Get Closer (Linda Ronstadt album)

Get Closer is the eleventh studio album by singer, songwriter and producer Linda Ronstadt, released in 1982.

Get Closer
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 1982
RecordedAugust 1981–August 1982
GenreRock
Length36:31
LabelAsylum
ProducerPeter Asher
Linda Ronstadt chronology
Greatest Hits, Volume 2
(1980)
Get Closer
(1982)
What's New
(1983)
Singles from Get Closer
  1. "Get Closer"
    Released: September 1982
  2. "I Knew You When"
    Released: November 1982
  3. "Easy for You to Say"
    Released: April 1983

History

Since releasing her previous album, Mad Love, in 1980, Ronstadt's career had taken turns away from the country-rock field she'd engaged in for more than a decade. In 1980-81, she moved into light opera on Broadway (The Pirates of Penzance), and during production of the play had expressed a desire to record an album of standards. In 1981, under producer Jerry Wexler, she recorded the album Keeping Out of Mischief, but dissatisfied with its quality, she had cancelled its release.[1] Although she would later revisit the concept (and most of the attempted songs) for a trilogy of albums with Nelson Riddle, Get Closer was recorded to satisfy her obligations to her label, and found Ronstadt returning to the genres that had resulted in her commercial and critical success throughout the 1970s, and working again with British musician and producer Peter Asher.

The album contained two tracks originally recorded for but never included on previous albums. The first, a re-make of George Jones's "Sometimes You Just Can't Win," was recorded in June 1977 with J. D. Souther on harmony vocals and intended for the album Simple Dreams. The other, a remake of Dolly Parton's 1971 composition "My Blue Tears," was performed with Parton and Emmylou Harris as part of a planned trio album that, because of scheduling and record company conflicts, was never released. The trio's version was originally recorded in January 1978 (Parton, Ronstadt and Harris would eventually record and release the first of two Trio albums in 1987). Also on Get Closer was a duet with James Taylor: a remake of Ike and Tina Turner's "I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine". At least 2 songs, "Tell Him" and "Get Closer", were recorded in 1981.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
Robert ChristgauC+[3]
Rolling Stone[4]

Asylum Records released Get Closer in late September 1982.[5] Reviewers wrote about a newfound confidence in Ronstadt's vocals. Ken Tucker of Rolling Stone magazine wrote in his November 11 review, "Linda Ronstadt's voice has never sounded better than it does on Get Closer...its spirit is unassailable." Noting her turn in Pirates, Tucker wrote that Ronstadt's vocal development on Broadway "hasn't made her self-conscious. Just the opposite, in fact: Linda Ronstadt is no longer a prisoner of technique." Tucker did decry much of the album's second side, saying that some of the oldies in the soul genre were performed too meticulously.[4]

Stephen Holden of The New York Times also hailed Ronstadt's vocal performance on the album, writing, "Miss Ronstadt's singing is so strong and unaffected." He called the title track "the album's most adventurous performance" and noted that Ronstadt's "shouting, growling exuberance" was "reminiscent of Aretha Franklin's 'Respect.'"[6]

Commercially, the album was a disappointment, peaking at number 31 on the Billboard album chart in late 1982,[7] her first album to fail to make the top 5 since 1973. It was, however, certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over 500,000 copies, and surpassed American sales of 900,000 copies by the time of its deletion from the chart.

This album's driving title track, "Get Closer" was written by Washington D.C.-based singer-songwriter Jon Carroll,[8] an original member of the Starland Vocal Band. The song, notable for its unusual 7
4
septuple meter, was later chosen to promote Close-Up toothpaste ("Want love? Get Close-Up").

Assisted by a popular MTV music video, "Get Closer" peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit the Top 20 in Cash Box magazine. It garnered considerable airplay on AOR (Album-Oriented Rock) stations while its follow-up single, "I Knew You When", was also aided by a popular music video and peaked at number 37 Pop, number 25 Adult Contemporary, and number 84 Country.

Ronstadt's seductive interpretation of Jimmy Webb's "Easy For You To Say" was a surprise Top Ten hit on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart in the spring of 1983. "Sometimes You Just Can't Win," the B-side to the "Get Closer" single, peaked at number 27 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart.[9]

Ronstadt was nominated in early 1983 for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance Female and Best Rock Vocal Performance Female for the album and the song "Get Closer", losing to Melissa Manchester and Pat Benatar respectively.[10] The album did, however, win the Grammy for Best Album Package, an art director's award. The trophy went to well known designers Ron Larson and Kosh.

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Get Closer"Jon Carroll2:29
2."The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress"Jimmy Webb3:03
3."I Knew You When"Joe South2:53
4."Easy for You to Say"Jimmy Webb4:03
5."People Gonna Talk"William Wheeler, Lee Dorsey, Morris Levy, Clarence L. Lewis2:38
6."Talk to Me of Mendocino"Kate McGarrigle2:57
7."I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine" (with James Taylor)Rose Marie McCoy, Sylvia McKinney4:01
8."Mr. Radio"Roderick Taylor4:07
9."Lies"Buddy Randell, Beau Charles2:35
10."Tell Him"Bert Berns2:35
11."Sometimes You Just Can't Win" (with J. D. Souther)Smokey Stover2:30
12."My Blue Tears" (with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris)Dolly Parton2:40
Total length:36:31

Charts

Chart (1982/83) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[11] 31
Canadian RPM Top Albums 48
United States (Billboard 200) 31

Personnel

Musicians


Production

  • Peter Asher – producer (Tracks 1-11)
  • Brian Ahern – producer (Track 12)
  • George Massenburg – engineer (Tracks 1-11)
  • Val Garay – engineer (Tracks 1-11)
  • Stuart Taylor – engineer (Track 12)
  • Niko Bolas, Barbara Rooney and Bruce Wildstein – assistant engineers (Tracks 1-11)
  • Doug Sax – mastering engineer
  • Edd Kolakowski – piano and guitar technician
  • Aaron Rapoport – photography
  • John Kosh with Ron Larson – art direction and design
  • Gloria Boyce – album coordination
Studios

References

  1. Bloom, Steve. "An Intimate Conversation with Linda Ronstadt (originally published in Downbeat, July 1985)". Linda Ronstadt Homepage. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  2. Allmusic review
  3. "Robert Christgau: CG: Linda Ronstadt". www.robertchristgau.com.
  4. "Get Closer".
  5. "Linda Ronstadt Album and CD Releases". Ronstadt-linda.com. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
  6. Holden, Stephen (10 October 1982). "STRENGTH AND SIMPLICITY FORGE A FINE NEW RONSTADT ALBUM" via NYTimes.com.
  7. "Linda Ronstadt Top Pop Albums". www.ronstadt-linda.com.
  8. "Jon Carroll". Jon Carroll. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
  9. "Linda Ronstadt Top Country Singles". www.ronstadt-linda.com.
  10. "Grammy Awards for Linda Ronstadt". www.ronstadt-linda.com.
  11. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 258. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
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