Maps of Music

Get Closer (1982)

Where the lyrics of Get Closer take you, and where it was really made.

The title track was written by a singer who had been an original member of the Starland Vocal Band, and its unusual 7/4 meter later sold toothpaste.

Key places

Tracks 1-11 recorded in Los Angeles (1982)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — Tracks 1-11 of Get Closer were recorded at George Massenburg Studios in Los Angeles, California. The point is shown at city level only, not at the building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Get Closer: eleventh studio album by Linda Ronstadt, released in 1982
• Released by Asylum Records in late September 1982
• Follows Mad Love (1980), after which her career moved away from country-rock
• Recorded mainly to satisfy label obligations
• Produced again with Peter Asher

Background

• 1980–81: sang light opera on Broadway in The Pirates of Penzance and wanted to record an album of standards
• 1981: session with Jerry Wexler and a small jazz combo for Keeping Out of Mischief, cancelled after Ronstadt was dissatisfied
• Later revisited the standards concept on a trilogy with Nelson Riddle
• Returned to the genres of her 1970s commercial and critical success
• Two tracks from earlier sessions: a remake of George Jones's Sometimes You Just Can't Win (recorded June 1977) and My Blue Tears (planned trio album with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris)
• Duet with James Taylor on a remake of Ike and Tina Turner's I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine
• Covers of The Knickerbockers' Lies and The Exciters' Tell Him

Recording

• Tracks 1-11 recorded at George Massenburg Studios in Los Angeles
• Track 12 recorded at Record One in Sherman Oaks
• Mastered at The Mastering Lab in Hollywood

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• Born July 15, 1946 in Tucson, Arizona; American singer across rock, folk, pop, country, and soul.
• In the mid-1960s joined the folk-rock trio the Stone Poneys as lead singer, releasing three albums in 1967–68.
• Solo debut Hand Sown ... Home Grown (1969), described as the first alternative country record by a female recording artist.
• Became the first female "arena class" rock star; top-grossing concert artist of the decade.
• Voted Top Female Pop Singer of the 1970s; "You're No Good" reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• Worked with producer Nelson Riddle on the Great American Songbook trilogy What's New, Lush Life, and For Sentimental Reasons.
• Recorded Canciones de Mi Padre (1987), the best-selling non-English-language album in US music history.
• Retired in 2011 after losing the ability to sing; later diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014; Kennedy Center Honoree in 2019.

Formation

• At age 14 formed a folk trio with her brother Peter and sister Gretchen.
• Moved to Los Angeles in 1964 to form a band with Bobby Kimmel.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Reviewers wrote about a newfound confidence in Ronstadt's vocals
• Rolling Stone's Ken Tucker, in his November 11 review, said her voice had never sounded better on the album and that its spirit was unassailable
• Tucker said her vocal development on Broadway had not made her self-conscious and that she was no longer a prisoner of technique
• Tucker criticized much of the second side, saying some soul oldies were performed too meticulously
• Stephen Holden of The New York Times praised her singing as strong and unaffected
• Holden called the title track the album's most adventurous performance and compared her shouting to Aretha Franklin's Respect
• Milo Miles of The Boston Phoenix called it an unusually casual, dry-eyed curtain call that recycled a once-potent formula

Records

• Peaked at number 31 on the Billboard album chart in late 1982, her first album to fail to make the top 5 since 1973
• Certified Gold by the RIAA for sales of over 500,000 copies
• American sales passed 900,000 copies by the time it was deleted from print
• Title track peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100
• Nominated for Grammys in early 1983 for Best Pop Vocal Performance Female and Best Rock Vocal Performance Female, losing to Melissa Manchester and Pat Benatar
• Won the Grammy for Best Album Package, an art director's award, given to Ron Larson and Kosh

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ja.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The title track was written by Jon Carroll, an original member of the Starland Vocal Band.
• The title track's unusual 7/4 meter was later chosen to promote Close-Up toothpaste.
• The album's Sometimes You Just Can't Win was the B-side to the Get Closer single and peaked at number 27 on the Hot Country Songs chart.
• Lies and Tell Him, both mid-1960s hits by other artists, were included as covers.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ja.wikipedia.org

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