Hasten Down the Wind

Infobox Album
Name = Hasten Down the Wind
Type = studio
Artist = Linda Ronstadt


Released = August 1976
Recorded = The Sound Factory, Los Angeles, California from May - July 1976
Genre = Art rock, Pop,Rock
Length = 41:00
Label = Asylum
Producer = Peter Asher
Reviews =
Last album = "Prisoner in Disguise"
(1975)
This album = "Hasten Down the Wind"
(1976)
Next album = "Greatest Hits"
(1976)
Reviews = *Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:d9fixqt5ldfe link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/301674/review/5946956?utm_source=Rhapsody&utm_medium=CDreview link]
*Stereo Review Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/revhast3.htm link]

"Hasten Down the Wind" (1976) is Linda Ronstadt's seventh solo LP release and Ronstadt's third straight million-selling album, an unprecedented feat at the time, earning her a Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, Female in 1976. It represented a radical departure from 1974's "Heart Like a Wheel" and 1975's "Prisoner in Disguise" in that she chose to showcase new songwriters over the traditional country rock and pop sound she had been producing up to this point. It is a more serious, more poignant album than its predecessors, yet won immediate critical acclaim from critics and the general public alike.

The album showcased Ronstadt by way of songs such as the likes of Warren Zevon's "Hasten Down the Wind" and Karla Bonoff's "Someone to Lay Down Beside Me", both of whom would indeed soon be making a name for themselves in the singer-songwriter world. An exquisite treatment of the Tracy Nelson standard "Down So Low" and two Ronstadt-penned songs completed an array of immaculately chosen and delivered songs.

This was Ronstadt's third album to go platinum. "Hasten" itself spent several weeks in the top three of the Billboard charts. Her subsequent album was her best-selling, "Simple Dreams".

Track listing

#"Lose Again" (Karla Bonoff) - 3:34
#"The Tattler" (Ry Cooder, Russ Titelman, Washington Phillips - 3:56
#"If He's Ever Near" (Karla Bonoff) - 3:15
#"That'll Be the Day" (Jerry Allison, Buddy Holly, Norman Petty) - 2:32
#"Lo Siento Mi Vida" (Linda Ronstadt, Kenny Edwards, Gilbert Ronstadt) - 3:54
#"Hasten Down the Wind" (Warren Zevon) - 2:40
#"Rivers of Babylon" (Brent Dowe, Trevor McNaughton, S. McNaughton) - :52
#"Give One Heart" (John Hall, Johanna Hall) - 4:07
#"Try Me Again" (Linda Ronstadt, Andrew Gold) - 3:59
#"Crazy" (Willie Nelson) - 3:58
#"Down So Low" (Tracy Nelson) - 4:08
#"Someone to Lay Down Beside Me" (Karla Bonoff) - 4:28

Personnel

Core band

*Linda Ronstadt - Vocals, Vocals (Background), Handclapping
*Andrew Gold - Organ, Keyboards, Arp String Ensemble, Finger Cymbals, Sleigh Bells, Handclapping, Clavinet, Vocals (Background), Vocals, Piano (Electric), Guitar (Rhythm), Guitar (Electric), Clavichord, Piano, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic)
*Dan Dugmore - Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Guitar (Steel)
*Waddy Wachtel - Electric guitar, acoustic guitar
*Kenny Edwards - Bass, Mandolin, Vocals, Vocals (Background)
*Russ Kunkel - Drums
*Michael Botts - Drums

Additional musicians

*Clarence McDonald - Piano, Keyboards
*Herb Pedersen - Vocals, Vocals (Background)
*Paul Polenick - Viola
*Paul Polivinick - Viola
*Bill Thedford - Vocals, Choir, Chorus
*Ken Yerke - Violin, Viola
*Ron Hickland - Choir, Chorus
*Gerry Garrett - Choir, Chorus
*Sherlie Matthews - Vocals, Vocals (Background)
*Clydie King - Vocals, Choir, Chorus
*Wendy Waldman - Vocals, Vocals (Background)
*Peter Asher - Guitar, Wood Block, Shaker, Producer, Handclapping, Vocals, Tambourine, Percussion
*David Campbell - Conductor, String Arrangements, Viola
*Charles Veal - Violin, Concert Master
*Richard Feves - Bass, Double Bass
*Gerald Garrett - Vocals, Choir, Chorus
*Jim Gilstrap - Vocals, Choir, Chorus
*Pat Henderson - Vocals, Choir, Chorus, Vocals (Background)
*Ron Hicklin - Vocals
*Dennis Karmazyn - Cello
*Becky Louis - Vocals, Vocals (Background)
*Karla Bonoff - Vocals, Vocals (Background)
*Don Henley - Drums, Vocals, Harmony Vocals

Production

*John Kosh - Cover Design
*Ethan Russell - Photography
*Jim Shea - Photography