On its face, Simple Dreams seems a crazy quilt of styles, from the friendly country-rock remake of Buddy Holly's "It's So Easy," the brooding covers of Roy Orbison's "Blue Bayou," and Dolly Parton's "I Never Will Marry" to dissolute tales of rock & roll madness like the Rolling Stones' "Tumbling Dice" and Warren Zevon's "Carmelita" and "Poor Poor Pitiful Me." Yet Ronstadt is able to keep it all together, proving her interpretive depth and stylistic breadth all at once. Simple Dreams is perhaps Ronstadt's most adventurous rock-oriented album, and, with the exception of the drum sounds, which indelibly identify this as a product of the '70s, it still works.
The consistently adventurous material and Ronstadt's powerful performance makes the record rival Heart Like a Wheel in sheer overall quality.