Simple Dreams

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Simple Dreams
File:Simple Dreams Album Cover.jpg
Studio album by Linda Ronstadt
Released September, 1977
Recorded May 23-July 22, 1977,
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
Source Rating
Allmusic 4.5/5 stars[1]
Robert Christgau B+[2]
Rolling Stone (average)[3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 4/5 stars[4]

Simple Dreams is the eighth studio album by the American rock artist Linda Ronstadt, released in September 1977 via Asylum Records. One of the most successful albums of Ronstadt's career, Simple Dreams spent five successive weeks at #1 on the Billboard album chart in late 1977, displacing Fleetwood Mac's Rumours at #1 after 29 record-breaking weeks in the pole position. It also knocked Elvis Presley out of #1 on Billboard's Country Albums chart after 'The King' held the gridlock for fifteen consecutive weeks following his death in August. It won the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package (in addition to several other high profile Grammy nominations).

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.

Originally, the cover photograph had Ronstadt dressed in a mini-slip seated in front of multiple mirrors. Uncomfortable with the physical exposure, Linda changed into a robe, and the picture was made artificially grainy. A re-touched outtake photo from the original photo sessions was later included on the inner sleeve for her Platinum-plus Greatest Hits, Volume 2 album 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" (#2 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. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "It's So Easy"   Buddy Holly, Norman Petty 2:27
2. "Carmelita"   Warren Zevon 3:07
3. "Simple Man, Simple Dream"   J.D. Souther 3:12
4. "Sorrow Lives Here"   Eric Kaz 2:57
5. "I Never Will Marry"   Traditional 3:12
Side two
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Blue Bayou"   Roy Orbison, Joe Melson 3:57
2. "Poor Poor Pitiful Me"   Warren Zevon 3:42
3. "Maybe I'm Right"   Waddy Wachtel 3:05
4. "Tumbling Dice"   Mick Jagger, Keith Richards 3:05
5. "Old Paint"   Traditional 3:05

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
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. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Rolling Stone review
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Note: user must select 'Linda RONSTADT' from drop-down
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  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
Preceded by Billboard 200 number-one album
December 3, 1977 - January 6, 1978		 Succeeded by
Saturday Night Fever (soundtrack)
by Various artists
Preceded by Canadian RPM 100 number-one album
December 10, 1977 – December 24, 1977		 Succeeded by
You Light Up My Life by Debby Boone
Preceded by U.S. Billboard Country number-one album
December 17, 1977		 Succeeded by
Here You Come Again by Dolly Parton
Preceded by Australian Kent Music Report number-one album
February 13 - March 19, 1978		 Succeeded by
Saturday Night Fever (soundtrack)
by Various artists
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