![]() Ī welcome return to form, this is at the very least Ronstadt’s best album since Simple Dreams and perhaps even Heart Like a Wheel. But Ronstadt is just a tad too stiff to pull off Chuck Berry’s “Back in the U.S.A.” and have it sound even half as spirited as the rock pioneer’s rawer reading, and covering Elvis Costello’s “Alison” just simply makes no sense at all and sounds even weirder being thrown on the same album side as an equally misguided cover of the Oscar Hammerstein-penned standard “When I Grow Too Old to Dream.” The best stuff here ranks up there with the best material from Hasten Down the Wind, but there’s also more tracks here that you’re likely to skip past. Ronstadt and her band sound great when they stick more within their wheelhouse, as they do on faithful covers of Little Feat’s underrated “All That You Dream” and Doris Troy’s “Just One Look.” Ronstadt also impresses with her vocal performances on her intimate cover of Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender” and her deservedly Top Ten-charting smooth-and-sultry reading of the Miracles’ “Ooh Baby Baby”, the latter also boasting a great added instrumental touch in its sax solo from David Sanborn. It’s still a reasonably good record – certainly, it’s a much more essential pick-up than nearly any of her pre- Heart Like a Wheel platters – but the sporadically-ill-fitting song selection ends up weighing down the record. may have sold in enormous quantities – to date, it’s actually outsold both Prisoner in Disguise and Hasten Down the Wind – but, artistically speaking, it’s her most awkward and least sastifying record since Don’t Cry Now. ![]() Arguably the weakest disc in her run of platinum albums dating back to 1974’s Heart Like a Wheel, Living in the U.S.A. ![]()
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