First Impressions "Heart Like A Wheel" TP-011

[mikel]

this is fun music. simple and honest. Linda Ronstadt is really in great voice. 1974 was a great year. i was 23 when this came out and it's the year i was married.

there is not a filler cut on this album, at least listening to the tape. it's fiinely crafted and recorded power pop.

as far as an Lp of 'Heart Like A Wheel', my only Lp of it is the recent Cisco reissue. i just listened to it all the way thru. it's a nice Lp and i'm a Linda Ronstadt fan. great voice, no; wonderful magical voice. the music has a nice warmth and flow. fairly dynamic. but it gets a bit congested here and there. there is a closed in feeling to the vocals. on the Lp you listen at a meduim volume level.

i'm not familiar with other pressings of this Lp so i cannot generalize; but considering this Lp you have not really heard this album until you hear this tape.

on the Tape Linda's voice is clear and strong, the various musical threads are much more clearly delineated. the bass is more distinct and articulate. you turn it up, and then turn it more up. it hangs together. you hear into that voice and it soars on many cuts.

i enjoyed the tape, and will be in frequent rotation here for awhile. it's a privilidge to have a master dub of an album like this. great job guys, i'm glad this tape did happen!

[astrotoy]

I just played the tapes. This is a great album.  I don't have a copy of the original, but have a copy of the Steve Hoffman mastered DCC reissue of the "Greatest Hits" LP which has three of the cuts from the HLAW album. I've always thought that the Hoffman mastered GH album was really fine sounding- besides having all the top Ronstadt hits. The GH album says Hoffman used all tube cutting equipment and the two track mix down master tapes.  In comparing "You're No Good"  which is the first cut on both albums, the TP tape bests the record by a small margin - both in width and depth and richness of sound stage and lack of a very slight emphasis-harshness in the treble in the record. The album is clearly multimiked, but I think that is true with almost all pop albums. There are a bunch of treasures in the album - having Emmy Lou Harris sing backup in Hank Williams' song is just one.

Larry 

[TomR]

I am listening to the first reel while drinking a glass of very fine pinot noir (Dehlinger Estate 2004 if you want to know). I bought the LP when it was released so I have been listening to this for ........36 years.......the LP spent a lot of time on my Pioneer PL45D, and I always thought it sounded great as an example of the best of early-mid 70's multimiked pop, and Linda was/is a phenomenal voice. Backup singers on this included Emmylou Harris and Maria Muldaur (Waitress in a Donut Shop would get a big vote from me for a TP release!).  Songs were really well selected, and were by songwriters like J.D. Souther, Anna McGarrigle, Phil Everly (yes!), Hank Williams, James Taylor, and others.

I have listened to this music literally hundreds of times, and there is no doubt that we get way more of the sound on this release than we did on the original LP, as good as that was. (and I now play it on my Nottingham Space 294 with a Koetsu Black cartridge). "When Will I Be Loved" is one of the all time great side 2 openers (remember when producers had to think about managing the content of LP sides?).

OK, this really rocks. I need a better playback system.....

[ironbut]

Whew!
What a great album! I never owned this one but wore the earlier ones out. Mikel was right about the lack of distortions associated with volume levels. This one begs to to cranked up a little past what I consider normal listening levels. And the bass,.. thank god I got the Flux head installed and tweaked before I played this. It seems to just go down and down till you can almost smell the sulfur.
I have a real soft spot for the sound of a pick on a great steel string guitar and boy does this fix my "jones". Great arrangements Asher! (I wonder what ever happened to that Gordon guy?)
The songs are great and hearing "Willing" really brings back some great old memories of a folk/rock band I was in way back when.

Mmm, I really wanted this to go on forever but I think I'd be just one big goosebump if it did.
I've gotta demo at the end of next month an this ones gonna kill!

Past the sonics;

Like I said, I'm not that familiar with this album but I've heard her do most of these tunes in concert. For anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of seeing her in person,.. she sings LOUD!
To me, her work on HLAW shows a lot of development as a musician.
When I studied music, I would sometimes envy singers for the combination of both the physical act of singing and the pure emotional joy that act would bring them. We used to joke about the resonances in their heads but almost every singer I knew just reveled in the sound of their own voice. Most have to learn when to reel it in a little.
Ronstadt's earlier albums were wonderful but sometimes belting it over the center field wall just doesn't serve the song.
This album has a great balance of letting us share in the obvious joy that singing brings to her while letting the emotion of the words and music take the lead. It's less of a "Star" album than I would've thought.

Great choice guys. I love it!