I finally received Linda Ronstadt's "new" CD "Live in Hollywood"

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After a delay, I finally received Linda Ronstadt’s latest CD “Live in Hollywood” which she was promoting. Sadly, this is not a collection of new material as her voice has been stilled forever by illness but her first “live” collection. Amazingly, Linda never put out a live album and live recordings of her are rare. There is “Tumbling Dice” on the “FM” soundtrack and her early self titled album contains some live from the Troubador when the Eagles’ Glenn Frey and Don Henley were in her backup band. The CD is comprised of 12 songs Linda selected from her 1980 HBO special. I never saw this special or even have a recollection of it. If I read about it, I forgot. How can that be? There was not the same information superhighway back then and things were not promoted to death. In 1980, HBO was a relatively new expensive premium channel on that expensive newfangled thing called cable TV. The vast majority of us were antenna TV and got music via “Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert” and “The Midnight Special.” Liner notes tell the backstory. To make it brief, the master tapes to the special were forgotten and lost for decades and discovered misfiled in the Warner Bros. music vault. Linda has the “A” team backing her up: guitarists Dan Dugmore, Kenny Edwards and Danny Kortchmar, bassist Bob Glaub; drummer Russ Kunkel; keyboardist Billy Payne, backup singer Wendy Waldman; and her producer/manager Peter Asher (of Peter & Gordon fame) on percussion/vocals. These musicians worked with her for years. The playlist is a greatest hits package including “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” “You’re No Good,” “Willin’” and “Desperado.” I had never previously heard Linda switch from English to Spanish mid-song when performing “Blue Bayou.” This is Linda at her most sublime. The peak of her musical powers. Linda was more powerful live on stage than in recordings. I think this CD is a keeper.