Hand Sown Home Grown / Silk Purse

Linda Ronstadt | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 13, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Raven [Australia]
• ASIN: B002MT3BP8
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #80,818 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Raven presents two classic, original country-rock albums by the multi-platinum selling and Grammy Award winning singer LINDA RONSTADT, one of the most popular American performers of the last 35 years. Hand Sown... Home Grown (Capitol, 1969) and Silk Purse (Capitol, 1970) find Linda establishing her unique country rock voice and setting the template for the multi-platinum albums that were to follow. These two albums pointed the way and it wasn't long before she hit #1 with both the album Heart Like a Wheel and single 'You're No Good', becoming the darling of the Californian country-rock tradition in the process. Linda had already been a member of hit LA folk-rock group The Stone Poneys ('Different Drum') when she struck out on her own with Hand Sown... Home Grown. It features excellent covers of Bob Dylan's 'Baby You've Been on My Mind', John D. Loudermilk's 'Break My Mind', Fred Neil's 'Dolphins', Randy Newman's 'Bet No One Ever Hurt This Bad' and the popular 'Silver Threads and Golden Needles'. Silk Purse boasts a more organic country soul flavour on her passionate version of 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow?' and her first solo hit single 'Long Long Time' while 'Lovesick Blues' is a vibrant Brenda Lee-styled country-rocker. Also includes her second hit the non-album '(She's a) Very Lovely Woman' added as a bonus track, on CD for the first time. With superb quality audio, detailed liner notes, colour booklet.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Linda's Landmark C&W/Rock Albums...And A BIG Bonus, October 26, 2009

By 

Erik North (San Gabriel, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Hand Sown Home Grown / Silk Purse (Audio CD)

In a career studded by eclecticism--from opera to art songs; big-band jazz to Mexican rancheras; and much more--it can sometimes get lost in the shuffle (as certainly seems to be the case with the powers-that-be who run the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) that Linda Ronstadt was and still is considered very much a pioneer in the country-rock movement that erupted out of Southern California during the late 1960s. And while her efforts, like those of such fellow travellers as Poco and the Flying Burrito Brothers, were often misunderstood in ther day, they nevertheless set the table for what came in later years. And now, Australian import label Raven has sought to re-release Linda's first two albums--HAND SOWN, HOME GROWN; SILK PURSE--to hopefully cement the deal. Not only that, however, they have been cagey enough to finally put on CD the long-lost singles-only release that came in the wake of those two albums.

HAND SOWN, HOME GROWN, released in the spring of 1969, is, for all intents and purposes, the first true female alternative country album, with Linda essaying not only contemporary folk-rock songs from Bob Dylan and Fred Neil, but also high-prized country standards like "Silver Threads And Golden Needles"; the oft-covered "Break My Mind"; and a blackly comic version of "The Only Mama That'll Walk The Line." As opposed to similar neo-country efforts made around that same time by Linda's fellow folkies Buffy Sainte-Marie and Joan Baez in Nashville, HAND SOWN was recorded with the cream of the crop of L.A.'s C&W/rock session mafia, including the late, great Clarence White. Commercially, this album was a bomb; in terms of what it launched, though, it was anything but.

SILK PURSE, released in the spring of 1970, may remain Linda's one and only sojourn into the heart of Music Row. It is also an album that she has all but disowned, because of what she felt was her inability to convey the California approach to country to the Nashville session guys she worked with here, even with Elliot Mazer (who was recommended to Linda by no less than Janis Joplin) doing the production. Still, the album, though initially noted for its provocative cover of Linda in the barnyard with the pigs, boasts solid performances of the Dillard and Clark mini-standard "He Dark The Sun", the Hank Williams classic "Lovesick Blues", and, last but not least, the incredible ballad "Long Long Time", which hit #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1970 and nearly netted Linda her first Grammy, for Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance.

But the real icing on the cake of this set is the bonus track, that long-lost, singles-only release that Linda recorded at Muscle Shoals during the summer of 1970: "She's A Very Lovely Woman", written by Emmit Rhodes of the 1960s group Merry-Go-Round. Its obscure nature is due not only to the fact that it had never been put on an album release, but also to the fact that it stalled out at #70 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1971 (though it peaked at #17 on the Adult Contemporary Chart). But it shows that Linda is able to handle what is in essence a purely pop-rock song, with shimmering electric guitars and tasteful orchestration. It is one of those gems that needs to be a part of any Ronstadtphile's collection.

Even though Linda may not have been proud of this particular period in her life (in fact, she is tough to please with ANYTHING having to do with her), this collection of her first two albums of C&W/rock, along with the additional bonus of "She's A Very Lovely Woman", gives one an idea of what was to come not only from her, but also the four generations of like-minded female artists, from her good pal Emmylou Harris all the way up to Lucinda Williams and Tift Merritt. This is a solid recommendation.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars She's A Very Lovely Woman, Indeed & At Last!, October 22, 2009

By 

Hugo (HOUSTON, TEXAS United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hand Sown Home Grown / Silk Purse (Audio CD)

First and foremost - Thank You To RAVEN RECORDS Australia - [...] - for finally, and for the very first time ever(!) releasing the highly coveted, very long awaited, LINDA RONSTADT non-album single and gem, "(SHE'S A) VERY LOVELY WOMAN" from her Capitol Records era, which has never before been available to Miss Ronstadt's legions of adoring fans on her previous Greatest Hits/Retrospective/Various Compilations to date. This rare song was only available as a "45" vinyl single during it's initial run on the best selling charts in 1971. Those who have a copy are lucky, indeed, because the record has become a rarity and hard to find. This Raven Records release, featuring Linda's first two solo Lps displays a developing artist sharpening her skills as she continues on her magnificent recording history journey. Linda Ronstadt has become on of the most beloved and celebrated singers in music history! For now, all I have to say, is that I'm too elated to describe how great it feels to finally own a Cd featuring "(She's A) Very Lovely Woman". I have a copy of each of these two vinyl albums and their reissued Cd versions on Capitol Records, but this particular RAVEN RECORDS Edition is a MUST HAVE for all Ronstadt fans! Thank You RAVEN RECORDS!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Aussies get it right, July 8, 2011

By 

Peps - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hand Sown Home Grown / Silk Purse (Audio CD)

I don't know why but for some reason the Australians always seem to get it right when they do music releases. This Raven Records (Australian IMPORT)album which is the combination of the Two early Capitol Albums "Hand Sown...Home Grown" & "Silk Purse" is almost the same as the U.S. Capitol Release Of "The Best of Linda Ronstadt-The Capitol Years" EXCEPT.The U.S version is a TWO CD set & STILL Misses the mark. Best of The Capitol Years on Vol. One is the same as the Australain version WITH THE EXCEPTION IT INCLUDES "IT WON'T BE EASY" & "HE DARKED THE SUN" (NASHVILLE VERSION") AND DOES NOT CONTAIN THE 45 RPM SINGLE "(SHE'S A) VERY LOVELY WOMAN" "(She's A)Very Lovely Woman is one of the first 45 RPM singles released after Linda Ronstadt left the Stone Poneys. It has never till now been on an album. It was her 4th single & released in 1971 & reached #70 on the Top Pop Billboard Charts. So why here in the US do they release a double Cd & STILL not get all of the hits on there, when Australia's Raven Records gets it right & on ONE Cd. Kudo's to Raven Records & The Australians. I guess it's the difference between doing it right & just doing it for the money.