Mad Love (Linda Ronstadt album)
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Mad Love is a platinum-certified, Grammy-nominated 1980 rock album by singer/songwriter/producer Linda Ronstadt. 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 million-selling album.
The album contains versions of Elvis Costello's "Party Girl", "Girls Talk" and "Talking in the Dark" as well as Neil Young's "Look Out for My Love". Three songs from The Cretones' first album, Thin Red Line, were also featured.
The album had Top 10 hits in the US with the frenetic "How Do I Make You" and the achingly pleading "Hurt So Bad". "I Can't Let Go" was the album's third hit single. Ronstadt was named Billboard's #1 Female Artist of 1980. This was her fourth time earning that honor. (She was named the year's top woman in 1975, 1977, and 1978.) She was also nominated for yet another Grammy Award in the Best Rock Vocal Performance Female category.
In 2011, after 31 years, Mad Love was taken out of print. The album was put into reprint in 2012 as part of Warner/Rhino's "Original Album Series" a group of five classic albums packaged in a box with each individual CD in a mini-replica of the original vinyl packaging. That package has also been deleted.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| Robert Christgau | B- [2] |
| Rolling Stone | (mixed) [3] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  [4] |
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Mad Love" | Mark Goldenberg | 3:40 |
| 2. | "Party Girl" | Elvis Costello | 3:22 |
| 3. | "How Do I Make You" | Billy Steinberg | 2:25 |
| 4. | "I Can't Let Go" | Chip Taylor, Al Gorgoni | 2:44 |
| 5. | "Hurt So Bad" | Teddy Randazzo, Bobby Weinstein, Bobby Hart | 3:17 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6. | "Look Out for My Love" | Neil Young | 3:29 |
| 7. | "Cost of Love" | Goldenberg | 2:38 |
| 8. | "Justine" | Goldenberg | 4:00 |
| 9. | "Girls Talk" | Costello | 3:22 |
| 10. | "Talking in the Dark" | Costello | 2:12 |
Personnel
- Linda Ronstadt - lead and background vocals
- Dan Dugmore - electric guitars
- Waddy Wachtel - guitar, background vocals
- Mark Goldenberg - electric guitars, background vocals
- Bob Glaub - bass guitar
- Russell Kunkel - drums
- Bill Payne - keyboards
- Danny Kortchmar - electric guitars
- Mike Auldridge - dobro
- Peter Bernstein - acoustic guitars
- Peter Asher, Steve Forman - percussion
- Michael Boddicker - synthesizer
- Rosemary Butler, Kenny Edwards, Andrew Gold, Nicolette Larson - background vocals
References
- ^ Allmusic review
- ^ Robert Christgau review
- ^ Rolling Stone review
- ^ Brackett, Nathan; Christian Hoard (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York City, New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 701. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
