Linda Ronstadt Jardin Azul Las Canciones Favoritas (cd, Comp)

Released in 1982, "Get Closer" is in many respects a classic Linda Ronstadt album. It contains the style of songs most associated with her, from pop ballads to country. The album took over a year to record, and features musicians who had played with her for years. In Kenny Edwards' case, he has played bass with Linda since the Stone Poneys. The title track was nominated for a best Rock Performance-Female Grammy, and the album was nominated for Best Popular Performance-Female. "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" is a duet with James Taylor and a cover of the Ike & Tina Turner hit. Linda also does a smooth cover of Billy Joe Royal's hit "I Knew You When". Another standout track is her version of Jimmy Webb's ballad "Easy For You To Say", which probably tops the original. Working with a surefire winning formula, "Get Closer" is prime Linda.

Linda Ronstadt's generically titled four-CD, five-hour, 86-track box set retrospective attempts with considerable success to encompass the many types of music she's sung from the mid-'60s to the late '90s. The album is divided into five unequal parts, with 31 tracks given over to an "Album Retrospective," followed by seven tracks from "The Nelson Riddle Sessions," her three albums of classic pop, then five songs "En Español," drawn from her three Spanish language albums. That takes up the first two discs, with the third disc consisting of 20 "Collaborations" and the fourth 23 "Rarities".