I remember first hearing Linda Ronstadt's amazing voice come crashing out of the radio sometime in the late sixties as the lead vocalist for the folk-rock group, the Stone Ponies. Her distinctive melodic scream of a vocal style is so distinctive it is hard not to compare with Roy Orbison, whose songs she sometimes recorded. This collection of her hit songs covers the decade or so before she went for the big band and "lush" sounds of her more recent work. It is hard to not appreciate a voice so singular and versatile, even if it is most usually delivered with a fevered wail. I once saw her in a small venue in Lenox, Massachusetts in a small amphitheater setting, with the audience sprawled over an expansive lawn that gradually rose above the covered stage area. She was so good with just her guitar and small group that it is difficult to describe her in words short of superlatives such as phenomenal.

All of her seminal work is included here for you casual enjoyment, from "When Will I Be Loved" to "When Will I Be Loved?", from "You're No Good" to "It's So Easy", and all the others, including "Long, Long Time", "That'll Be The Day", "Love Is A Rose", "Different Drum", "Heat Wave", and many others. This album give us all of Linda's formidable hits, all her in a definitive play list that anyone would want to have to ensure an accurate representation of her volumes of work, from dozens of hit albums recorded and released over more twenty years of popular work. This is an essential album for your collection, and one I have both in the house and in the car. For easy listening as I zoom down the highway. Other than the Beach Boys, on the one hand, or Jackson Browne on the other, nobody articulates the southern California folk rock style as well or as consistently as Linda Ronstadt, the little woman with the big, big voice. Enjoy!

Linda's had quite a few careers, now, as a singer. She sang old torch ballads; she sang the part of Mabel in The Pirates Of Penzance; she even tried to cut it as a new-waver. There was ALSO that period, many, many years ago, when she was the sexiest little country-rocker there ever was (and, in my book, still is).

Linda's been one of those cover artists--the kind who'll try to pip somebody else's version of some previously-recorded hit. Artistically she's had varying degees of success with this, but in the present collection there's not one misfire. The way she puts over "You're No Good" and "Heat Wave" (with a little help from her L.A. session boys, Peter Asher & Andrew Gold), not to mention that hoe-down "Love Is A Rose" and ESPECIALLY that irresistible sing-along approach to "When Will I Be Loved" let one know instantly why she's considered one of the biggies.

Linda's earlier discography was one of the many special things about the seventies.

This Linda Ronstadt greatest hits collection evokes its time and musical style as sharply and succinctly as her southern California contemporaries and former bandmates, the Eagles, who released their celebrated greatest hits collection the same year on the same label.

This best-of focuses on Ronstadt's first decade recording for Capitol and Asylum Records. Here, she recreates rockabilly for the 1970s by joining R&B (Motown's "Heat Wave," and "Tracks of My Tears"), folk (Michael Nesmith's "Different Drum," the Springfields "Silver Threads and Golden Needles.") and 50s rock (updating the Everlys' "When Will I Be Loved" and Buddy Holly's "It Don't Matter Anymore.")

Ronstadt would cover every chapter in the Great American songbook over her next 25 years, but never more naturally integrated songs like "You're No Good" (a #1 in 1974) into her own style. She seemed not to want to recreate an era (as with her Nelson Riddle standards collaborations from the 1980s) but to reinterpret previous decades' rock and roll for a new one.

This would template Ronstadt's music to this day: technically well sung, thematic LPs recorded with collaborators ranging from Aaron Neville to Emmylou Harris, with occasionally illuminating but sometimes embarrassingly clunky ("Hurt So Bad," "Ooo Baby Baby") results. All the more reason to pick up this first Greatest Hits set, which captures Linda Ronstadt at her most focused and an important musical period at its peak. Essential, but also check the occasionally in-print "Retrospective," which delves deeper into her more country-flavored work for Capitol.

Linda Ronstadt's GREATEST HITS: VOLUME 1 sold more than five million copies; and while those sales have been surpassed by far lesser Ronstadt wanna-bes such as Faith Hill and Shania Twain, it proves that Ronstadt fans really saw her not as a fad singer but as a legend.

This album doesn't contain much of her early material--only the two country-rock standards "Different Drum" and "Long, Long Time". Still, those two songs ARE standards because of her intensely moving voice. Her 1973 version of "Silver Threads And Golden Needles" is a twangy country-rock bar band hoedown, fueled by Gib Guilbeau's fiddle. And who can possibly forget her searing versions of "Heat Wave" and "You're No Good"?

There's much, much more on this first GREATEST HITS album. Even if you have the albums from which these songs come from, pick this one up too.

Linda Ronstadt is one of those singers who can manage to put a country flavor to just about anything she sings. However, she has sung songs in a wide variety of styles, so it is difficult to rate her as a singer of a particular type of music. Her ability to put a country twang into a song does make me wonder how she would handle a song like Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven."

Linda has a great talent and has had hits well beyond those on this collection. While this collection was fine in the days of vinyl, with the advent of CDs there is little need for this CD. There are bigger and better collections of music. The music included here is good, but the CD should be re-titled "Early Greatest Hits" or "Here's Our Way of Milking Fans for More Money Because You Still Need a More Comprehensive Collection."

Moving past my gripes about the CD, there is some really fun music on this CD. "Silver Threads" was a minor hit for the Springfields in the early 60s, after being sung by Wanda Jackson in the 50s. Linda's version is more rockabilly than the Springfield's version; a good cover of this song. "Desperado" is a cover of the Eagles song. Her clear voice brings a stronger country flavor to this song, but I prefer the Eagles version, which I believe has stronger feeling and power. Linda shows her flexibility in "You're No Good" as she manages a bit of soul.

Linda Ronstadt manages to sound as though she came right out of the hills on "Love Is a Rose." This heavily bluegrass flavored song still retains a rock influence, particularly with the percussion and a bass guitar. In the following song, "That'll Be the Day" she again manages yet another country-flavored song with a rock beat. Her voice is well matched to the requirements of this song and is an indication of how well she could have been a country music star had she remained in one genre.

"Long, Long Time" is one of those incredible songs that any singer with a good voice should have in their repertoire. Linda has both the range and ability to sing this song with the kind of emotion required to pull a listener into the words and music. This sumptuous ballad is one of the few songs on this CD that require substantial vocal talent to execute and Linda does it very well indeed.

"Different Drum" is yet another musical style, this time 60s pop. While the song has a standard pop beat and catchy lyrics, Linda's voice managed to flavor the song with a character that changes this song into a classic. One anachronistic touch is the use of a harpsichord. Many 60s songs used a variety of unusual instruments to achieve a different sound. This song was penned by Michael Nesmith of The Monkees. I like this song, but the fade at the end and my recollection makes me think that the end of the song may have been clipped. If the song was not clipped the fade was handled poorly.

Switching back to a country flavor is "When Will I Be Loved," a short, AM-friendly song. While the song is relatively simple Linda Ronstadt manages to take charge of the song with outstanding vocals. Another country styled song, "Love Has No Pride." While the style is familiar, the clear, powerful vocal is the focus of this soulful ballad. With the exception of the song discussed just below, the last two songs are also country style songs, a genre that Linda Ronstadt seems to favor.

This collection changes pace as she belts out a rocking versus of "Heat Wave." No fuzz on this song, this song is solid pop-rock.

To be a fan of Linda Ronstadt is to be a fan of power vocals. Her style is eclectic; her skill sublime.

This collection has some good music. However, as noted at the start of this review, this collection is woefully inadequate. Linda's career has spanned Spanish language recordings, numerous later hits including the phenomenal "Somewhere Out There" with James Ingram, and albums of classic standards with Nelson Riddle. Against the breadth of her ability is this relatively paltry album. If you are looking for just her earliest hits, you may stop here. But if you are out to appreciate Linda Ronstadt's career, pass this one by in favor of the bigger collection, or a future box set with much more scope.