Linda Ronstadt - Cry Like A Rainstorm-Howl Like The Wind (1989)

01. Still Within The Sound Of My Voice 
02. Cry Like A Rainstorm 				play
03. All My Life (Featuring Aaron Neville) 
04. I Need You (Featuring Aaron Neville) 
05. Don't Know Much (Featuring Aaron Neville) 
06. Adios 
07. Trouble Again 
08. I Keep It Hid 
09. So Right, So Wrong 
10. Shattered 
11. When Something Is Wrong With My Baby (Featuring Aaron Neville) 
12. Goodbye My Friend					play

An album that defines virtually everything that is right about adult contemporary pop--and yes, there are a few things--Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind contains lush, orchestrated arrangements of songs by first-rate tunesmiths such as Jimmy Webb, Eric Kaz, Paul Carrack, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill, Isaac Hayes, and Karla Bonoff. Four cuts, including the Grammy-winning "Don't Know Much," feature duets between Ronstadt (still singing with power and assurance even at the top of her range) and angel-voiced Aaron Neville. Other highlights include "Adios," with multitracked background vocals by Brian Wilson, and the title song, which is driven to new heights by the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra and the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir. Beautiful stuff. ---Daniel Durchholz

This is one of those albums from the 1980s where you wish you could get into a time machine and go back to the production crew and scream: "Don't! No tinkly keyboards! No synth drums! No Jaco Pastorius-style bass! I know you don't believe me, but in a few years this is going to become as dated as that silly haircut you're wearing." So great are the songs and singing performances on this album, this may be the most poignant example of bad 80s contamination. Nonetheless, this album gets five stars because, most of the time, it overcomes the problem, and on a few cuts, manages to avert it (maybe someone DID show up in a time machine.) Some of the very best songs are little known. The duets with Aaron Neville are rightfully celebrated--including the hits "Don't Know Much" and "When Something is Wrong with my Baby"--they are wonderful performances.

But this album also represented a comeback/last hurrah for a couple of great songwriters. Jimmy Webb, whose "Easy for You to Say" is one of Ronstadt's best songs, is the writer of four songs to this collection, and all of them are terrific. One of them, "Adios," is a masterpiece, capturing with rich irony and sadness the end of the Southern California dream. The fact that it's not only Linda Ronstadt, the 70s LA queen, but that she's backed by the (then-reclusive) Brian Wilson, the inventor of the Southern California pop scene-- it's all too much! But it dances elegantly on the head of a pin, with a melody that will haunt you. The other masterpiece on this album is by a writer that Linda Ronstadt has covered previously many times, Eric Kaz's "Cry Like a Rainstorm." This is a really daring cut with a nearly dissonant melody line that gives Ronstadt a chance to open up vocally and emotionally. It's an unbelievable performance, heightened by the addition of a gospel choir, a full orchestra, and some big guitar and drum work. It could be overkill, but the song is sturdy enough to handle it, and Ronstadt has the ability to switch effortlessly from operatic power to folk delicacy.

Two cuts by British pub rocker Paul Carrack (co written by Nick Lowe) break the intense mood, and are charming. Although it was produced by her 70s producer Peter Asher, the orchestra, choir, Neville and the more adult-focused songwriting make this is a unique and essential album in her canon. ---John Stodder

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