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Michael Dinner / Linda Ronstadt Connection
Linda Ronstadt appeared on the first of Michael Dinner's two albums,
The Great Pretender (Fantasy F-9454) released 1974. This
LP was produced by
John Boylan, and in addition to Linda...Bob Warford, Ed Black, Michael
Bowden,
Mickey McGee, Doug Haywood, Herb Pedersen, Sneaky Pete, Andrew Gold,
Al Perkins, David Lindley, Don Felder, Russ Kunkel and others were
also there.
Linda contributed vocals on these songs:
"The
Great Pretender"
"Yellow
Rose Express"
"Last
Dance In Salinas"
All ten songs on this album were written by Michael Dinner.
His second LP, Tom Thumb The Dreamer (Fantasy F-9512)
was released in 1976.
This one sounded less country, probably because it was produced by
Keith Olsen,
and featured Elton John's rhythm section and Waddy and others. Even
though Linda
was not a part of this one, it remains one of my favorite albums from
this era.
Michael wrote eight of the nine songs on this LP.
Neither of Michael Dinner's albums generated a lot of sales, but don't
feel too sorry
for him. He started directing and producing movies and TV shows. His
songs always
told stories with vivid imagery, so moving to a medium that tells stories
with
visuals as one of its main ingredients makes a lot of sense. His long
time
producing and directing on the TV series, "The Wonder Years" resulted
in his
winning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series
in 1990.
We can also thank Michael for including Linda's songs on "The Wonder
Years."
It would be great if Linda covered one of his tunes. His songwriting
talents have been
overlooked way too long.