Mas Canciones- Linda Ronstadt
Entertainment Weekly, January 17, 1992
Review by Frank Owen
| LINDA RONSTADT: |
|---|
| Mas Canciones |
|---|
|
Unlike Los Lobos, who successfully modernized
Mexican roots music on their 1988 album, La Pistola y El Corazon,
Linda Ronstadt seems content to treat the music of her childhood
as a pristine museum culture rather than a living, breathing
art form with contemporary relevance. Her nostalgic new
record Mas Canciones- a collection of mariachi folk music
much like her first Mexican album, Canciones de mi Padre,
released four years ago- is distinguished by the sort of formal
orchestral arrangements more associated with classical music
than with folk. It also has more ensemble singing than its
predecessor; Ronstadt is even joined by her brothers Mike and
Pete, who ably, if not memorably, back her on several songs.
In the end, though, what's most striking is the obvious
affection she brings to this lushly romantic music. Songs like
"Gritenme Piedras Del Campo" ("Scream to Me Stones in the Field")
and "El Crucifijo de Piedra" ("The Crucifix of Stone") might seem
somewhat overwrought by today's standards, but the grandeur
of their emotion provides a glimpse of a time when romance
was more circumscribed and courtly, but no less passionate. grade: B
|
|---|