Maps of Music

What's New (1983)

Where the lyrics of What's New take you, and where it was really made.

The album that changed Linda Ronstadt's direction was recorded at a Los Angeles studio, and the record company and her manager were reluctant to make it at first.

Key places

Recorded at The Complex (1983)

Recording site The Complex — The album was recorded at The Complex studios in Los Angeles, where the session musicians and arranger Nelson Riddle worked on the tracks. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Mastered at The Mastering Lab, Hollywood (1983)

Recording site The Music Grinder (Hollywood) — Doug Sax mastered the album at The Mastering Lab in Hollywood, California. The point marks the city only, not the building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• What's New: album of traditional pop standards by Linda Ronstadt
• Released September 1983
• First of a trilogy of 1980s albums with arranger Nelson Riddle
• Album covers for all three albums designed by John Kosh
• Peter Asher produced the album

Background

• Ronstadt was then considered the leading female vocalist in rock
• Her record company and manager Peter Asher were very reluctant to make the album
• Her determination eventually won them over
• Pop standards by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett and their contemporaries were relegated to Las Vegas club acts and elevator music in the 1960s and 1970s
• Ronstadt said she wanted to rescue these songs as "little jewels of artistic expression"

Recording

• Recorded with Nelson Riddle arrangements and conducting
• Session players include Don Grolnick on grand piano, Tommy Tedesco and Dennis Budimir on guitar, Ray Brown and Jim Hughart on bass
• Recording took place at The Complex in Los Angeles
• Mastering by Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab in Hollywood, California

Cover

• Cover art direction and design by John Kosh and Ron Larson
• Photography by Brian Aris
• Wardrobe styling by Genny Schorr

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

• The album was released in September 1983 and spent 81 weeks on the main Billboard album chart
• Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that the album is "the best and most serious attempt to rehabilitate an idea of pop" that Beatlemania and the mass marketing of rock LPs for teen-agers undid in the mid-60s
• Holden also noted that it "isn't the first album by a rock singer to pay tribute to the golden age of pop"

Reappraisal

• Holden's review placed the album in the context of the Great American Songbook and the pre-rock pop era

Records

• Held the number 3 position on the Billboard album chart for five consecutive weeks
• Reached number 2 on the jazz albums chart
• RIAA certified Triple Platinum for sales of over 3 million copies in the United States
• Global sales surpassed five million
• Two singles, the title song and "I've Got a Crush on You", became hits on Adult Contemporary radio
• The title song reached number 53 on the Billboard Hot 100
• The album earned Ronstadt a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album's second single, "I've Got a Crush on You", had already been part of Ronstadt's repertoire for several years, including a 1980 appearance on The Muppet Show.
• All tracks from this album are also included in the 1986 Asylum Records compilation "'Round Midnight".
• The album held the number 3 spot while Michael Jackson's Thriller and Lionel Richie's Can't Slow Down held the top two positions.
• Original US copies carried a sticker reading "As Seen First On 'Album Flash' Only On Cinemax".
• The release was tied to the rise of the Adult Standards radio format, which returned pre-rock pop and Great American Songbook songs to American airwaves.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact