Customer Reviews

Love Is the Only Goal: Best of

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Wendy Waldman is a master songwriter. Warner Bros. has done a good job of putting this package together along with Wendy's great liner notes. Since her 1987 "Letters Home" on Cypress records which was another strong CD, she's been largely silent as a recording artists, to the regret of her fans. Her recent production of John Cowan's album was great where she co-wrote three songs, "My Heart Will Follow," "The Last Summer Rose," and "Roll Away the Stone." This CD shows us how much we've missed her. Her acoustic guitar opens "Western Lullaby" where "singing is believing." The loosely autobiographical "Vaudeville Man" has great piano, "The trains ran east and the trains ran west, and I knew every one of them." The pixie-like melody and use of flute and triangle percussion on "Love Has Got Me" is contrasted with horns on the track's booming chorus, "Love will follow, this I know." One of my favorite melodies of all-time was re-recorded for this CD, "Mad Mad Me," "How many kinds of tribulation must a man endure? The years will leave a man unsure of where to beg when he is poor." Sax creates a slow mood on "Waiting for the Rain," "Come the hurricane when I find you wrapped up safe & warm, will I find a winter storm raging in your heart of hearts." Two tunes go by quickly, "Cold Back on Me" and the breezy "Living Is Good." Two slow wistful tunes follow, "Mr. Boatman, can you take my troubled dreams to the other shore?" and "Wild Bird," a song about freedom. The throbbing rocker "Long Hot Summer Nights" pulsates, "Wearing roses & lace, perfume & jewels, the crowded streets were boiling, but we never lost our cool." The sense of daring as Wendy sings, "You take Johnny, I'll take Joe, if we change in midstream, no one will ever know" is classic. The peppy "Gringo In Mexico," the slow contemplative "Pirate Ships," and the stately, "The Main Refrain" are all strong songs. "Back By Fall" is simply a great song with its slow wistful mood and jazz-inflected piano, "Mama, mend the hole in my coat, take my guitar off the wall, I've got to go see what I can do & I hope I'll be back by fall." "Charles River Song" was previously unreleased and "Prayer for You" is airy. "Strange Company," the title song from my favorite of her Warner LP's (Letters Home, her last, being my all-time fave), has a strong vocal mirrored by its piano line, "Across the city, is he thinking of me?" The CD ends with the mystical march, "On a hard road where love is the only goal." Wendy Waldman is master songwriter and expressive singer, one whose music plays as well decades later as when it was first written. Enjoy!

That none of Wendy Waldman's albums sold enormously seems shocking ­ as this compilation (of her 1973-1978 material) demonstrates, she is a startlingly talented musician and songwriter. The songs here are taken from the following albums: Love Has Got Me, Gypsy Symphony, Wendy Waldman, The Main Refrain, and Strange Company. Each one is a brilliant folky, funky amalgamation of different genres, and all are out of print, so this CD is all there is. Particular highlights are Mad, Mad Me (also recorded by Maria Muldaur) - a really strong, Laura Nyro-esque, disturbed love song, and Long, Hot Summer Nights (which was a regional hit in 1978). Longtime fans will be disappointed that some favourites aren't included (Train Song, Goodbye Summerwind), and it's a shame that Gypsy Symphony is so under-represented. But if her original albums ever reappear, then all that will be put right. For now, this is more than adequate compensation.

I fear I'm preaching to the choir, but it is so gratifying to see there are people alive out there who know who this woman is and how unbelievably talented she was. This is a five-star record only because Wendy never wrote a song that wasn't great. Nobody had her gift for melody, and she's got that gorgeous voice, and all that passion, and the songs are just beautiful one right after the other.

But to the real point: Where in hell are the rereleases of the albums? There's so many masterpieces that didn't make this one: where's "Fool to Let Him Slip Away," where's "Hard Times," where's "My Love is All I Know," where's "Come on Down," where's "Thinking of You," where's "Spring is Here," where oh where is "Racing Boat"? Get your butts to used record stores and find Gypsy Symphony, Wendy Waldman, Strange Company, The Main Refrain. . .Wendy, come back, make more records, write other people's hits, I don't care, WE WANT YOU BACK!

I look forward to writing reviews of some of the upcoming reissues of all five of Wendy Waldman's 70's albums on CD, as I own them all on vinyl, and she is one of my very favorite singer/songwriters. I believe she deserves greater fame, and I wish she had not "retired" as a solo performer. In fact, however, Waldman has never gone away, resurfacing now and then with the "supergroup" Bryndle, along with Karla Bonoff, Andrew Gold and Kenny Edwards, and writing songs for other (mostly country) singers. Where she shines the brightest, though, is when she performs her own wonderful compositions (with a voice somewhere between the tonal qualities of Carole King and Laura Nyro). The only reason I don't rate this CD even more highly than I do is that it leaves off several of my own, personal favorites, and I already know that I will rate at least 3 of the upcoming reissues a full 5 stars. Although this collection is pretty solid, it is by no means the whole story! However, as a Wendy Waldman collector, it is nice to have a couple of previously unreleased gems: "Charles River Song," and a demo version of "Mad Mad Me."

Wendy Waldman is a composer and singer of astounding range, a brilliant musician, an inspired arranger. Why then has she never attained the mainstream success of, say, fellow Bryndle member Karla Bonoff? It's one of those frustrating conundrums. Maybe because her gifts are too eclectic? Maybe because Linda Ronstadt covered all those Bonoff tunes instead of Waldman's back in the 70s and 80s? Whatever the reason, fans of beautiful, intelligent, classically composed pop music owe it to themselves to seek out this outstanding compilation of songs from her 5 Warners albums from '73 to '78. It contains some of her better-known songs (covered by the likes of Judy Collins and Maria Muldaur, who recorded such Waldman classics as "Pirate Ships" and "Mad Mad Me") which, happily, are also some of her best work. It's one of those rare compilations that does justice to its subject. That said, it's a shame that her magnificent, post-Warners album, WHICH WAY TO MAIN STREET (Epic, 1982), which has never made it to CD format, isn't represented here, but at least this anthology offers a generous and satisfying overview of her early career. It's a remarkable collection of songs by perhaps this country's most underrated composer.

It is scary to think that back in the late '70s, while my friends were listening to Kiss, Black Sabbath, Zeppelin, that I was listening to West Coast chanteuses of the day--Wendy Waldman, Karla Bonoff, and Linda Ronstadt. Wendy Waldman's "The Main Refrain" was the only of her albums I owned and eventually wore out the grooves with my turntable (that's a rather sophisticated way of saying "my cheapo record player"). Ultimately the album was either lost or destroyed.

Waldman's music is impossible to find as her albums are out of print. I was surprised to find this little gem, a "best of" compilation, recently collected and released under the Warner Archives label. Wendy penned the liner notes and relates her history back in the L.A. music heydey, playing, singing, composing, and rubbing elbows with legendary artists such as Jackson Browne, Ry Cooder, Taj Mahal, Glen Frey, J.D. Souther, Kenny Edwards and Andrew Gold.

Waldman is a first-class songwriter and a soulful singer. Her range of material and exploration of distinct soundscapes are handled seamlessly, beautifully. I have searched for years to find her out-of-print material--this collection provided a long-awaited walk down memory lane. Highly recommended.

I started thinking about Wendy again when my kids wanted to hear my old record collection (I still have a great record player luckily). I brought the two albums I have of hers out and the greatest of memories flooded back. I was lucky enough to not only hear her and meet her, but was her escort around our campus (Brandeis) the day she came to play, since one of my roomies was in charge of the coffee house that booked her. I loved her enthusiasm for her work and play, for her choice of destinies, not to mention her natural beauty. And I loved her music. As opposed to some older albums these don't bring back memories of my life then so much as they just bring back that joy I felt in being within her music and voice. I saw recently she had penned a song on someone elses album and I was happy to see that. I would love to know if she still plays dates and records and if so, how all her fans can connect with her.

I to have been a long time Wendy Waldman fan and was so surprised to find this CD! I saw her in concert in Fresno CA, in the mid 70s during her Main Refrain tour. I have been a fan since that day and would love to have her old recordings re-released on CD! Are you listening Warner Brothers?

I remember Wendy's unique style back in the late 70's and am glad to see this album is available. If anyone enjoys folk/jazz style, this is an album for you. Please, please re-release her old albums on CD!

The songs on this album represent a sampling of Waldman's diverse and spiritually uplifting songwriting style,taking us back to the seventies and early eighties. From the earthy "Love Has Got Me" to the haunting "Main Refrain",these beautiful and tenderly composed tunes will have listeners crossing over to another dimension of time and taking them to the heart and soul of the singer.