In 2014, then-U.S. President Barack Obama awarded Linda Ronstadt the National Medal of Arts and Humanities. In his speech honoring her, he revealed that he had a “little crush on her back in the day.” Understandable, since I reckon that every straight man in the Seventies had a crush on Linda Ronstadt. Heck, in Stephen King’s original “Shawshank Redemption” text, the poster that Andy Dufresne used to cover his escape tunnel was a poster of Linda Ronstadt.
But let’s keep our pants on and talk about Linda’s music. Released in August 1976, Hasten Down The Wind was Linda’s third consecutive Platinum-certified album. The first single was a cover of Buddy Holly’s “That’ll Be The Day.” Her cover peaked at #11, but it is sandwiched on the album between two slow ballads: “If He’s Ever Near” and “Lo Siento Mi Vida.” In fact, most of the songs on Hasten Down The Wind are slow ballads. Aside from the Buddy Holly cover, the only other exception is “Give One Heart.” This song was written by John Hall from Orleans and his wife Johanna. It is a reggae song. Yes, John Hall, future politician and white guy born in Baltimore, wrote a reggae song. I am shocked that was allowed to happen, and equally shocked that the song is actually good.
My short review of Hasten Down The Wind is that all of the songs on the album are good and Linda’s vocals are top notch as always. Listen to the last two songs, “Down So Low” and “Someone To Lay Down Beside Me,” for proof. However, I wonder if the album was at some point envisioned to be all torch songs. If nothing else, it would’ve made for better pacing. I like the songs with more energy, but they feel out of place when listening to the whole album in order. Going from several ballads in a row to “That’ll Be The Day” without any buildup is a strange choice. I still recommend the album, but I would’ve liked it more if the tracklist was shuffled around a bit.
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