Warner Bros / Wea
1996
Love Is The Only Goal: The Best Of Wendy Waldman
About This Album
Wendy Waldman's recorded heyday pretty much followed the arc of the '70s West Coast singer/songwriter trend. She released 16 of the 17 songs (culled from five albums for Warner Brothers) collected here during 1973-1978 and apart from a subsequent few minor projects, ceased being an active recording artist. Listening to this generous and well annotated (by Waldman herself) compilation, it's apparent that her talent should have transcended the rather short period of her semi-popularity. Her voice is soulful and mellifluous without being slick, and she exudes the kind of personality that helped make Bonnie Raitt, Carole King and to a lesser extent Joni Mitchell -- all of whom were fashionable around the same time -- cultural symbols as intelligent, strong yet sensitive women songwriters. Not as daring or edgy as Mitchell or Laura Nyro, but with a similar knack for melody and hooks, Waldman was surely as gifted as Maria Muldaur and Linda Ronstadt, since she was an excellent singer as well as a quality songwriter. But the albums didn't get the promotion they needed and she remains a footnote in most discussions of influential artists of the period. One spin of this collection and most listeners will be scratching their heads as to why.
Track List (try tracks 1,6,10,15 and 18)

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