, rock, pop, punk, standards and Latin years. This is the best. Not a dud on it. "The Blue Train" and "Lover's Return" are stand-outs, but each cut is top notch.

Some songs from this CD are the best I've heard in a long time from Linda."The Waiting" is the rock and roll Linda of the 70's. I couldn't beleive Linda was going to remake the Tom Petty classic,but this version is great. My Favorite is"Walk On,"and the single from the tape,"Blue Train." But the greatest song on the CD is Randy Newmans "Feels like Home." Randy Newman is one of the greatest song writers of our time.Every year he's nominated for a Oscar,and this song is a materpiece.The way Linda sings his record really makes it worth the price of the CD.

There is a bit of a backstory with this album. Many of the tracks were recorded in 1994, intended for the sequel to the popular collaboration album with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton from 1987 called TRIO. There were label issues and behind the scenes shuffles, and ultimately TRIO II did not get a release until early 1999. However, many of the tracks appear on this album, with slightly different arrangements. Those songs that appear on both include "High Sierra", "Lover's Return", "Feels Like Home", "After The Goldrush" and "The Blue Train". Some might say that's a bad thing, but they are all great songs, and it's nice to hear them as a Trio on one hand, then to just hear Linda's versions. FEELS LIKE HOME is a nice, if overlooked, album. It opens with an inspired cover of Tom Petty's "The Waiting", which is an instant highlight. The songs that ended up on TRIO II that are also on this disc, are highlights. The whole album is pretty relevent, and she still sounds pretty good.

I appreciate things that are familiar, and music is an area of art that allows people to think small and never try to appreciate anything as large as the Wagner Ring cycle of (German) operas. These songs are all in English, but the title song, "Feels Like Home" by Randy Newman comes from his version of "Faust," a very German theme. Linda played Margaret (the poorest, nicest and most beautiful girl in South Bend) in the CD version released in 1995, but Bonnie Raitt sang the best song in the show on that CD, and this version by Linda with Emmylou Harris singing some harmony, with the title of the song on the cover, does everything these musicians could do to steal this song. This version might be more popular than the Randy Newman collection because the rest of the songs live up to the title so well.

"The Waiting" by Tom Petty is a great way to start anything. When I say the music is familiar, I truly mean: where have you been if you have not heard this one? The final song, "Lover's Return" by A. P. Carter from 1935 has Alison Krauss on fiddle, and that should seem familiar from the best movie soundtracks lately, as well as from "Walk On" (the second song on this CD).

"After the Gold Rush" (1970) by Neil Young has an exciting piano part, updated with string synthesizers, glass armonica, and an orchestra for this recording, which features trio vocals: Valerie Carter, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt. I think I previously heard a jug band version of "Morning Blues." "The Blue Train" has the expected theme: "I'm taking it one way to nowhere Afraid you might be there . . ."

I've had the album so long, all the songs seem familiar now, and that was what they were aiming for when they released it. This is music you can live with as well as through.

This has got to be the best work Linda has done. You can listen to this albumn, and never tire of listening to it. I just came accross this CD recently, and surely the music fans of Linda have overlooked it, just has I have. It deserves every bit a 5 star, and more.
With a lot of shallowness and pop/rock glitz in the music we here today, this albumn is must to have and cherish.