Tops in Pops

By J.D.

Linda Ronstadt: Hasten Down the Wind (Asylum). For a sweet country rocker, Linda sings a lot of sad songs. Now and then she tips her hat to mainstream rock 'n' roll-- That'll Be the Day and a razzle-dazzle version of Heat Wave--but mostly Ronstadt has built her career singing about losers. Her new LP continues in the same vein. "Save me/ Free me/ From my heart this time," she implores in a voice edged with tears. The gentle reggae tune Rivers of Babylon blows a few of the clouds away, but nowhere does Ronstadt's lusty soprano soar free. Her song selection needs more variety. Yet her bewitching versions of the title song by Warren Zevon (TIME, Aug. 2) and of Willie Nelson's Crazy have penetrating melancholy. It just may be that Ronstadt is a daughter of the blues.

Neil Diamond: Beautiful Noise (Columbia). "Life ain't easy, but it ain't that bad ..." sings Neil Diamond in his Crunchy Granola baritone. "You're alive, you might as well be glad." Three and a half years ago, when he was close to the top of the rock pile, Diamond decided to take a performing sabbatical and enjoy family life. Back on the boards again -- last month he earned $500,000 for three concerts in Las Vegas -- he also has a new LP zooming up the pop-music charts. Diamond long ago found a formula that really works: sentimental lyrics, singalong tunes, jagged rhythms.

This time, with The Band's lead guitar ist, Robbie Robertson, acting as producer and arranger, the setting is different.

Assisted by Garth Hudson's swinging gospel organ and the mellow sax work of Tom Scott, Robertson injects a few woodsy rockabilly harmonies. Diamond polishes the whole thing off with the lush strings and clouds of sound that he loves in If You Know What I Mean -- a showy, big-band production that clearly has the ring of yet more gold.

Natalie (Capitol). From the end of the '40s until well into the '60s, the late Nat "King" Cole held sway with mel low, foggy-voiced renditions of easygoing ballads like Too Young and Red Sails in the Sunset. Last year Daughter Natalie, 26, released her debut album In separable and picked up a pair of Grammys for her trouble. Cole's second LP confirms a talent that makes her a strong contender for Aretha Franklin's title as queen of soul pop. At her best getting down with hand-clapping, shooby-dooby funk, Cole tends toward dance-oriented tunes. Her voice is fresh and breezy, with more than a hint of Sarah Vaughan filigree. Well suited to Vegas show songs like Mr. Melody or the disco soul sparkler Touch Me, she lacks the weight for emotionally stormy ballads like Heaven Is with You. There, her voice sounds as insubstantial as powdered sugar.

Al Jarreau: Glow (Reprise). Jarreau is primarily a jazz singer with a scatman's vast repertory of swoops, glides and vocal glissandi. In concerts he adds his own million-dollar magic trick: he carries a band in his larynx -- or so it seems when Jarreau fills in the melody with vocal imitations of instruments. He can even accompany himself, crooning the words of a sleepy ballad while making rhythmic clicks deep in his throat to provide a percussive counterpoint. Jarreau's vocal antics on this LP are confined to a guitar (Fire and Rain), flute (Glow) and bass (Hold On). But Jarreau is no mere sound effects man. His husky tenor is agile and warmly appealing.

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