mfs@mhuxr.UUCP (SIMON) (01/30/85)
One was bad enough! Now la Ronstadt has gone and put out a new piece of disgusting filth called LUSH LIFE. It was bad enough to have her massacre classics by Smokey Robinson, Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison. After all, Pop has an unfortunate tradition for this sort of thing, from Pat Boone's "sanitization" of Chuck Berry and Little Richard, through the Yardbirds' desecration of "Mannish Boy" to the Stray Cats appropriating, without giving credit, all of Gene Vincent. But this is different. Here, she pretends to be a jazz singer. Never mind that she has no idea what jazz singing is all about! The point is to add some value to the tune, not just belt the thing out, trampling all sensibility in the process. One is supposed to hear the rendition and say, Ah, that's so and so's such and such. Here, I say Ah, that's Ronstadt giving me a headache. You don't have to be sing scat to sing jazz. Ask Frank Sinatra, no jazzman, but a hell of a singer. This project is supposed to be "my generation reaching out to the older generation" (this is a quote, read in Rolling Stone). Reaching Out my butt! This so-called music is a greedy attempt to continue making zillions by a washed-up rocker who refuses to go away! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!! Marcel Simon