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{{short description|album by Linda Ronstadt}}
{{Short description|Album by Linda Ronstadt}}
{{Infobox album
{{Infobox album
| name = What's New
| name = What's New
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| cover = Ronstadt WhatsNew.jpg
| cover = Ronstadt WhatsNew.jpg
| alt =
| alt =
| released = September 1983
| released = September 12, 1983
| recorded = June 30, 1982 - March 4, 1983
| recorded = June 30, 1982 March 4, 1983
| venue =
| venue =
| studio = The Complex, Los Angeles
| studio = The Complex, Los Angeles
| genre = [[Traditional pop]]
| genre =
* [[Traditional pop]]
* [[Lounge music|lounge]]<ref name="Lounge 1998">{{cite book|last= Dedrick|first= Jay|chapter= Linda Ronstadt|editor-last= Knopper|editor-first=Steve|date=January 1, 1998|title=MusicHound Lounge: The Essential Album Guide|publisher=[[Visible Ink Press]]|location=Detroit|pages= 409–410}}</ref>
| length = 36:35
| length = 36:35
| label = [[Asylum Records|Asylum]]
| label = [[Asylum Records|Asylum]]
Line 30: Line 32:
}}
}}


'''''What's New''''' is an album of [[traditional pop]] standards released by American singer/songwriter/producer [[Linda Ronstadt]] in 1983. It represents the first in a trilogy of 1980s albums Ronstadt recorded with bandleader/arranger [[Nelson Riddle]]. [[John Kosh]] designed the album covers for all three albums.
'''''What's New''''' is an album of [[traditional pop]] standards released by American singer [[Linda Ronstadt]] in 1983. It represents the first in a trilogy of 1980s albums Ronstadt recorded with arranger [[Nelson Riddle]]. [[John Kosh]] designed the album covers for all three albums.


==Production==
==Production==
The album was a major change in direction because Ronstadt was then considered the leading female vocalist in rock.<ref name="Rocks Venus">{{cite web | title=Rolling Stone | work=Rock's Venus| url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/rolling78.htm| access-date=May 4, 2007}}</ref><ref name="The Daily News">{{cite web | title=The Daily News | work=Work's out fine,best female voice in rock and roll| url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/c821114.htm | access-date=May 4, 2007}}</ref><ref name="lindaronstadt">{{cite web | title=Time | work=The Linda Ronstadt Interview | url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/arttm83.htm | access-date=April 9, 2007}}</ref> Both her record company and manager, Peter Asher, were very reluctant to produce this album with Ronstadt, but eventually her determination won them over and the albums exposed a whole new generation to the sounds of the pre-swing and swing eras.<ref name="lindaronstadtwithnelson">{{cite web | title=Jerry Jazz Musician | work=The Peter Levinson Interview| url=http://www.jerryjazzmusician.com/mainHTML.cfm?page=levinson.html | access-date=May 4, 2007}}</ref> The one-time popular music sung by [[Frank Sinatra]], [[Ella Fitzgerald]], [[Tony Bennett]], [[Rosemary Clooney]], [[Peggy Lee]], and their contemporaries was relegated in the 1960s and 1970s to Las Vegas club acts and elevator music. Ronstadt later remarked that she did her part in rescuing these songs which she called "little jewels of artistic expression" from "spending the rest of their lives riding up and down on the elevators."<ref name="arenas">{{cite web | title=NPR | work=Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!, April 28, 2007 · Music legend Linda Ronstadt plays a game called "They Said We Were Mad at the Academy! Mad I Tell You!" Three questions about strange, but real, patents in recent years| url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9888452 | access-date=May 28, 2007 }}</ref> The album's second single, "[[I've Got a Crush on You]]" had already been part of Ronstadt's repertoire for several years, as she'd performed it during a 1980 appearance on ''[[The Muppet Show]]''.
The album was a major change in direction because Ronstadt was then considered the leading female vocalist in rock.<ref name="Rocks Venus">{{cite web | title=Rolling Stone | work=Rock's Venus| url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/rolling78.htm| access-date=May 4, 2007}}</ref><ref name="The Daily News">{{cite web | title=The Daily News | work=Work's out fine,best female voice in rock and roll| url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/c821114.htm | access-date=May 4, 2007}}</ref><ref name="lindaronstadt">{{cite web | title=Time | work=The Linda Ronstadt Interview | url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/arttm83.htm | access-date=April 9, 2007}}</ref> Both her record company and manager, Peter Asher, were very reluctant to produce this album with Ronstadt, but eventually her determination won them over and the albums exposed a whole new generation to the sounds of the pre-swing and swing eras.<ref name="lindaronstadtwithnelson">{{cite web | title=Jerry Jazz Musician | work=The Peter Levinson Interview| date=19 April 2002| url=http://www.jerryjazzmusician.com/mainHTML.cfm?page=levinson.html | access-date=May 4, 2007}}</ref> The one-time popular music sung by [[Frank Sinatra]], [[Ella Fitzgerald]], [[Tony Bennett]], [[Rosemary Clooney]], [[Peggy Lee]], and their contemporaries was relegated in the 1960s and 1970s to Las Vegas club acts and elevator music. Ronstadt later remarked that she did her part in rescuing these songs which she called "little jewels of artistic expression" from "spending the rest of their lives riding up and down on the elevators."<ref name="arenas">{{cite web | title=NPR | work=Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!, April 28, 2007 · Music legend Linda Ronstadt plays a game called "They Said We Were Mad at the Academy! Mad I Tell You!" Three questions about strange, but real, patents in recent years| url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9888452 | access-date=May 28, 2007 }}</ref> The album's second single, "[[I've Got a Crush on You]]" had already been part of Ronstadt's repertoire for several years, as she'd performed it during a 1980 appearance on ''[[The Muppet Show]]''.


==Reception==
==Reception==
{{Album ratings
{{Music ratings
|rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
|rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
|rev1score = {{Rating|2.5|5}}<ref>[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r16887|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic review]</ref>
|rev1score = {{Rating|2.5|5}}<ref>[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r16887|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic review]</ref>
|rev2 = [[Robert Christgau]]
|rev2 = [[Robert Christgau]]
|rev2score = C-<ref>[http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Linda+Ronstadt Robert Christgau review]</ref>
|rev2score = C−<ref>[http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Linda+Ronstadt Robert Christgau review]</ref>
|rev3 = ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
|rev3 = ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
|rev3score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref>[https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/whats-new-19831013 Rolling Stone review]</ref>
|rev3score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref>[https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/whats-new-19831013 Rolling Stone review]</ref>
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|rev4score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref>[http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/arttm83.htm Time review]</ref>
|rev4score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref>[http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/arttm83.htm Time review]</ref>
}}<!-- Automatically generated by DASHBot-->
}}<!-- Automatically generated by DASHBot-->
''What's New'' was released in September 1983 and spent 81 weeks on the main ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' album chart. Its release came as the radio programming format known as [[Adult Standards]] was taking off via programming concepts such as [[Music of Your Life]], which specialized in returning pre-rock popular music and the songs of the [[Great American Songbook]] to the American airwaves. The album held the number 3 position for five consecutive weeks while [[Michael Jackson]]'s ''[[Thriller (Michael Jackson album)|Thriller]]'' and [[Lionel Richie]]'s ''[[Can't Slow Down (Lionel Richie album)|Can't Slow Down]]'' locked in the number 1 and number 2 album positions. The album also reached number 2 on the jazz albums chart. It was [[RIAA]] [[certified]] Triple Platinum for sales of over 3 million copies in the United States alone. Global sales surpassed five million. The album also earned Ronstadt another [[Grammy award|Grammy Award]] nomination for [[Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female]] alongside [[Donna Summer]], [[Bonnie Tyler]], [[Irene Cara]] and [[Sheena Easton]], all of whom performed live on the 1984 [[Grammy]] telecast. Two singles, the title song and "I've Got a Crush on You," became hits on [[Adult Contemporary]] radio stations, with the title song also reaching the Top 50 on the [[Billboard Hot 100]].
''What's New'' was released in September 1983 and spent 81 weeks on the main ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' album chart. Its release came as the radio programming format known as [[Adult Standards]] was taking off via programming concepts such as [[Music of Your Life]], which specialized in returning pre-rock popular music and the songs of the [[Great American Songbook]] to the American airwaves. The album held the number 3 position for five consecutive weeks while [[Michael Jackson]]'s ''[[Thriller (Michael Jackson album)|Thriller]]'' and [[Lionel Richie]]'s ''[[Can't Slow Down (Lionel Richie album)|Can't Slow Down]]'' locked in the number 1 and number 2 album positions. The album also reached number 2 on the jazz albums chart. It was [[RIAA]] [[certified]] Triple Platinum for sales of over 3 million copies in the United States alone. Global sales surpassed five million. The album also earned Ronstadt another [[Grammy award|Grammy Award]] nomination for [[Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female]] alongside [[Donna Summer]], [[Bonnie Tyler]], [[Irene Cara]] and [[Sheena Easton]], all of whom performed live on the 1984 [[Grammy]] telecast. Two singles, the title song and "I've Got a Crush on You," became hits on [[Adult Contemporary]] radio stations, with the title song also reaching number 53 on the [[Billboard Hot 100]].


All tracks also included in the compilation "'Round Midnight", released on Asylum Records in 1986.
All tracks are also included in the compilation "'Round Midnight", released on Asylum Records in 1986.


Stephen Holden of ''[[The New York Times]]'' noted the significance of the album to popular culture when he wrote that ''What's New'' "isn't the first album by a rock singer to pay tribute to the golden age of pop, but is ... the best and most serious attempt to rehabilitate an idea of pop that [[Beatlemania]] and the mass marketing of rock LPs for teen-agers undid in the mid-60s. In the decade prior to Beatlemania, most of the great band singers and crooners of the 40s and 50s codified a half-century of American pop standards on dozens of albums, many of them now long out-of-print."<ref name="whats new">{{cite news | title=The New York Times| work=LINDA RONSTADT CELEBRATES THE GOLDEN AGE OF POP, By Stephen Holden Published: September 4, 1983|url=http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?res=9D06E3DC1538F937A3575AC0A965948260| access-date=May 10, 2007 | first=A. O. | last=Scott}}</ref>
Stephen Holden of ''[[The New York Times]]'' noted the significance of the album to popular culture when he wrote that ''What's New'' "isn't the first album by a rock singer to pay tribute to the golden age of pop, but is ... the best and most serious attempt to rehabilitate an idea of pop that [[Beatlemania]] and the mass marketing of rock LPs for teen-agers undid in the mid-60s. In the decade prior to Beatlemania, most of the great band singers and crooners of the 40s and 50s codified a half-century of American pop standards on dozens of albums, many of them now long out-of-print."<ref name="whats new">{{cite news | title=The New York Times| work=LINDA RONSTADT CELEBRATES THE GOLDEN AGE OF POP, By Stephen Holden Published: September 4, 1983|url=http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?res=9D06E3DC1538F937A3575AC0A965948260| access-date=May 10, 2007 | first=A. O. | last=Scott}}</ref>
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|length9 = 4:47
|length9 = 4:47
}}
}}

==Charts==
{|class="wikitable
|-
!scope="col"| Chart (1983/84)
!Peak<br/>position
|-
|Australia ([[Kent Music Report]])<ref name=aus>{{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=258}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"| 26
|-
| Canadian ''RPM'' Top Albums
| style="text-align:center;"| 18
|-
|United Kingdom ([[Official Charts Company]])
|align="center"|31
|-
|United States ([[Billboard 200]])
| style="text-align:center;"| 3
|}


== Personnel ==
== Personnel ==
Line 108: Line 91:
* [[Tommy Tedesco]] – guitar (1-4, 6, 8, 9)
* [[Tommy Tedesco]] – guitar (1-4, 6, 8, 9)
* [[Dennis Budimir]] – guitar (5, 7)
* [[Dennis Budimir]] – guitar (5, 7)
* [[Ray Brown (musician)|Ray Brown]] – bass (1-4, 6, 8, 9)
* [[Ray Brown (musician)|Ray Brown]] – bass guitar (1-4, 6, 8, 9)
* [[Jim Hughart]] – bass (5, 7)
* [[Jim Hughart]] – bass guitar (5, 7)
* [[John Guerin]] – drums
* [[John Guerin]] – drums
* [[Tony Terran]] – trumpet solo (2)
* Chauncey Welsch – trombone solo (8)
* [[Plas Johnson]] – tenor sax solo (4)
* [[Plas Johnson]] – tenor sax solo (4)
* Bob Cooper – tenor sax solo (6, 7)
* Bob Cooper – tenor sax solo (6, 7)
* Chauncey Welsch – trombone solo (8)
* [[Tony Terran]] – trumpet solo (2)
* [[Nelson Riddle]] – arrangements and conductor
* [[Nelson Riddle]] – arrangements and conductor
* Leonard Atkins – concertmaster
* Leonard Atkins – concertmaster
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* Brian Aris – photography
* Brian Aris – photography
* Genny Schorr – wardrobe stylist
* Genny Schorr – wardrobe stylist

==Charts==
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!scope="col"| Chart (1983–84)
!Peak<br/>position
|-
|Australia ([[Kent Music Report]])<ref name=aus>{{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=258}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"| 26
|-
| Canadian ''RPM'' Top Albums
| style="text-align:center;"| 18
|-
|United Kingdom ([[Official Charts Company]])
|align="center"|31
|-
|United States ([[Billboard 200]])
| style="text-align:center;"| 3
|}

==Certifications==
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Entry|title=What's New|artist=Linda Ronstadt|type=album|relyear=1983|region=Canada|award=Platinum}}
{{Certification Table Entry|title=What's New|artist=Linda Ronstadt|type=album|relyear=1983|region=United States|award=Platinum|number=3}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=yes}}

==Release history==
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+ Release history and formats for ''What's New''
!scope="col"| Region
!scope="col"| Date
!scope="col"| Format
!scope="col"| Label
!scope="col"| Ref.
|-
! scope="row"| North America
| September 12, 1983
| {{hlist|LP|cassette}}
| Asylum Records
| <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ronstadt |first1=Linda |title=''Mad Love'' (Liner Notes) |journal=[[Asylum Records]] |date=September 12, 1983 |id=9-60260 (LP); 9-60260-4 (Cassette)}}</ref>
|-
|}


== References ==
== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Discogs master|163797|Linda Ronstadt & The Nelson Riddle Orchestra – What's New}}


{{Linda Ronstadt}}
{{Linda Ronstadt}}
{{Nelson Riddle}}


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:What's New (Linda Ronstadt Album)}}
[[Category:1983 albums]]
[[Category:1983 albums]]
[[Category:Linda Ronstadt albums]]
[[Category:Linda Ronstadt albums]]
[[Category:Albums arranged by Nelson Riddle]]
[[Category:Albums arranged by Nelson Riddle]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Peter Asher]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Peter Asher]]
[[Category:Covers albums]]
[[Category:1980s covers albums]]
[[Category:Elektra Records albums]]
[[Category:Elektra Records albums]]
[[Category:Asylum Records albums]]
[[Category:Asylum Records albums]]

Latest revision as of 19:57, 16 December 2024

What's New
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 12, 1983
RecordedJune 30, 1982 – March 4, 1983
StudioThe Complex, Los Angeles
Genre
Length36:35
LabelAsylum
ProducerPeter Asher
Linda Ronstadt chronology
Get Closer
(1982)
What's New
(1983)
Lush Life
(1984)
Singles from What's New
  1. "What's New"
    Released: October 1983
  2. "I've Got a Crush on You"
    Released: January 1984
  3. "Someone to Watch Over Me"
    Released: April 1984

What's New is an album of traditional pop standards released by American singer Linda Ronstadt in 1983. It represents the first in a trilogy of 1980s albums Ronstadt recorded with arranger Nelson Riddle. John Kosh designed the album covers for all three albums.

Production

[edit]

The album was a major change in direction because Ronstadt was then considered the leading female vocalist in rock.[2][3][4] Both her record company and manager, Peter Asher, were very reluctant to produce this album with Ronstadt, but eventually her determination won them over and the albums exposed a whole new generation to the sounds of the pre-swing and swing eras.[5] The one-time popular music sung by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Peggy Lee, and their contemporaries was relegated in the 1960s and 1970s to Las Vegas club acts and elevator music. Ronstadt later remarked that she did her part in rescuing these songs which she called "little jewels of artistic expression" from "spending the rest of their lives riding up and down on the elevators."[6] The album's second single, "I've Got a Crush on You" had already been part of Ronstadt's repertoire for several years, as she'd performed it during a 1980 appearance on The Muppet Show.

Reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
Robert ChristgauC−[8]
Rolling Stone[9]
Time[10]

What's New was released in September 1983 and spent 81 weeks on the main Billboard album chart. Its release came as the radio programming format known as Adult Standards was taking off via programming concepts such as Music of Your Life, which specialized in returning pre-rock popular music and the songs of the Great American Songbook to the American airwaves. The album held the number 3 position for five consecutive weeks while Michael Jackson's Thriller and Lionel Richie's Can't Slow Down locked in the number 1 and number 2 album positions. The album also reached number 2 on the jazz albums chart. It was RIAA certified Triple Platinum for sales of over 3 million copies in the United States alone. Global sales surpassed five million. The album also earned Ronstadt another Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female alongside Donna Summer, Bonnie Tyler, Irene Cara and Sheena Easton, all of whom performed live on the 1984 Grammy telecast. Two singles, the title song and "I've Got a Crush on You," became hits on Adult Contemporary radio stations, with the title song also reaching number 53 on the Billboard Hot 100.

All tracks are also included in the compilation "'Round Midnight", released on Asylum Records in 1986.

Stephen Holden of The New York Times noted the significance of the album to popular culture when he wrote that What's New "isn't the first album by a rock singer to pay tribute to the golden age of pop, but is ... the best and most serious attempt to rehabilitate an idea of pop that Beatlemania and the mass marketing of rock LPs for teen-agers undid in the mid-60s. In the decade prior to Beatlemania, most of the great band singers and crooners of the 40s and 50s codified a half-century of American pop standards on dozens of albums, many of them now long out-of-print."[11]

Track listing

[edit]

Personnel

[edit]

Production

[edit]
  • Peter Asher – producer
  • George Massenburg – engineer, mixing
  • Barbara Rooney – recording assistant, mix assistant
  • Robert Spano – recording assistant, mix assistant
  • Doug Sax – mastering at The Mastering Lab (Hollywood, California).
  • Gloria Boyce – album coordinator
  • John Kosh – art direction, design
  • Ron Larson – art direction, design
  • Brian Aris – photography
  • Genny Schorr – wardrobe stylist

Charts

[edit]
Chart (1983–84) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[12] 26
Canadian RPM Top Albums 18
United Kingdom (Official Charts Company) 31
United States (Billboard 200) 3

Certifications

[edit]
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[13] Platinum 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[14] 3× Platinum 3,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history

[edit]
Release history and formats for What's New
Region Date Format Label Ref.
North America September 12, 1983
  • LP
  • cassette
Asylum Records [15]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Dedrick, Jay (January 1, 1998). "Linda Ronstadt". In Knopper, Steve (ed.). MusicHound Lounge: The Essential Album Guide. Detroit: Visible Ink Press. pp. 409–410.
  2. ^ "Rolling Stone". Rock's Venus. Retrieved May 4, 2007.
  3. ^ "The Daily News". Work's out fine,best female voice in rock and roll. Retrieved May 4, 2007.
  4. ^ "Time". The Linda Ronstadt Interview. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
  5. ^ "Jerry Jazz Musician". The Peter Levinson Interview. 19 April 2002. Retrieved May 4, 2007.
  6. ^ "NPR". Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!, April 28, 2007 · Music legend Linda Ronstadt plays a game called "They Said We Were Mad at the Academy! Mad I Tell You!" Three questions about strange, but real, patents in recent years. Retrieved May 28, 2007.
  7. ^ Allmusic review
  8. ^ Robert Christgau review
  9. ^ Rolling Stone review
  10. ^ Time review
  11. ^ Scott, A. O. "The New York Times". LINDA RONSTADT CELEBRATES THE GOLDEN AGE OF POP, By Stephen Holden Published: September 4, 1983. Retrieved May 10, 2007.
  12. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 258. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  13. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Linda Ronstadt – What's New". Music Canada.
  14. ^ "American album certifications – Linda Ronstadt – What's New". Recording Industry Association of America.
  15. ^ Ronstadt, Linda (September 12, 1983). "Mad Love (Liner Notes)". Asylum Records. 9-60260 (LP); 9-60260-4 (Cassette).
[edit]