Consumer Guide Album

Linda Ronstadt: A Retrospective [Capitol, 1977]
Safe (five cuts from Heart Like a Wheel, worth owning itself), genteel (six from Linda Ronstadt, her most conventional album for the label), and occasionally tasteless ("Hobo" is pure artysong and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" failed nostalgia), this is nevertheless a listenable compilation. "Lovesick Blues" and "Rescue Me" rock a lot better than "Heat Wave," the Stone Poneys stuff surpasses that on Different Drum, Capitol's 1968 "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" sounds fresher than Asylum's 1973, and the genteel stuff does mix well, as they say. B+