Simple Dreams, Linda Ronstadt’s 1977 #1, Grammy-winning album, is getting the expanded 40th anniversary reissue treatment from Rhino Records. It was the singer’s eighth studio album and would go on to sell more than three million copies in the U.S. alone.
The new version features remastered audio plus a trio of live songs taken from a 1980 concert performance. Simple Dreams: Expanded Edition will be released on Sept. 15 on CD, LP with bonus 7-inch, digital download and streaming services.
When Simple Dreams came out in September 1977, it became Ronstadt’s fifth consecutive platinum-certified album. A few months after its release, the album would finally end Fleetwood Mac’s record-breaking 29-week stay atop the Billboard Album Chart when it replaced Rumours at #1. Simple Dreams also hit #1 in Australia and Canada, while reaching the Top 20 in the Netherlands, France, New Zealand and the U.K.
Related: Part one of BCB’s extensive Linda Ronstadt interview
The album spawned two hits singles in Ronstadt’s cover of Buddy Holly’s “It’s So Easy,” which peaked at #5, and a cover of Roy Orbison’s “Blue Bayou” that reached #3 on the pop chart and #2 on the country chart. In 1978, that platinum-certified single earned Ronstadt Grammy nominations for both Record of the Year and also Best Pop Vocal Performance Female. The album also won the Grammy for Best Recording Package.
Simple Dreams also featured tracks like the singer’s take on Warren Zevon’s “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” and the Rolling Stones’ “Tumbling Dice.” Dolly Parton joined Ronstadt on the traditional ballad “I Never Will Marry,” a Top 10 hit on the country chart.
The Expanded Edition of Simple Dreams also includes bonus live recordings of “It’s So Easy,” “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” and “Blue Bayou.” All three are taken from a concert recording that originally aired on HBO in 1980 and are available here for the first time as standalone audio tracks.
Watch Ronstadt sing “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” from that HBO special
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Simple Dreams: Expanded Edition Track Listing
- “It’s So Easy”
- “Carmelita”
- “Simple Man, Simple Dream”
- “Sorrow Lives Here”
- “I Never Will Marry”
- “Blue Bayou”
- “Poor Poor Pitiful Me”
- “Maybe I’m Right”
- “Tumbling Dice”
- “Old Paint”
- “It’s So Easy” – Live*
- “Blue Bayou” – Live*
- “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” – Live*
*Also included on bonus 7-inch in LP version
Watch Linda Ronstadt sing “It’s So Easy” from Simple Dreams
