Customer Reviews

What's New

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was never a fan of Linda Ronstadt until she recorded "What's New," "Lush Life" and "For Sentimental Reasons." Nelson Riddle did an excellent job in bringing out the very best of Linda Ronstadt with a new repertoire of ageless and romantic standards. She did very outstanding performances and I believe that she's worthy to be called a versatile singer.

Her heartfelt renditions of George and Ira Gershwin's classics," I've Got A Crush On You" and "Someone To Watch Over Me," are my very favorites. I also like her superb interpretation of Irving Berlin's "What'll I Do?" She delivers these songs with intensity and full of emotions. Very impressive! Her voice is a perfect match for these romantic classics.

This CD is a keeper and you will enjoy listening to it now and forever!

Back in 1983, the so-called "Great American Songbook" was largely left on the shelf. Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett and others who could really sing 'em and swing 'em were not as big as they used to be, and a generation of record buyers was growing up without much exposure to The Gershwins, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and other great writers of the first half of the century. Then Linda, a country/folk/rock artist, hooked up with elder statesman bandleader and arranger Nelson Riddle for this album of standards. It sold well, leading to two more collaborations, each of them just about equal to "What's New". (In fact, I might like "Lush Life' just a hair better.) The product proved that Riddle still could deliver the quality he became famous for in the '50's during collaborations with the greatest singers of that era. And to me, already a Linda fan, it proved that she, in many ways, could wear the title "great singer." These nine tracks are mostly mellow, even melancholy, lyrics about lost love, longing for love, and the loneliness of unrequited love. Well done all around.

Unless you count Ringo Starr's SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY, 1983's WHAT'S NEW, the first of three albums Linda Ronstadt recorded with arranger Nelson Riddle, is perhaps the first major attempt by a bona fide rock artist to come to terms with the Great American Songbook of the Gershwins, Rodgers & Hart, Cole Porter and the other great songwriters who set the musical tone for American life and love before the advent of rock & roll. Possessed of considerable yet unpretentious vocal chops, Ronstadt is a good candidate for this formidable task. She clearly reveres this music and acquits herself winningly by turning in a well-chosen, well-performed set of familiar Sinatra and Billie Holiday-associated songs. Riddle's arrangements lightly support the singer and never upstage her. This late in the game, the master arranger's famous taste is fully in evidence.

I was very proud to have worked on all three("What's New","Lush Life",and"For Sentimental Reason's"with my late father.The last album"For Sentimental Reasons"wasn't released until the year following his death(1986).My Father and Linda were very fond of each other.My father would say that she(Linda)has a wonderful instrument.He helped her to get the most out of her"Wonderful Instrument"!C.R.Riddle

By far my favorite version of Someone to Watch Over Me. Everyone else just pales in comparison. Great background, wonderful mood. Want a great definition of torch singer, give this a chance. Some very old standards with more modern arrangements and a terrific voice. We know she can sing anything, but this is what I love to hear.

C'mon people! In it's initial run, WHAT'S NEW, peaked at #3 on the Billboard Album Charts and sold well over three million copies in vinyl alone here in the USA! Her videos from the album were played on MTV & VH-1 BOTH. A popular "IN CONCERT" HBO video was issued commercially, as well as a featurette on ABC's 20/20. To top all that off, LINDA RONSTADT & NELSON RIDDLE, more than any other artists in musical history, bridged the wide musical gap between Rock And Roll and the very wide ranging classic American Standards Songbook of the pre-rock era, with ONE ALBUM. Linda may have lost a few fans during this period, but she gained millions of new fans, both in her parents & grand parents age brackets as well as younger fans. Linda Ronstadt longed to explore the music before her birth, and she chose the finest orchestra leader-arranger-musician to guide her, NELSON RIDDLE. The phenomenal success of WHAT'S NEW led to a 2nd album, LUSH LIFE(another platinum seller)and to a third, FOR SENTIMENTAL REASONS, during whose recording sessions, Nelson Riddle passed away. All three albums are also included completely in the double cd pacakage: 'ROUND MIDNIGHT - LINDA RONSTADT & NELSON RIDDLE ORCHESTRA. The music chosen by Ronstadt & Riddle is timeless and appeals to every generation of music fans. Ronstadt's three Nelson Riddle collaborations are a tribute to his musical legacy and showcase the master arranger-musician in his prime, decades after his commercial peak and much celebrated recordings with Frank Sinatra, Ella Fizgerald, Dean Martin, Eddie Fisher,and many more singers of the post WWII era, as well as his own Nelson Riddle Orchestra best sellers. Thank you NELSON, for the great music you made with my favorite girl singer...she must be very proud. These were Nelson's final encores.

In 1983 this album was released, and Linda was leaving her more rock-country roots behind. WHAT'S NEW is a collection of songs from old standards and american songbooks. Many feel Linda does not have the voice for this material, but I beg to differ. She cascades beautifully over these classics, with excellent arrangements from Nelson Riddle and his orchestra. Her voice is a powerhouse of emotion and she conveys it well on this album. After WHAT'S NEW there was LUSH LIFE and FOR SENTIMENTAL REASONS, but I believe this to be the better of the three. Highlights include "What's New", "I've Got A Crush On You", "Someone To Watch Over Me", "Goodbye" and "Crazy He Calls Me". Overall a strong set and definately worth repeated listenings.

This was an interesting change of pace in Linda Ronstadt's career. Instead of competing with everyone else, she decided to do an album of old standards with Nelson Riddle. She did three albums like this, and this is by far my favorite. She would have benefitted from not following this up with two others, which are not as cohesive or strong as WHAT'S NEW is. Nevertheless, I think vocally she sounds great on these tracks, and she makes them her own.

I think this must have been one of the first DVD-Audio discs that Warner released with the advent of this new format.

It was a smart choice, as the sumptuous sound of Nelson Riddle's orchestrations and Linda Ronstadt's vocals sound incredible in surround sound. The original engineer and mixer, George Massenburg, remixed the original 1983 master tapes to prefection, and I have to say it is the best sounding DVD-Audio I have heard. I think Warner's put everything they had into making this sound sensational. Compare it to the original standard stereo CD issue and you will be amazed. With a good surround system you will feel like you are present at the recording sessions.

Sadly the format suffered from it's name : people expected to get a 'DVD' with film clips etc, which is not the case. It also suffered from the cheap technology offered on low-end DVD players that say they support the DVD-A format. This they do, but unless you have a player that is more up-market you are not going to get the benefit of the Advanced Resolution Surround Sound.

My suggestion is simple. If you have a high-end surround sound system with a 'good' DVD player that really can encode the ARS layer of this disc, grab one before there are no more left !

A must have.

Linda Ronstadt took a fair amount of grief when she did this album in 1983. Keep in mind that for much of the late 70s, she was selling out huge concert venues as Britney Spears does today (the difference is that Linda can sing well). "What's New" was quite a departure for her. However, it holds up well as did the third album of standards with Riddle. This great conductor and arranger has handled most of Frank Sinatra's best work. He died in the mid-80s, but his legacy remains. The songs on this album are gorgeously orchestrated. Linda's voice is well suited for the songs, though having seen her in concert in the last five years, she does them better now.