Description
Linda Ronstadt – Frenesi
It is one of those ironic twists of fate that Linda Ronstadt was forced into retirement in 2011, the year her seminal Afro-Caribbean album, Frenesí was re-released. Her debilitating Parkinson’s condition has since worsened and sadly, her glorious voice has been silenced forever. However this recording will forever be hailed as an epic voyage into Latin America by this iconic artist who rose to eminence in the 1960’s popular music wave with her first group, a trio: The Stone Pones. Riding the crest of a gathering wave ever since, Miss Ronstadt traversed a vast musical topography from the land of the Navajo (Arizona), where she was born and raised on its influential folk music through New Orleans, when she appeared with the Aaron Neville and also the Neville Brothers’ band and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra where she sang straight-ahead swing repertoire and Afro-Caribbean music of which this disc is one of the highlights.
Choosing to leap onto the big stage and to front a group that includes several stellar musicians such as tresero Yomo Toro, horn players such as Justo Almario and percussionists like Luis Conte, Armando Peraza and Orestes Vilató, as well as the formidable Skywalker Symphony, Miss. Ronstadt is exquisite voice raising in power in songs such as “Verdad Amarga” and weaves these songs of varied themes into a convincing whole. Her pacing here is completely involving, with several songs acting as points of thoughtful cumulation. Especially moving is “En Mi Soledad”, the moving melodic lines sustained by the superb guitar and the rest of the orchestra with searing intensity. Best of all, of course, is the variety of colour that Miss Ronstadt brings to this luscious repertoire. The airy nimbleness of the musicians behind her also add much to the music in the way of turning even simple melodies into rhapsodic arabesques, so beautifully exposed in a song like “Perfidia”.
Track listing[edit]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | “Frenesí” (Frenzy) | Alberto Dominguez, Leonard Whitcup | 3:30 |
| 2. | “Mentira Salome” (Lie Salome) | Ignacio Piñeiro | 2:50 |
| 3. | “Alma Adentro” (Deep Within My Soul) | Sylvia Rexach | 3:11 |
| 4. | “Entre Abismos” (Between Abysses) | Victor Manuel Mato | 3:21 |
| 5. | “Cuando Me Querias Tú” (When You Loved Me) | Emilio Catarell Vela | 3:07 |
| 6. | “Piel Canela” (Cinnamon Skin) | Bobby Capó, Silvano Michelino, X. Regianni | 3:02 |
| 7. | “Verdad Amarga” (Bitter Truth) | Consuelo Velázquez | 3:23 |
| 8. | “Despojos” (Fragments) | Francisco Arrieta | 3:02 |
| 9. | “En Mi Soledad” (In My Solitude) | Miguel Pous | 2:53 |
| 10. | “Piensa en Mí” (Think of Me) | Maria Teresa Lara | 2:55 |
| 11. | “Quiéreme Mucho” (Love Me a Lot) | Augustin Rodriguez, Gonzalo Roig | 3:23 |
| 12. | “Perfidia” (Perfidy) | Alberto Dominguez, Milton Leeds | 3:44 |
| 13. | “Te Quiero Dijiste” (I Love You, You Said) | Maria Mendez Grever | 4:01 |
| Total length: | 42:22 | ||
Video – Linda Ronstadt “Frenesi” 1992
