Simple Dreams

Simple Dreams
Studio album by Linda Ronstadt
Released	September, 1977
Recorded	May 23-July 22, 1977, The Sound Factory (Los Angeles, California)
Genre	Rock, classic rock, country rock
Length	31:49
Label	Asylum
Producer	Peter Asher
Linda Ronstadt chronology
Greatest Hits (1976) Simple Dreams (1977) Living in the USA (1978)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	B+[2]
Rolling Stone	(average)[3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[4]

Simple Dreams is the eighth studio album by the American rock artist Linda Ronstadt, released in September 1977 via Asylum Records. One of the most successful albums of Ronstadt's career, Simple Dreams spent five successive weeks at #1 on the Billboard album chart in late 1977, displacing Fleetwood Mac's Rumours at #1 after 29 record-breaking weeks in the pole position. It also knocked Elvis Presley out of #1 on Billboard's Country Albums chart after 'The King' held the gridlock for fifteen consecutive weeks following his death in August. It won the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package (in addition to several other high profile Grammy nominations).

Simple Dreams was Ronstadt's fifth consecutive million-selling Platinum album and sold over 3½ million copies in less than a year in the United States alone—a record for a female artist.

Originally, the cover photograph had Ronstadt dressed in a mini-slip seated in front of multiple mirrors. Uncomfortable with the physical exposure, Linda changed into a robe, and the picture was made artificially grainy. A re-touched outtake photo from the original photo sessions was later included on the inner sleeve for her Platinum-plus Greatest Hits, Volume 2 album in 1980. At the 20th Grammy Awards, John Kosh won the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package for Simple Dreams.

This album has never been out of print.

Release data

The album was originally released by Asylum in the LP format in September, 1977 (catalogue number 104 or 6E-104). Later, in 1986, Asylum released the album in the Cassette format (TCS-104) and in the CD format (2-104).

Single releases

The album was such a success that Ronstadt became the first female artist—and the first act overall since The Beatles—to have two singles in the top five at the same time: the Platinum-certified "Blue Bayou" (#2 Pop, #3 Adult Contemporary, and #2 Country) and "It's So Easy" (#5 Pop).

"Blue Bayou" was nominated for the Record of the Year Grammy award in early 1978. It also earned Ronstadt a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance Female, alongside Barbra Streisand, Dolly Parton, Carly Simon and Debby Boone.

"It's So Easy" was originally recorded by Buddy Holly and The Crickets in 1958 but had failed to chart in its original version. It was Ronstadt's second cover of a Holly song to become a hit in as many years; she had taken a rousing cover of "That'll Be the Day" to #11 Pop in 1976, using a similar arrangement.

The album includes songs by Warren Zevon, Eric Kaz and J.D. Souther, as well as The Rolling Stones' "Tumbling Dice". Ronstadt was joined by Parton on the traditional ballad "I Never Will Marry", which became a Top 10 Country hit during the summer of 1978. (Ronstadt, Parton and Emmylou Harris were also working on an ill-fated collaborative project around this same time, but nine years would pass before the release of their first Trio album.)

Track listing

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"It's So Easy"	Buddy Holly, Norman Petty	2:27
2.	"Carmelita"	Warren Zevon	3:07
3.	"Simple Man, Simple Dream"	J.D. Souther	3:12
4.	"Sorrow Lives Here"	Eric Kaz	2:57
5.	"I Never Will Marry"	Traditional	3:12

Side two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Blue Bayou"	Roy Orbison, Joe Melson	3:57
2.	"Poor Poor Pitiful Me"	Warren Zevon	3:42
3.	"Maybe I'm Right"	Waddy Wachtel	3:05
4.	"Tumbling Dice"	Mick Jagger, Keith Richards	3:05
5.	"Old Paint"	Traditional	3:05

Charts

Peak positions Chart (1977–78) Position Australian Kent Music Report[5] 1 Canadian Albums Chart[6] 1 Dutch Albums Chart[7] 8 French SNEP Albums Chart[8] 15 Japanese Oricon LPs Chart[9] 38 New Zealand Albums Chart[10] 2 Swedish Albums Chart[11] 46 UK Albums Chart[12] 15 U.S. Billboard Pop Albums[13] 1 U.S. Billboard Country Albums[13] 1

Year-end charts Chart (1977) Position Australian Albums Chart[5] 27 Canadian Albums Chart[14] 18 Chart (1978) Position Australian Albums Chart[5] 4 Canadian Albums Chart[15] 54 Dutch Albums Chart[16] 63 French Albums Chart[17] 31 U.S. Billboard 200[18] 8

Certifications

Region	Certification	Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)[19]	2× Platinum	200,000
United States (RIAA)[20]	3× Platinum	3,000,000
^^shipments figures based on certification alone

Personnel

• Linda Ronstadt - acoustic guitar, lead vocals and arrangements
• Waddy Wachtel - guitar, background vocals
• Ed Black - guitar, steel guitar
• David Campbell - string arrangements
• Kenny Edwards - guitar, bass
• Rick Marotta, Micky McGee, Dennis St. John, David Kemper - drums
• Danny Kortchmar, Richard Bowden, Pete Wade, Al Viola - guitar
• David Lindley - fiddle
• Jim Fadden - harmonica
• Jim Gordon, Nino Tempo - saxophone
• Mac Johnson, Darrel Leonard - trumpet
• Spooner Oldham - piano
• John Boylen - electric piano
• Kenny Anderson, Mike Bowden - bass
• Andrew Gold - drums, background vocals
• John David Souther, Chris Ethridge, Bernie Leadon, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Russ Kunkel, Clydie King, Herb Pedersen - background vocals
• Dolly Parton - harmony vocals on "I Never Will Marry"
• Don Henley - co-lead and background vocals on "Blue Bayou"
• Don Grolnick - piano
• Mike Auldridge - dobro on "I Never Will Marry"

References

1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Simple Dreams at AllMusic
2. Christgau, Robert (October 31, 1977). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice (New York). Retrieved April 29, 2013.
3. Rolling Stone review
4. 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.
5. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970-1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
6. "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 28, No. 11" (PHP). RPM. 1977-12-10. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
7. "dutchcharts.nl Linda Ronstadt – Simple Dreams" (ASP). Hung Medien. MegaCharts. Retrieved 2012-04-04.
8. "InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste" (in French). infodisc.fr. Retrieved 2012-04-04.Note: user must select 'Linda RONSTADT' from drop-down
9. Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
10. "charts.org.nz Linda Ronstadt – Simple Dreams" (ASP). Hung Medien. Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 2012-04-04.
11. "swedishcharts.com Linda Ronstadt – Simple Dreams" (ASP) (in Swedish). Retrieved 2012-04-04.
12. "Linda Ronstadt : Artist: Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
13. "Allmusic:Simple Dreams : Charts & Awards: Billboard Albums". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
14. "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1977". RPM. 1977-12-31. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
15. "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1978". RPM. Retrieved 2013-09-08.
16. "Dutch charts jaaroverzichten 1978" (ASP) (in Dutch). Retrieved 2014-05-01.
17. "Les Albums (CD) de 1978 par InfoDisc" (PHP) (in French). infodisc.fr. Retrieved 2012-01-29.
18. articles with dead external links%5d%5d%5b%5bCategory:Articles with dead external links from February 2016%5d%5d "Top Pop Albums of 1978" Check |archiveurl= value (help). billboard.biz. Archived from the original on 2012-12-31. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
19. "Canadian album certifications – Linda Ronstadt – Simple Dreams". Music Canada. Retrieved 2012-04-04.
20. "American album certifications – Linda Ronstadt – Simple Dreams". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 2012-04-04. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH