LINDA RONSTADT, "Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind" (Elektra Records).
Linda Ronstadt loves to keep us guessing. Throughout the '80s she's definitely kept her loyal fans on their toes trying to keep up with her.After her first spunky, almost-punky, albums of the decade, she was shanghaied into light opera by "The Pirates of Penzance" and began transforming an already versatile voice into a truly remarkable one with the help of vocal coaches.
Then came the Nelson Riddle-arranged trilogy of standards ("What's New," "Lush Life" and "For Sentimental Reasons," released collectively as " 'Round Midnight"), the country "Trio" album with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris and, perhaps most unexpected of all, the mariachi-flavored "Canciones de ma padre."
"Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind," Ronstadt's latest - and gentler than its dramatic title suggests - is a surprising, successful near-return to her late-'70s pop mode, with a definite difference.
That difference is her voice. Ronstadt had great range in the '70s, from teary, affecting ballads to out-and-out rock roof-raisers. But let's admit it, sometimes we couldn't quite make out the words.
No longer. Today, her polished clarity, phrasing and discipline are exquisite, unsurpassed. She can shift from explosive to subdued in an instant and hold a note for half an eternity. Ronstadt's lung capacity must have doubled, or tripled, over the past 10 years.
Now she's applying her virtuoso voice to pop songs again. And like her efforts of a dozen or so years ago, "Cry Like a Rainstorm . . ." (from a featured Eric Kaz song) is held together by thematic threads.
First, of course, almost all of them are love songs: true-love songs, breaking-up songs, broke-up songs and tough-love songs.
Four are velvety duets with Aaron Neville of New Orleans' Neville Brothers band, an interesting pairing because Neville's soft tenor is certainly second in the power department to Ronstadt's voice. But those who've heard the lovely first single, "Don't Know Much," written by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil and Tom Snow, know how marvelous Ronstadt and Neville are together.
Third, Ronstadt and producer Peter Asher have again unified the album by using several songs by particular artists. In days gone by, they'd stylistically knit a record, or a sequence of albums, by selecting suitable Ronstadt-tailored songs by Bob Dylan, J.D. Souther, Anna McGarrigle, James Taylor, Little Feat's Lowell George, Warren Zevon and even Elvis Costello.
Three of the songwriters on "Cry Like a Rainstorm" are previous Ronstadt favorites: Kaz, Jimmy Webb and Karla Bonoff.
In fact, Webb (writer of "MacArthur Park," "Witchita Lineman" and other ballads ad infinitum) contributes four songs here. They span his considerable career, from 1967's "I Keep It Hid" to the lush opening cut, "Still Within the Sound of My Voice," from 1986.
Three others on the new album were written by Bonoff, two of them, "All My Life" and "Goodbye My Friend," culled from Bonoff's gentle 1988 album, "New World." Bonoff's third entry, "Trouble Again," is the sassiest rocker in a set that's, as a rule, more sweet ballad than rock 'n' roll. (A notable footnote: this is Bonoff's second Ronstadt hat trick; three of her songs also found their way onto "Hasten Down the Wind" in 1976.)
Paul Carrack, a solo artist himself and oft-lead singer of Mike + The Mechanics ("The Living Years"), also helped write two: "I Need You" and "So Right, So Wrong."
And finally, in the Nelson Riddle tradition, "Cry Like a Rainbow . . ." has been luxuriously arranged, recorded and produced by Asher and George Massenburg, with prominent contributions by the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra (the music was recorded at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch in California's Marin County) and Brian Wilson (whose ethereal Beach Boy harmonies add a great deal to Webb's showstopping "Adios").
Not all of the songs are perfect in appeal by any means (a little Jim Webb, for instance, goes a long way . . .), but overall this is a pleasant addition to a Ronstadt record collection now encompassing 20 years. The matchup with Neville was particularly inspired - their duets are highlights - and Ronstadt's singing is superb.