Vinyl plays with crackles and some clicks (play-graded). Gate-fold cover looks good, a few creases near edges; moderate scuffing, surface impressions and surface abrasions (front/back/inner-gate). Name written on right top side of inner-gate. Bottom seam has come unglued. Inner-sleeve is generic white. Spine is mostly readable with wear. Noticeable shelf-wear along top/bottom-edge and corners. Opening is crisp with signs of use and divots. Blue label. (Not a cut-out.)
Hasten Down The Wind was Linda Ronstadt's third straight million-selling album. Ronstadt was the first female artist in history to accomplish this feat. The album earned her a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, her second of a record 11 Grammys. It represented a slight departure from 1974's Heart Like a Wheel and 1975's Prisoner in Disguise in that she chose to showcase new songwriters over the traditional country rock sound she had been producing up to that point. A more serious and poignant album than its predecessors, it won critical acclaim from critics and the general public alike. The album showcased songs from artists such as Warren Zevon (Hasten Down the Wind) and Karla Bonoff (Someone to Lay Down Beside Me); both of whom would soon be making a name for themselves in the singer-songwriter world. A reworking of the late Patsy Cline's classic Crazy was a Top 10 Country hit for Ronstadt. The album spent several weeks in the top three of the Billboard album charts. It was also her second of four No. 1 Country albums.