What's New

Linda Ronstadt & the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, Linda Ronstadt, Nelson Riddle

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: 1983
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000002H1F
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,617 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #18 in

  Music > Miscellaneous > Nostalgia

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Warner. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ronstadt & Riddle: How Can You Go Wrong?, December 3, 2003

By	Rebecca*rhapsodyinblue* (CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thanks, LR---for bringing old songs to young ears..., April 24, 2004

By	William E. Adams (Hobbs, NM USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breathtaking - Must Have, August 11, 2001

By	"gemini_j" (Canada) - See all my reviews

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.