Simple Dreams

Simple Dreams
Studio album by Linda Ronstadt
Released September 1977
Recorded May 23–July 22, 1977
Studio The Sound Factory, Los Angeles, California
Genre Rock, classic rock, country rock
Length 31:49
Label Asylum
Producer Peter Asher
Linda Ronstadt chronology
Greatest Hits
(1976)Greatest Hits1976		 Simple Dreams
(1977)		 Living in the USA
(1978)Living in the USA1978
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Robert ChristgauB+[2]
Rolling Stone(average)[3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[4]

Simple Dreams is the eighth studio album by the American rock singer-songwriter Linda Ronstadt, released by Asylum Records. One of the most successful albums of Ronstadt's career, Simple Dreams spent five successive weeks at number 1 on the Billboard album chart in late 1977, displacing Fleetwood Mac's Rumours after it had held that position for a record-breaking 29 weeks. It also knocked Elvis Presley out of the number 1 position on the Billboard Country Albums chart after "The King" had held it for fifteen consecutive weeks following his death in August. It won the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package and was nominated for several other Grammy awards.

Simple Dreams was Ronstadt's fifth consecutive million-selling platinum album and sold over 3½ million copies in less than a year in the United States alone—a record for a female artist. Among female recording artists at that time, only Carole King, with her album Tapestry, had sold more copies of one album.

Originally, the cover photograph was to show Ronstadt dressed in a mini-slip and seated in front of multiple mirrors. Uncomfortable with the physical exposure, she changed into a robe, and the picture was made artificially grainy. A retouched photo from the original photo sessions was included on the inner sleeve of her platinum-plus album Greatest Hits, Volume 2, released in 1980. At the 20th Grammy Awards, John Kosh won the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package for Simple Dreams.

This album has never been out of print.

Release data

The album was originally released by Asylum in the LP format in September 1977 (catalogue number 104 or 6E-104). Later, in 1986, Asylum released the album in the Cassette format (TCS-104) and in the CD format (2-104).

Single releases

The album was such a success that Ronstadt became the first female artist—and the first act overall since The Beatles—to have two singles in the top five at the same time: the Platinum-certified "Blue Bayou" (#3 Pop, #3 Adult Contemporary, and #2 Country) and "It's So Easy" (#5 Pop).

"Blue Bayou" was nominated for the Record of the Year Grammy award in early 1978. It also earned Ronstadt a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance Female, alongside Barbra Streisand, Dolly Parton, Carly Simon and Debby Boone.

"It's So Easy" was originally recorded by Buddy Holly and The Crickets in 1958 but had failed to chart in its original version. It was Ronstadt's second cover of a Holly song to become a hit in as many years; she had taken a rousing cover of "That'll Be the Day" to #11 Pop in 1976, using a similar arrangement.

The album includes songs by Warren Zevon, Eric Kaz and J.D. Souther, as well as The Rolling Stones' "Tumbling Dice". Ronstadt was joined by Parton on the traditional ballad "I Never Will Marry", which became a Top 10 Country hit during the summer of 1978. (Ronstadt, Parton and Emmylou Harris were also working on an ill-fated collaborative project around this same time, but nine years would pass before the release of their first Trio album.)

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."It's So Easy"Buddy Holly, Norman Petty2:27
2."Carmelita"Warren Zevon3:07
3."Simple Man, Simple Dream"J.D. Souther3:12
4."Sorrow Lives Here"Eric Kaz2:57
5."I Never Will Marry"Traditional3:12
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Blue Bayou"Roy Orbison, Joe Melson3:57
2."Poor Poor Pitiful Me"Warren Zevon3:42
3."Maybe I'm Right"Waddy Wachtel3:05
4."Tumbling Dice"Mick Jagger, Keith Richards3:05
5."Old Paint"Traditional3:05

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/Sales
Canada (Music Canada)[19] 2× Platinum 200,000^
United States (RIAA)[20] 3× Platinum 3,000,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Simple Dreams at AllMusic
  2. ↑ Christgau, Robert (October 31, 1977). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". Village Voice. New York. Retrieved April 29, 2013.
  3. ↑ Rolling Stone review
  4. ↑ Brackett, Nathan; Christian Hoard (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 701. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  5. 1 2 3 Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970-1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  6. ↑ "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 28, No. 11" (PHP). RPM. 1977-12-10. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  7. ↑ "dutchcharts.nl Linda Ronstadt – Simple Dreams" (ASP). Hung Medien. MegaCharts. Retrieved 2012-04-04.
  8. ↑ "InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste" (in French). infodisc.fr. Archived from the original on 2016-01-26. Retrieved 2012-04-04. Note: user must select 'Linda RONSTADT' from drop-down
  9. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  10. ↑ "charts.org.nz Linda Ronstadt – Simple Dreams" (ASP). Hung Medien. Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 2012-04-04.
  11. ↑ "swedishcharts.com Linda Ronstadt – Simple Dreams" (ASP) (in Swedish). Retrieved 2012-04-04.
  12. ↑ "Linda Ronstadt : Artist: Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  13. 1 2 "Allmusic:Simple Dreams : Charts & Awards: Billboard Albums". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  14. ↑ "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1977". RPM. 1977-12-31. Archived from the original on 2014-04-05. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  15. ↑ "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1978". RPM. Archived from the original on 2013-06-19. Retrieved 2013-09-08.
  16. ↑ "Dutch charts jaaroverzichten 1978" (in Dutch). Archived from the original (ASP) on 2014-05-12. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  17. ↑ "Les Albums (CD) de 1978 par InfoDisc" (in French). infodisc.fr. Archived from the original (PHP) on 2013-07-11. Retrieved 2012-01-29.
  18. ↑ "Top Pop Albums of 1978". billboard.biz. Archived from the original on 2012-12-31. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  19. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Linda Ronstadt – Simple Dreams". Music Canada. Retrieved 2012-04-04.
  20. ↑ "American album certifications – Linda Ronstadt – Simple Dreams". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 2012-04-04. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
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