I love “Get Closer”. It’s a gritty rock type song 🎶. The “Moon is a Harsh Mistress”is so beautiful it makes me want to tear up. This was never on the radio because it would have been popular. Who can sing this but Linda.
Linda had so many non-charting songs on her albums that are oh so beautiful. Most of her songs are covers, of course, but Linda's voice and musicality makes them seem so original.
Linda often performed this song as her final encore with just a piano. Beautiful!! This is what I like... Reactions to Linda's non-charting songs. Whoever suggested it, bravo!
You can tell from this song, she was ready to go ahead with the standards albums (What's New, Lush Life, Sentimental Reasons), all of which are AMAZING. I credit Linda with pointing me toward Ella Fitzgerald.
"The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" is a 1966 science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein about a lunar colony's revolt against absentee rule from Earth. The novel illustrates and discusses libertarian ideals." Songwriter Jimmy Webb was a Heinlein fan and fell in love with the title. So he wrote the author and asked if he could use the title for a song, and the guy said sure. No real connection between the novel and the song other than that line.
One song of Linda's that always brings back memories is a duet she did with Aaron Neville called "Don't Know Much". Well worth a listen and maybe a reaction too.
Jimmy Webb songs really get to me. I love this song, sung by Glen Campbell, Judy Collins, or Joe Cocker, but Linda's version is the one one that gets me most. There will never be another voice that moves me quite like Linda Ronstadt, her rendition of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You" has brought me to tears more times than I can count.✨
Fun fact: this was Linda’s only album from 1974 - 1989 that was not Platinum; it only attained ‘gold’ status. All other albums in that 15 year period were platinum or multi-platinum. Not sure why this one sold less, because it’s a pretty good album…🧐
Get Closer may have been an obligation album but it's has a nice eclectic mix of songs. "I Knew You When", "Lies", "People Gonna Talk" , "Tell Him" and the title tune are straight ahead rock. But as was her custom she included several softer numbers among them "Sometimes You Just Can't Win", the beautiful "Talk to Me of Mendocino" and my favorite of the entire disc "Mr. Radio" a hauntingly plaintive song that evokes a Depression era feeling.
It was obligation in as much as Linda & her label wanted to keep her rock fans happy. Linda then went on to her Nelson Riddle trio, & then her first mariachi record. Her next rock record was "Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind", which was multi- platinum.
I've heard 2 albums, a handful of one offs from different albums, and I've watched her documentary about her career/life. I wouldn't say I know ALOT but I definitely don't have "no idea." Linda is a frequent on this channel. @@randyventresca4152
This song allows Linda’s voice to soar which is always an ultimate experience, and she has such moments all over the album. Yet it still isn’t even my favorite Jimmy Webb song on this set. That goes to Easy For You To Say, which I consider to be one of Linda’s lost gems and one that’s always overlooked. I highly recommend it and the album.
The reference to the three albums she recorded with the Nelson Riddle orchestra are sublime. She was singing American standards long before everyone else it was Nelson Riddles last work before he died. Riddle worked with Sinatra on a regular basis so you can imagine her with an orchestra of that calibre
Love your video,would like to see your reaction to the band Talk Talk :~ it’s my life, the party’s over, Living in another World, life is what you make it and my foolish friends. Fantastic group , I’m 68 year old and I listen to them every day 👍
Linda also covered “Adios” by Jimmy Webb, with Beach Boy Brian Wilson providing backing vocals: ua-cam.com/video/LtmQat6nC_o/v-deo.html. Beautiful song.
This album and the previous one (Mad Love) were Linda's "rock/New Wave) albums, but this song wasn't one of the rock numbers. Try Get Closer, and Mad Love on the earlier album.
Get Closer is one of the more rock oriented tracks. Full-out Linda power. Studio version sounds better than the MTV video. Linda’s growls are the best!
Some of the rock tracks on this album are Get Closer, I Knew You When, People Gonna Talk, Lies, and Tell Him. “I Knew You When” is an especially good one you should hear.
I'll respectively disagree that "I Knew You When" is rock. "Get Closer" is the clearest rock song on this album, demonstrated by it's nomination for a Best Rock Vocal Grammy, while "I Knew You When" made it on the country and adult contemporary chart (where it performed the best owning to its soft roots). The album before this one ("Mad Love") is Linda's most consistently rock album.
@@andyb7942 ‘I knew you when’ may have had “soft roots”, as you put it, but Linda recorded it in a rock style. It has electric guitar, bass and drums just like Get Closer. What does Get Closer have that makes it so much more rock than the other? One thing it has is an unusual time signature.
@@evanhughes1510 Thanks for your reply. I consider a rock song to have a strong backbeat with a driving backbeat/interplay between bass and drums (and with prominent electric guitar). I Knew You When has a few places where these elements come together, but they are not driving the song, which is more pop/country-based with prominent piano. I realize all of this is subjective, so no need for us to agree 🙂
I think her "Mad Love" album and this album are my two favorites of hers. You've got to listen to "My Blue Tears" with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton. It's prior to their 2 "Trio" albums, as is the three of them doing a cover of "Mr. Sandman" on Emmylou's album "Evangeline" that was a year before Linda's "Get Closer" album.
Linda is of my top 5 favorite female singers. Never heard this tune before and her vocals (As always) Stellar but this music 🎵🎶 arrangement is flat sounding? I think that's the "Raw" you are describing? Maybe I need to replay the official version through my Polk Audio towers?? It's like Linda showed up to work and the band or guys behind the soundboard are just filling an obligation? Play a actual vinyl album recording of YOUR NO GOOD and listen to the Love And Care in the sonic Bliss of it from 1974. Anywho, Great Reaction Mr Salvo!! Peace 🕊️☮️♾️😎
This album got great reviews. All-Music has a weird rating system. If you read the review, it is positive but brief. So, the 2 stars is misleading. Linda also got 2 Grammy noms for this album. Her voice was getting even more powerful in 1982 because of vocal traing for Pirates of Penzance and Nelson Riddle projects.
@@deadandburied7626 I think Linda knew what she was doing and what worked to give her voice color, effect, and emotion. You either take it or leave it. But, it made her the greatest most versatile female vocalist of her generation without so many "vocal experts" calling the shots on what is and isn't appropriate.
I love Linda Ronstadt and her version of this song, but having said that, I encourage you to listen to Joe Cocker's version which lends an unexpected masculine vulnerability to this piece which was written by a broken-hearted Jimmy Webb.
One of the most beautiful songs ever written. For years, it was my favorite song. My two favorite versions are from Glen Campbell and Judy Collins. Jimmy Webb has written many hits for various artists, several of which were written for and sung by Glen Campbell. I really don't care that much for Linda's rendition: I think she over sings it. Judy Collins' version is the best, in my opinion.
Huh?? That’s ridiculous! We saw Jimmy Webb twice and he praised Judy Collins‘ version. She sings the song haunting and tenderly and doesn’t over-sing it.
@@RandallVentresca The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was recorded for the Get Closer album. My Blue Tears was recorded a few years earlier when Trio were trying to put an album together. But that late 70's project fell apart. Someone said Lies and Tell Him were re orded during the Mad Love sessions. But, I have my doubts about that claim.
What a rich, soaring voice she has. How could anyone not appreciate or love her. I've never heard this song, so thank you for bringing it to us.
I love “Get Closer”. It’s a gritty rock type song 🎶. The “Moon is a Harsh Mistress”is so beautiful it makes me want to tear up. This was never on the radio because it would have been popular. Who can sing this but Linda.
Thank you for finding the gems in Linda's albums.
Linda had so many non-charting songs on her albums that are oh so beautiful. Most of her songs are covers, of course, but Linda's voice and musicality makes them seem so original.
I have always said that her best material was never heard on the radio. I cherish those albums. 🌸
@@debbiechang5781Agree!
Linda often performed this song as her final encore with just a piano. Beautiful!! This is what I like... Reactions to Linda's non-charting songs. Whoever suggested it, bravo!
You can tell from this song, she was ready to go ahead with the standards albums (What's New, Lush Life, Sentimental Reasons), all of which are AMAZING. I credit Linda with pointing me toward Ella Fitzgerald.
I love this song. I really enjoy your Linda Ronstadt reactions. This is great. Keep up the good work 🌺✌️
She has such a powerful and wonderful voice. Hard to tell her heart wasn't in it. BRAVO
I’m amazed that Linda had released a song I hadn’t heard. I 💗this! Thanks so much for reacting to it. You always do such a good job. 👏💖
I dont think there is a bad Linda Ronstadt song. Love her. Sad life has taken her voice but there is so much great music to honor her by.
"The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" is a 1966 science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein about a lunar colony's revolt against absentee rule from Earth. The novel illustrates and discusses libertarian ideals."
Songwriter Jimmy Webb was a Heinlein fan and fell in love with the title. So he wrote the author and asked if he could use the title for a song, and the guy said sure. No real connection between the novel and the song other than that line.
Heh - I knew there was a connection!
I remember that being a great book
One song of Linda's that always brings back memories is a duet she did with Aaron Neville called "Don't Know Much". Well worth a listen and maybe a reaction too.
I prefer a lot more the other duet she sang with Aaron, called “All My Life”. From the same album .
she had 38 songs in the top 100, 21 of those became top 40 songs, 10 teached the top 10, and "you're no good" reached number 1
From " Get Closer" album, my favourites are "Mr Radio" and "Talk to me of Mendocino"
I think Mr. Radio is definitely one of her hidden gems. Great story song that gets no recognition now, but certainly should.
Jimmy Webb songs really get to me. I love this song, sung by Glen Campbell, Judy Collins, or Joe Cocker, but Linda's version is the one one that gets me most. There will never be another voice that moves me quite like Linda Ronstadt, her rendition of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You" has brought me to tears more times than I can count.✨
Jimmy Webb has said Linda's version was his favorite cover, impressive given the range of artists who sang it.
The greatest most versatile female vocalist of her generation.
Fun fact: this was Linda’s only album from 1974 - 1989 that was not Platinum; it only attained ‘gold’ status. All other albums in that 15 year period were platinum or multi-platinum. Not sure why this one sold less, because it’s a pretty good album…🧐
Jimmy Webb's favorite version. He called Linda's rendition "glorious" on his Facebook page.
Get Closer may have been an obligation album but it's has a nice eclectic mix of songs. "I Knew You When", "Lies", "People Gonna Talk" , "Tell Him" and the title tune are straight ahead rock. But as was her custom she included several softer numbers among them "Sometimes You Just Can't Win", the beautiful "Talk to Me of Mendocino" and my favorite of the entire disc "Mr. Radio" a hauntingly plaintive song that evokes a Depression era feeling.
This is NOT an obligation record. It is a solid 4-star album.
It was obligation in as much as Linda & her label wanted to keep her rock fans happy. Linda then went on to her Nelson Riddle trio, & then her first mariachi record. Her next rock record was "Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind", which was multi- platinum.
In all fairness, this dude has no idea who Linda Ronstadt is outside of a bunch of song reactions while reading about her on wikipedia on the fly.
@@evanhughes1510 I would say he still has a ways to go. But at least he's interested.
I've heard 2 albums, a handful of one offs from different albums, and I've watched her documentary about her career/life. I wouldn't say I know ALOT but I definitely don't have "no idea." Linda is a frequent on this channel. @@randyventresca4152
MY FAVORITE SONG OF ALL TIME!!!
Goosebumps
Get Closer and Lies are the rockers here
I grew up in the seventies and I have never heard this song before it's really a beautiful song 😊
Glen Campbell sang it as well.
This Jim Webb classic was done by Judy Colin's and others. Haunting and gorgeous.
This album won a Grammy for Best Album Package (which basically means graphic design) as did her album Lush Life a few years later.
This song allows Linda’s voice to soar which is always an ultimate experience, and she has such moments all over the album. Yet it still isn’t even my favorite Jimmy Webb song on this set. That goes to Easy For You To Say, which I consider to be one of Linda’s lost gems and one that’s always overlooked. I highly recommend it and the album.
Now, that is a voice! Wish she was still able to do her thing. Have everything she recorded.
Do you have her Christmas album? Got it a couple of weeks ago and have played it several times already.
@@davidgiles5912didn’t know she had a Christmas album. The fact that she’s an atheist kind of ruins it for me though.
Great song by Jimmy Webb and great vocals by Linda Ronstadt. This song is underrated. It just needs a great voice to make it come alive.
The reference to the three albums she recorded with the Nelson Riddle orchestra are sublime. She was singing American standards long before everyone else it was Nelson Riddles last work before he died. Riddle worked with Sinatra on a regular basis so you can imagine her with an orchestra of that calibre
Give Judy Collins version a listen...also beautiful!
I first heard the instrumental version of this tune on Pat Metheny's LP "Beyond the Missouri Sky". Just Pat and legendary bassist Charlie Haden
Such a great voice!
Love your video,would like to see your reaction to the band Talk Talk :~ it’s my life, the party’s over, Living in another World, life is what you make it and my foolish friends. Fantastic group , I’m 68 year old and I listen to them every day 👍
Linda also covered “Adios” by Jimmy Webb, with Beach Boy Brian Wilson providing backing vocals: ua-cam.com/video/LtmQat6nC_o/v-deo.html. Beautiful song.
I love all of Linda's renditions of Jimmy Webb songs.
The title song Get Closer is a pop/punk rock song that is a faster paced track.
This album and the previous one (Mad Love) were Linda's "rock/New Wave) albums, but this song wasn't one of the rock numbers. Try Get Closer, and Mad Love on the earlier album.
Get Closer is one of the more rock oriented tracks. Full-out Linda power. Studio version sounds better than the MTV video. Linda’s growls are the best!
Best version is from the Tonight Show 1983
Song written by Jimmy Webb who also wrote "Wichita Lineman" that you recently reacted to. One of the best song writers of the 60 and 70's.
Some of the rock tracks on this album are Get Closer, I Knew You When, People Gonna Talk, Lies, and Tell Him. “I Knew You When” is an especially good one you should hear.
I'll respectively disagree that "I Knew You When" is rock. "Get Closer" is the clearest rock song on this album, demonstrated by it's nomination for a Best Rock Vocal Grammy, while "I Knew You When" made it on the country and adult contemporary chart (where it performed the best owning to its soft roots). The album before this one ("Mad Love") is Linda's most consistently rock album.
@@andyb7942 ‘I knew you when’ may have had “soft roots”, as you put it, but Linda recorded it in a rock style. It has electric guitar, bass and drums just like Get Closer. What does Get Closer have that makes it so much more rock than the other? One thing it has is an unusual time signature.
@@evanhughes1510 Thanks for your reply. I consider a rock song to have a strong backbeat with a driving backbeat/interplay between bass and drums (and with prominent electric guitar). I Knew You When has a few places where these elements come together, but they are not driving the song, which is more pop/country-based with prominent piano. I realize all of this is subjective, so no need for us to agree 🙂
Joan Baez does a really good cover of this song.
Hey Sal, thanks for the info, never knew this about this album but Linda still nailed this song, I don’t think she can sing any song bad but I’m bias
I think her "Mad Love" album and this album are my two favorites of hers. You've got to listen to "My Blue Tears" with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton. It's prior to their 2 "Trio" albums, as is the three of them doing a cover of "Mr. Sandman" on Emmylou's album "Evangeline" that was a year before Linda's "Get Closer" album.
Linda is of my top 5 favorite female singers. Never heard this tune before and her vocals (As always) Stellar but this music 🎵🎶 arrangement is flat sounding? I think that's the "Raw" you are describing? Maybe I need to replay the official version through my Polk Audio towers?? It's like Linda showed up to work and the band or guys behind the soundboard are just filling an obligation? Play a actual vinyl album recording of YOUR NO GOOD and listen to the Love And Care in the sonic Bliss of it from 1974. Anywho, Great Reaction Mr Salvo!! Peace 🕊️☮️♾️😎
Huh?
@@RandallVentresca Yaa I haven't played the official audio through my stereo yet Incase the reaction audio was lacking. I'm spoiled like that! ☮️
If you want to hear another version of this song, Josh Groban covered it on his album, All That Echoes
This album got great reviews. All-Music has a weird rating system. If you read the review, it is positive but brief. So, the 2 stars is misleading. Linda also got 2 Grammy noms for this album. Her voice was getting even more powerful in 1982 because of vocal traing for Pirates of Penzance and Nelson Riddle projects.
This song is incredibly beautiful. It's by Jimmy Webb, one of the best songwriters of the last 50 years or so.
When Linda sings in her mid to lower register, softly, does anyone else hear a timbre very close to Karen Carpenter’s?
I do. Prefer it to yelling.
@@deadandburied7626she does not yell 🙄
The high notes sound a bit discordant, but that is Linda's "belting" style.
@@deadandburied7626 I think Linda knew what she was doing and what worked to give her voice color, effect, and emotion. You either take it or leave it. But, it made her the greatest most versatile female vocalist of her generation without so many "vocal experts" calling the shots on what is and isn't appropriate.
@@randyventresca4152 I agree. I love Linda's singing generally very much. There is her singing this in concert on YT somewhere.
Get Closer was rock. Best version live from the Tonight Show 1983 ,
Written by the great Jimmy Webb.
This was very nice, i'd had only heard Joe Cockers version before.
Jimmy Webb is one of the greatest songwriters ever.
Best version is by Glen Campbell in concert
Take a look at Glenn Campbell's version.
I love Linda Ronstadt and her version of this song, but having said that, I encourage you to listen to Joe Cocker's version which lends an unexpected masculine vulnerability to this piece which was written by a broken-hearted Jimmy Webb.
If god had a voice, this is it!
Compare with Radka Toneff's and Celtic Woman's (Lisa Kelly) versions.
Never heard of them..
Glen Campbell's version is the prime cut of this song.
For you, perhaps.
Not released as a single
One of the most beautiful songs ever written. For years, it was my favorite song. My two favorite versions are from Glen Campbell and Judy Collins. Jimmy Webb has written many hits for various artists, several of which were written for and sung by Glen Campbell. I really don't care that much for Linda's rendition: I think she over sings it. Judy Collins' version is the best, in my opinion.
Judy Collins version is dull. Jimmy Webb said Linda version is his favorite.
Huh?? That’s ridiculous! We saw Jimmy Webb twice and he praised Judy Collins‘ version. She sings the song haunting and tenderly and doesn’t over-sing it.
@@uschimyers That may be true. But he said in interview his favorite was by Linda. She puts way more feeling in her version.
@@uschimyersI am not that guy in the video 🙄
@@randyventresca4152ok then. My mistake.
They threw this song in for filler. It was recorded years before. Listen to her standards - they are amazing.
Don’t know what you mean filler. This is one of the nicest songs on the album. And what do you mean it was recorded years before??
Filler? Get real!
@@RandallVentresca The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was recorded for the Get Closer album. My Blue Tears was recorded a few years earlier when Trio were trying to put an album together. But that late 70's project fell apart. Someone said Lies and Tell Him were re orded during the Mad Love sessions. But, I have my doubts about that claim.
Like Glen Campbell’s version better. She’s too belty on this one and it overpowers the song
I LOVE that this gave you chills.....me too.......still......to this day.....check out I Keep It Hid from Cry Like a Rainstorm, Cry Like the Wind.