Linda Ronstadt
Ronstadt, of course, did her limb-crawling a while back. She's all but making a career of it these days, in fact. This is her second album of standards sung with Nelson Riddle's orchestra and arrangements, and it is, happily, looser and less somber than What's New. Ronstadt applies an effectively torchy touch to the title song, the Billy Strayhorn composition, and to Ellington's Sophisticated Lady. But she also makes some tentatively swinging up-tempo approaches to Can't We Be Friends, Falling in Love Again and You Took Advantage of Me. One or two more such lively tracks would have been welcome, but this album again confirms Ronstadt's crossover skills. Before she decides to do a polka album, or one of 12-tone Chinese ditties, she might want to consider the kind of small-group jazz approach Manilow has taken. That sounds like more than a little bit of fun, doesn't it? (Asylum)
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