Simple Dreams by Linda Ronstadt

Simple Dreams, Linda Ronstadt's eighth studio album, hit the racks on Asylum on September 6, 1977, with Peter Asher producing, and it finds her picking songs like a jukebox with perfect taste. Longtime sidekick Andrew Gold sat this one out, the first time since Don't Cry Now, but the Laurel Canyon regulars were on hand: Dan Dugmore and Waddy Wachtel on guitars, Kenny Edwards on bass, and Asher on whatever needed playing.

She takes the Stones' "Tumbling Dice" and makes it sweat, turns Roy Orbison's "Blue Bayou" into a slow-burning ache that earned a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year, rides Buddy Holly's "It's So Easy!" into the top 5, and pushes Warren Zevon's "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" into the top 40, with his "Carmelita" along for the ride. It became the biggest-selling studio album of her career, and for a while only Carole King's Tapestry had sold more among albums by women.

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