Heart Like a Wheel | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | November 19, 1974 | |||
Recorded | June–September 1974 | |||
Studio | The Sound Factory and Clover Recorders, Los Angeles, Track Recorders, Maryland, Record Plant and The Hit Factory, New York City, Trident Studios and AIR Studios, London [1] | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 31:40 | |||
Label | Capitol | |||
Producer | Peter Asher | |||
Linda Ronstadt chronology | ||||
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Singles from Heart Like a Wheel | ||||
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Heart Like a Wheel is the fifth solo studio album by Linda Ronstadt, released in November 1974. It was Ronstadt's last album to be released by Capitol Records. At the time of its recording, Ronstadt had already moved to Asylum Records and released her first album there; due to contractual obligations, though, Heart Like a Wheel was released by Capitol. [4]
Heart Like a Wheel reached the top of the Billboard 200, becoming her first number one album in the United States. The lead single a cover of Dee Dee Warwick's "You're No Good" peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. At the 18th Annual Grammy Awards, the album was nominated for Album Of The Year, while her version of "I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love with You" won the award for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female.
Widely considered Ronstadt's breakthrough album, it was selected by the Library of Congress to be inducted into the National Recording Registry in 2013. In 2020, it was ranked number 490 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [5] |
Christgau's Record Guide | A− [6] |
Pitchfork | 8.5/10 [7] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [8] |
Tom Hull | B [9] |
Heart Like a Wheel became Ronstadt's first album to hit the top spot on the Billboard Top 200 album chart and spent four weeks at number 1 on the Billboard Country Album chart in early 1975. "You're No Good," the first single release from the record company, reached number 1 on Billboard's Hot 100. A cover of The Everly Brothers' "When Will I Be Loved" spent two weeks at number 2 on the Hot 100 in June 1975 and reached number 1 on the Cash Box Pop singles chart and on the Hot Country Songs chart. Buddy Holly & the Crickets song, "It Doesn't Matter Anymore", also appeared on the Pop, Adult Contemporary and Country charts. [10]
Stephen Holden's 1975 review Rolling Stone described the title track as "a masterpiece of writing and arrangement" and lauded the album's expansive repertoire, production and song selection. [11] The album's cover of Hank Williams's "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)," peaked at number 2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. [12]
Heart Like a Wheel spent 51 weeks on the album chart. [13]
Retrospective reviews of Heart Like a Wheel widely regard it as a high-point in Ronstadt's oeuvre. In his review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine described it as "a landmark of '70s mainstream pop/rock." [5] John Lingan claimed in his review for Pitchfork that "[Ronstadt] had one power, but it was a superpower. Viewed from one angle, Linda Ronstadt’s career is the story of a woman gradually recognizing the power of her own voice. She had the tone early, but you can hear her control improve in each successive album. Her breaths sound more natural, her vibrato becomes more pronounced. By Heart Like a Wheel, she’d mastered it." [7]
In 1976, the album earned Ronstadt four nominations at the Grammy Awards. She won Best Country Vocal Performance, Female for the track, "I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love with You". She was also nominated for Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female. Producer Peter Asher was among the nominees for Producer of the Year. [14]
In 2006, CMT ranked "Heart Like a Wheel" No. 34 on its list of the 40 greatest albums in country music. [15] The album was ranked No. 490 on the September 22, 2020 edition of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. [3]
Heart Like a Wheel was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2013 for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important." [16]
In 2018, Heart Like a Wheel was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. [17]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "You're No Good" | Clint Ballard Jr. | 3:44 |
2. | "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" | Paul Anka | 3:26 |
3. | "Faithless Love" | J. D. Souther | 3:15 |
4. | "The Dark End of the Street" | Chips Moman, Dan Penn | 3:55 |
5. | "Heart Like a Wheel" | Anna McGarrigle | 3:10 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "When Will I Be Loved" | Phil Everly | 2:04 |
2. | "Willin'" | Lowell George | 3:02 |
3. | "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)" | Hank Williams | 2:45 |
4. | "Keep Me from Blowing Away" | Paul Craft | 3:10 |
5. | "You Can Close Your Eyes" | James Taylor | 3:09 |
Total length: | 31:40 |
Adapted from album's liner notes. [18]
Production
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
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Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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United States (RIAA) [22] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Region | Date | Format | Label | Ref. |
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North America | November 19, 1974 |
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| [23] |
Year | Label | Edition |
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2009 | Audio Fidelity | 24 Karat Gold HDCD |
2017 | Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab | SACD |
Trio is a collaborative album by American singers Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris. It was released on March 2, 1987, by Warner Bros. Records. The album has platinum certification in the U.S. for sales of one million copies, and has total worldwide sales of approximately four million. A second collaborative album, Trio II, was released in 1999.
Trio II is the second collaborative studio album by Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt. It was released on February 9, 1999, by Asylum Records.
Blue Kentucky Girl is the sixth studio album by American country music artist Emmylou Harris, released in 1979. The album features Harris delving into more traditional country than the country-rock sound of her previous releases. Songs include work by Willie Nelson and Gram Parsons. Rodney Crowell's "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" featured harmonies by Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, and came out of the women's ill-fated 1978 recording sessions, where they first attempted to record a "trio" album.
Evangeline is the eighth studio album by Emmylou Harris that was composed mostly of leftover material from past recording sessions and which did not fit into any of her other albums. Songs included a remake of "Mister Sandman", "Evangeline", which she had previously performed with The Band, Rodney Crowell's "Ashes By Now", and a cover of John Fogerty's "Bad Moon Rising". Though it received mixed reviews upon its release, the album was yet another commercial success for Harris. It was certified Gold in less than a year after its release. A single release of "Mister Sandman" did well on the charts, though neither Ronstadt's nor Parton's record companies would allow their artists' vocals to be used on the single, so Harris rerecorded the song, singing all three parts for the single release. Rodney Crowell's "I Don't Have to Crawl" was released as the album's second single.
The Ballad of Sally Rose is the eleventh studio album by American singer Emmylou Harris released in February 1985. It marked a significant departure for Harris for two reasons. First, all the songs were written by her and her then-husband Paul Kennerley, while her previous albums had consisted mostly of others' material. Secondly, it is a concept album, loosely based on Harris' relationship with Gram Parsons. The album tells the story of a character named Sally Rose, a singer whose lover and mentor, a hard-living, hard-drinking musician, is killed while on the road. Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Gail Davies sing harmony on several of the songs. Many of the songs flow into one another to create a continuous momentum.
Pieces of the Sky is the second studio album and major-label debut by American country music artist Emmylou Harris, released on February 7, 1975, through Reprise Records.
"Heat Wave" is a 1963 song written by the Holland–Dozier–Holland songwriting team. It was first made popular by the Motown vocal group Martha and the Vandellas, who issued it as a single on July 10, 1963, on the Motown subsidiary Gordy label. The single reached number one on the Billboard Hot R&B chart—where it stayed for four weeks—and peaking at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind is a studio album by American singer/producer Linda Ronstadt, released in October 1989 by Elektra Records. Produced by Peter Asher, the album features several duets with singer Aaron Neville — two of which earned Grammy Awards — and several songs written by Jimmy Webb and Karla Bonoff. The album was a major success internationally. It sold over three million copies and was certified Triple Platinum in the United States alone.
Prisoner In Disguise (1975) is Linda Ronstadt's sixth solo LP release and her second for the label Asylum Records. It followed Ronstadt's multi-platinum breakthrough album, Heart Like a Wheel, which became her first number one album on the US Billboard 200 album chart in early 1975.
Get Closer is the eleventh studio album by singer Linda Ronstadt, released in 1982.
Hasten Down the Wind is the seventh studio album by Linda Ronstadt. Released in 1976, it became her third straight million-selling album. Ronstadt was the first female artist to accomplish this feat. The album earned her a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female in 1977, her second of 13 Grammys. It represented a slight 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 sound she had been producing up to that point. A more serious and poignant album than its predecessors, it won critical acclaim.
Simple Dreams is the eighth studio album by the American singer Linda Ronstadt, released in 1977 by Asylum Records. It includes several of her best-known songs, including her cover of the Rolling Stones song "Tumbling Dice" and her version of the Roy Orbison song "Blue Bayou", which earned her a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year. The album also contains covers of the Buddy Holly song "It's So Easy!" and the Warren Zevon songs "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" and "Carmelita".
Living in the USA is the ninth studio album by American singer Linda Ronstadt, released in 1978. The album was Ronstadt's third and final No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
Greatest Hits is Linda Ronstadt's first major compilation album, released at the end of 1976 for the holiday shopping season. It includes material from both her Capitol Records and Asylum Records output, and goes back to 1967 for The Stone Poneys' hit "Different Drum."
Mad Love is the tenth studio album by singer Linda Ronstadt, released in 1980. It debuted at #5 on the Billboard album chart, a record at the time and a first for any female artist, and quickly became her seventh consecutive album to sell over one million copies. It was certified platinum and nominated for a Grammy.
The Song Remembers When is the third studio album by American country music artist Trisha Yearwood. The album was released October 26, 1993, on MCA Nashville Records and was produced by Garth Fundis. It was Yearwood's third collaboration with Fundis, who also produced her 1992 album, Hearts in Armor which received wide critical acclaim, as well as her platinum-selling eponymous debut. The title track was the album's lead single, becoming a major hit, peaking at #2 on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in 1993.
Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions is a 1999 duet album by American singer, songwriter, and producer Linda Ronstadt and singer, songwriter, and guitarist Emmylou Harris, who had previously collaborated on two albums with Dolly Parton.
We Ran is a 1998 rock album by American singer Linda Ronstadt. The disc featured back-up from three members of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. It spent two weeks on the Billboard albums chart, peaking at #160.
Winter Light is an album by American singer Linda Ronstadt, released in late 1993 to critical acclaim and commercial disappointment.
Feels Like Home is a studio album by American singer Linda Ronstadt released in 1995. It reached #75 and lasted 12 weeks on the Billboard album chart. It received excellent critical reviews upon release. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the disc sold 188,815 copies in the United States. This album is now out of print physically, although it is available digitally and five of its tracks were remixed and subsequently included on Trio II.