Heart Like a Wheel by Linda Ronstadt

Heart Like a Wheel, Linda Ronstadt's fifth solo studio album, hit the racks in November 1974 on Capitol, and it's the record where all that talent finally landed one knockout punch. There's a wrinkle: she had already jumped to Asylum and put out her first album there, but her contract still owed Capitol a record, so this one went out on the old label as her farewell. Peter Asher produced, framing that mighty voice with clean, tough country rock and aching soft-rock ballads.

The lead single, a cover of Betty Everett's "You're No Good", is a slow smolder that builds to a full blaze, and it went to number one on the Hot 100 while the album topped the Billboard 200, her first in America. It was up for Album of the Year at the 18th Grammys, and her take on "I Can't Help It If I'm Still in Love with You" won Best Country Vocal Performance, Female. The National Recording Registry took it in 2013.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.