I lean towards the former.
― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 21:05 (twenty-one years ago) link
― hstencil, Wednesday, 22 January 2003 21:10 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 21:12 (twenty-one years ago) link
I like her as a person, but I'll say dud because I'm realizing I'd rather not hear again the overwhelming majority of songs I've heard of hers.
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 21:14 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Kris (aqueduct), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 21:42 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 21:54 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 22:51 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Jesse Fox (Jesse Fox), Thursday, 23 January 2003 06:26 (twenty-one years ago) link
Fuckin' right on.
― Nick Mirov (nick), Thursday, 23 January 2003 07:36 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 23 January 2003 15:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 23 January 2003 15:50 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 23 January 2003 15:53 (twenty-one years ago) link
TMFTMLhttp://intonation.blogspot.com
― TMFTML (TMFTML), Thursday, 23 January 2003 16:56 (twenty-one years ago) link
― 57 7th (calstars), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 17:35 (nineteen years ago) link
And I thought that before Pharrell called it "the illest song ever."
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 18:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 19:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― Scott CE (Scott CE), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 19:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― 57 7th (calstars), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 19:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 20:10 (nineteen years ago) link
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 20:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 20:42 (nineteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 21:19 (nineteen years ago) link
― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 21:21 (nineteen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 21:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 21:38 (nineteen years ago) link
― jim wentworth (wench), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 01:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― mentalist (mentalist), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 03:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― Sara Sherr, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 04:21 (nineteen years ago) link
― 57 7th (calstars), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 14:29 (nineteen years ago) link
― Josh Love (screamapillar), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 14:33 (nineteen years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 14:58 (nineteen years ago) link
if you're shallow enough to cut out large swaths of the musical landscape for being "dadrock," then i don't know. probably better just to keep the blinders on.
― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 15:00 (nineteen years ago) link
i wish i could make a video with dennis quaid.
― jack cole (jackcole), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 15:01 (nineteen years ago) link
i mean, yeah, she's white, she went to radcliffe, she sings the bloze, her recent records are slick, she records with El Lay studio dudes, she has boring videos, she's a vh1 staple, all of your friends' parents have her records alongside nanci griffith and those putamayo comps. none of that matters though!
― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 15:05 (nineteen years ago) link
― Josh Love (screamapillar), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 15:06 (nineteen years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 15:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― Josh Love (screamapillar), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 15:08 (nineteen years ago) link
― briania (briania), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 15:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― Stormy Davis (diamond), Sunday, 13 March 2005 10:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― tremendoid (tremendoid), Sunday, 13 March 2005 10:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:39 (eighteen years ago) link
― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 22:53 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 5 May 2005 00:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 5 May 2005 00:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 5 May 2005 01:14 (eighteen years ago) link
(and I reach my point): Nor would I do Bonnie Raitt such a disservice. She has earned the right to be a classic. Bonnie rocks!!!!!
― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 5 May 2005 02:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 5 May 2005 05:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Sunday, 1 January 2006 12:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Sunday, 1 January 2006 15:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― Keith C (lync0), Sunday, 1 January 2006 17:52 (eighteen years ago) link
otm - the song & the performance & the production all work together to make an incredibly sad, cutting, terribly real-feeling song
― Mr Straight Toxic (ghostface), Sunday, 1 January 2006 19:02 (eighteen years ago) link
Thanks so much for this recommendation Josh. Great album.
I guess it's fairly clear I vote "classic".
― shorty (shorty), Saturday, 11 November 2006 12:29 (seventeen years ago) link
CLASSIC. put her on today and nothing could have felt more right
"i can't make you love me" is certainly devestating. her voice, the feel. even her cover of "burnin down the house" sounds good to me.
― Surmounter, Friday, 17 August 2007 04:11 (sixteen years ago) link
So's her cover of "You Got It."
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 17 August 2007 05:50 (sixteen years ago) link
she is awesome! My fave 'discovery' of the last year. Every album up through The Glow is solid. I wish I liked Green Light a little better, since it has my main man Ian MacLagan all over it (!!), but that record is sort of where i get off the bus.
― Stormy Davis, Friday, 17 August 2007 05:56 (sixteen years ago) link
she is one of my mom's all time absolute favorites. if only for the simple fact that she's been a badass chick with a guitar and a killer voice for so long, i must say classic.
― Emily Bjurnhjam, Friday, 17 August 2007 05:58 (sixteen years ago) link
finally got Luck of the Draw. It sounds like the end of an era --the last of the expensive L.A. studio-rock productions -- but also sounds like the very best that the era could produce.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 4 December 2007 03:20 (sixteen years ago) link
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=O2Kf-BZw1eI Been Too Long At The Fair on The Old Grey Whistle Test 1976. A gorgeous performance.
― ecuador_with_a_c, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 21:01 (sixteen years ago) link
thats so hot
― Surmounter, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 21:06 (sixteen years ago) link
her first s/t album is pretty sick, huh?
― Jordan, Monday, 7 April 2008 14:49 (fifteen years ago) link
it kind of makes me sad that anyone could call bonnie's music a dud. even if it's not always the most original, the dedication and simplicity that she brings to her work is comforting, beautiful and timeless.
― Surmounter, Friday, 27 February 2009 14:07 (fifteen years ago) link
the last of the expensive L.A. studio-rock productions
i really like this description, alfred
― Surmounter, Friday, 27 February 2009 14:08 (fifteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ7ERxMwBW8
― Stormy Davis, Saturday, 24 April 2010 07:04 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDUHq26FmrA
― Stormy Davis, Saturday, 24 April 2010 07:06 (thirteen years ago) link
(whole show available on YouTube, onv. so good)
― Stormy Davis, Saturday, 24 April 2010 07:10 (thirteen years ago) link
never heard her 'angel from montgomery" before. kinda hits it good.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhe3vb0z7mY
― underwater, please (bear, bear, bear), Saturday, 24 April 2010 07:21 (thirteen years ago) link
oh yeah, it does. I like it better than Prine's, actually
― Stormy Davis, Saturday, 24 April 2010 07:26 (thirteen years ago) link
I mean, it kinda needs a female voice! i think even JP probably feels great that she embraced the song
― Stormy Davis, Saturday, 24 April 2010 07:27 (thirteen years ago) link
the other youtube one is even better ... is it 'Old Grey Whistle Test'?
― Stormy Davis, Saturday, 24 April 2010 07:28 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, it was on the 'Old Grey Whistle Test', but it looks like the You Tube bastards deleted it. the version on there rules so hard, if I had the DVD, i'd just go ahead and re-up right now. oh well, here is Bonnie from the same segment doing Joni
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2Kf-BZw1eI
― Stormy Davis, Saturday, 24 April 2010 07:33 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, between that and hearing megan mullaly's 'far from me' it's been a good week of finding great fem-fronted Prine versions
― underwater, please (bear, bear, bear), Saturday, 24 April 2010 07:36 (thirteen years ago) link
actually ... I'm totally off base .. "Too Long at the Fair" ain't a Joni song at all, it's by some guy i never heard of .. not sure why I thought it was JM (kinda sounds like her!)
― Stormy Davis, Saturday, 24 April 2010 07:40 (thirteen years ago) link
Luck of the Draw is almost a great album; it might have been if she hadn't encased L.A. blooze approximations in amber. The more songs she writes herself, the better the results. "All At Once" brings tears to my eyes.
oh -- Nick of Time's title song really nails middle-age.
― Throwing Muses are reuniting for my next orgasm! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 24 April 2010 17:54 (thirteen years ago) link
"nick of time" is an all-time jam in my opinion & "have a heart" is underrated - that "hey! don't lie to me" opening is great and her "or don't you have a heart?" delivery in the chorus is A+
― brad whitford's guitar explorations (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Saturday, 24 April 2010 18:07 (thirteen years ago) link
My problem with "Have a Heart" is the stranded synthesizer.
― Throwing Muses are reuniting for my next orgasm! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 24 April 2010 20:16 (thirteen years ago) link
Homeplate was one of my top ten in the 70s alternative poll thingy earlier this year. She's one of my favorite singers.
― that's not my post, Sunday, 25 April 2010 04:48 (thirteen years ago) link
She's doing right by me this evening. Not gonna lie.
― Sauvignon Blanc Mange (B.L.A.M.), Sunday, 23 January 2011 01:00 (thirteen years ago) link
THIS IS WEIRD. I was going to revive this because I heard "Not the Only One" this morning and remembered, again, what a good example of geezer-rock Luck of the Draw is.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 23 January 2011 01:07 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4eEG597kME
damn she rules
― by another name (amateurist), Saturday, 18 June 2011 01:36 (twelve years ago) link
suck it, hipsters!
One more vote for Give It Up, one of my personal 10 best from the '70s. Rootsy, bluesy, folky, emotive, and chock full of great songs (some her own, and some covers, including the definitive version of "Love Has No Pride", the album closer).
Later-period hits were good too. I still like it whenever "Something to Talk About" comes on the radio.
― Lee626, Saturday, 18 June 2011 04:31 (twelve years ago) link
"Not the Only One" is a beautiful song.
― Clarke B., Saturday, 18 June 2011 15:33 (twelve years ago) link
^yes
― bentelec, Saturday, 18 June 2011 15:34 (twelve years ago) link
thirded
― by another name (amateurist), Sunday, 19 June 2011 00:43 (twelve years ago) link
I love Luck of the Draw - an almost perfect studio-rock album.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 19 June 2011 01:01 (twelve years ago) link
The mighty fine Jonathan Bogart killing it with this overview here:
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/04/bonnie-raitts-amazing-omnivorous-adult-contemporary-career/255684/
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 10 April 2012 19:59 (eleven years ago) link
yeah good read
― some dude, Tuesday, 10 April 2012 20:00 (eleven years ago) link
Indeed, He's OTM about Froom and "Spit of Love." Raitt's one of those artists whose two albums I own I love passionately but always forget to investigate further.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 10 April 2012 20:08 (eleven years ago) link
really great job from Jonathan.
― EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 10 April 2012 20:08 (eleven years ago) link
A chunk of her catalog bores me tbh. Not her singing and playing, which are often forceful and declarative in the way Jonathan argues, but the choice of material. But when she's coaxed by the right song she's like a cool aunt. She was by far the highlight at this year's Grammys.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 10 April 2012 20:25 (eleven years ago) link
That's a good list above, but no "Pride" no credibility.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbqXMQCq59U
― Hey Jude, don't make it BAD MENTAL HEALTH (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 10 April 2012 21:34 (eleven years ago) link
cool article!
this is quite sly i must say: "Modern adult-contemporary musicians like Faith Hill or Neko Case..."
― goole, Tuesday, 10 April 2012 21:45 (eleven years ago) link
Always forget it's Bruce Hornsby playing the majestic organ line in "I Can't Make You Love Me." It even reduces Phil Collins to tears:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve6-BCoT7C0&feature=related
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 10 April 2012 23:54 (eleven years ago) link
So far digging the new album. Here's what I posted on Rolling Country (because we'd been talking about Joe Henry and because I'd just listened to Slipstream twice straight through)True that xpost Joe Henry can stuff some boredom into tracks, but he does great w with the ones he produces and writes and co-writes on Bonnia Raitt's new Slipstream. The co-write's with Loudon Wainwright, melds with the real good Dylan-written track before it, which he also produced, so Raitt's playing with Bill Frisell and Greg Leiz, no ambient 'llowed, not in the usual elevator sense anyway, just some eloquent picking. She and ex NRBQ/long-time Nashville cat Al Anderson play great elsewhere (she produced most of the set, sounds like she and Al may have co-written some too)They even squeeze and slap some juice out of "On Down The Line," basically a boring-ass yacht rock barnacle. The only other song choice I'd quarrel with so far is one about a Hollywood marriage as run through the evil media blah blah, but some musical diversion there too. So far seems like if you jumped from her 70s peaks to this, you'd be on the same level, or close enough to keep your balance--streaming here for nownhttp://www.bonnieraitt.com/slipstream
― dow, Wednesday, April 11, 2012 12:32 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Player's in the right rail, despite blank in the middle of page.
― dow, Wednesday, April 11, 2012 12:35 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― dow, Wednesday, 11 April 2012 15:37 (eleven years ago) link
Oops, sorry here's the activated link, and w much better sound than the NPR stream, at least on my machine (with ILX headphones star Koss Proplus, available at v non-audiophile prices, be good to your ears and music, brothers and sisters)http://www.bonnieraitt.com/slipstream
― dow, Wednesday, 11 April 2012 15:42 (eleven years ago) link
ILX headphones threads star/frequent choice, that is.
― dow, Wednesday, 11 April 2012 15:43 (eleven years ago) link
*ahem*
"Stripped down both lyrically and structurally, but revved up in energy and dynamics, the Dave Edmunds cover "Me and the Boys" formed the centerpiece of what would be called her "new wave" album, Green Light."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYOFJZPSbnc
― scott seward, Wednesday, 11 April 2012 16:09 (eleven years ago) link
Cool. Yeah, Green Light's real good, one of her most rocking. For some reason, I stopped keeping up after that, but everything from her first decade of recording is worth checking out.
― dow, Wednesday, 11 April 2012 17:28 (eleven years ago) link
Wouldn't call it "new wave" though, unless "Tumblin' Dice"-type Stones, NRBQ, Rockpile were new wave--even so, no synths, no skinny ties materialize when I listen (more like bike rides along and down Thrill Hill, past the woods and toward the reservoir)
― dow, Wednesday, 11 April 2012 17:32 (eleven years ago) link
Ha, I think Scott was noting the error in calling it a Dave Edmunds cover when it was in fact NRBQ...
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 11 April 2012 17:39 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, but her stripped-down version does have kind of a Rockpile thing too, ditto some other stuff on the album, so the tour guide at least made an appropriate mistake.
― dow, Wednesday, 11 April 2012 17:49 (eleven years ago) link
Very happy for her that she's scored her biggest hit in years: Starbucks rock that's cool.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 26 April 2012 00:28 (eleven years ago) link
what hit?
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Thursday, 26 April 2012 01:10 (eleven years ago) link
goddamn I love the way the chorus hits on this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krF6LpUXODc
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 9 May 2013 05:43 (ten years ago) link
New album is damn good. I've waited my whole life for a Bonnie Raitt cover of INXS' "Need You Tonight."
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 28 February 2016 20:30 (eight years ago) link
Also like the fast Los Lobos cover, more LL please ma'am (wonder what she thinks of the Blasters, also Dave and Phil, solo and together). The prowley blues-rock grooves remind me of Little Feat backing her on "I Feel The Same," and she turned up on some or at least one of their albums, right? There were rumors that she was asked to join the band, before and/or after Lowell George died. I'd request covers of him as well, but might be too many memories involved. Meanwhile, I'm also digging the elements I associate with Philly soul, and the no-b.s. piano ballads, the self-written and the Joe Henry song she credits with luring her back; she'd lived that one too.Good interview w David Ritz here:http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/magazine-feature/6882567/bonnie-raitt-new-album-bernie-sanders-adele
And check YouTube for her Grammys performance of "The Thrill Is Gone" with Gary Clark Jr. and Chris Stapleton.
― dow, Monday, 29 February 2016 01:12 (eight years ago) link
My playlist.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 23 June 2017 02:56 (six years ago) link
listening to the Streetlights album, feel like it's categorized as singer/songwriter/rock, but really it's a great soul album
― niels, Friday, 7 July 2017 16:28 (six years ago) link
I love the progress of this thread. Starts out all "eh" and "meh" and develops into almost unanimous "PRAISE BONNIE" by the end.
For the record, PRAISE BONNIE.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Sunday, 10 December 2017 00:51 (six years ago) link
Nick of Time is one of the best songs ever by anyone
― voodoo chili, Sunday, 10 December 2017 01:06 (six years ago) link
The first post here is so gross. "Nick of Time" is a great song, though, isn't it?
― the F word, the N word, raunchy sex, your name it (thewufs), Monday, 14 January 2019 07:16 (five years ago) link
"Not the Only One" is a beautiful song.― Clarke B., Saturday, June 18, 2011 10:33 AM (seven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Clarke B., Saturday, June 18, 2011 10:33 AM (seven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Just heard this for the first time in awhile, and it's possibly the best fake Christine McVie EVAH--and with Richard Thompson on guitar!
― a large tuna called “Justice” (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 29 January 2019 23:37 (five years ago) link
Adore this lady
― surm, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 06:26 (five years ago) link
mandatory listening
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4tJiyU_gjYCan't Find My Way Home - Bonnie Raitt & Lowell George & John Hammond Jr & Freebo
― budo jeru, Sunday, 2 February 2020 05:06 (four years ago) link
PRAISE BONNIE
― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 2 February 2020 05:46 (four years ago) link
Just stumbled upon this - I remember when her videos were a regular staple on VH1, but I didn't know she had one on to MTV when she was much younger and far less popular. What you'd expect from an early '80s video, it even has a random twist at the end. And I believe that's Ian McLagan of Small Faces/Faces on piano.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHQLg0APKlQ
From Green Light - a pretty good album, the highlight is "River of Tears," her duet with Richard Manuel. (This past Thursday was actually the anniversary of his death.)
― birdistheword, Saturday, 6 March 2021 06:11 (three years ago) link
Happy birthday, good lady.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 8 November 2021 02:53 (two years ago) link
This video, seriously
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoA_f7H-g1Y
― actually, it's "in which we're livin'." (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 8 November 2021 03:07 (two years ago) link
Yas yall!David Wild asked for our fave BRalbums on Twitter tonight:Mine is GIVE IT UP since the Summer ov '72.The track that comes into my head most often, and demanded to be in my lifetime Top 50 on rockcritics.comis "I Feel The Same"--another one w Lowell George; she was said to be currently harsh on her own playing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYfJkSY3_Po
Frequently in my head, it very eventually turns into "The Thrill is Gone":https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plk7PdnoHqQ
― dow, Monday, 8 November 2021 04:15 (two years ago) link
"I Feel The Same" is of course from her '73 Takin' My Time, also excellent, despite one Eric Justin Kaz trudge (yes, he co-wrote all-time "Love Has No Pride," killer finale ofGIU, and shoulda worked even more w Libby Titus--what's up with her, anyway? Married to Levon, right? Some other good songs here and there, never saw a whole LT record, incl. single).
― dow, Monday, 8 November 2021 04:27 (two years ago) link
Sweet and Shiny Eyes FTW
― that's not my post, Monday, 8 November 2021 05:28 (two years ago) link
^^This. I just spent a little bit on Spotify trying to find that wonderful boozy sing-along final track on an album of hers which I'd forgotten the important stuff about, and yup, that was it.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 8 November 2021 06:04 (two years ago) link
Yeah Give It Up is my favorite too. Those first three LP's in general are still my favorites.
Good call on "Sweet and Shiny Eyes" too, one of my favorites off of that one.
A lot of her interviews from the mid-'90s to the '00s mention a box set she was hoping to put together - like the classic three or four-disc career retrospective with choice rarities, etc. Given where the market's at now, I guess that's never gonna happen.
― birdistheword, Monday, 8 November 2021 17:41 (two years ago) link
Maybe on vinyl? Meanwhile, we'll just have to grow our own. Mine might start with "I Know," end with "I Knew." She certainly had me for the first 11 years, right through '82's Green Light, wnich as xgau observed, was her most rocking and worst selling of that era, maybe ever. Why? Just a more consistently emphatic beat than before, even a Stonesy riff for Eric Freakin Justin Kaz's "River of Tears"! It all worked in sufficiently Raittesque terms, I htought. Wiki quotes her plausible thinking on this:
What I wanted this time out was a combination of the music I've been listening to recently," Raitt said in 1982, "Billy Burnette, the Blasters, Rockpile, and the rock-a-billy New Wave scene. I knew I had to get away from the slick sound I had with the Peter Asher record...I was a little stung by the lack of response to The Glow. And I was disappointed by not being able to make a record that sounded the way I wanted it to sound. Moving to Shangri-la, I wanted to get back to the roots and to the funkiness I had on earlier records, even though I'm not crazy about how they sound. They sound like I was having a lot more fun than I really was. Green Light is the first album I actually had fun doing."Was covering NRBQ a bridge too far?"Well, a lot of my friends thought I had moved to the beach and turned into Gidget. But it's not like I suddenly became an airhead. I needed to lighten up a bit, that's all. I was laughing all the time, having a lot of fun, hanging out at this funky old studio that had hippie blankets hanging from the ceiling. Now I'm getting some feedback from people who feel the same way that I do about rock and roll. Then there are other, more conservative friends whom I've known for years who still wish I was sitting in a chair playing acoustic guitar."So she tried some other things---duet w Bryan Adams, covered "Burning Down The House," Irishy sounds---I wasn't following by then, but did love "In The Nick of Time" and some Grammy-Platinum Years album tracks I heard at friends' houses. Heard Fundamental at the mall: trended monotonous, but I only heard it that once---yadda yadda Slipstream brought me back, seemed strong as and songfully compatible to the first 11 years. Need to listen more to Dig In Deep and earlier ones I missed almost entirely.
― dow, Monday, 8 November 2021 18:29 (two years ago) link
I saw her do a few online performances in the first week of lockdown--a fundraiser for Austin musicians, a tribute to John Prine. Nice house!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgcfw3BTBIc
― ... (Eazy), Monday, 8 November 2021 18:36 (two years ago) link
Oh yeah!Somebody mentioned Ian McLagen upthread: he was in her Bump Band, and def. on The Green Light, though she's also shading the rowdiness with guests incl. Jackson Browne, Richard Manuel---Vince Gill, even (never heard a solo track of his I liked, but he's good w the harmonies, also in Emmylou Harris's line-ups of that era. Have not heard him with the Eagles).
― dow, Monday, 8 November 2021 18:41 (two years ago) link
xxp I like Green Light, and it's a shame that for a while it was her career-killer, or rather the lack of commercial success was.
The Grammy-era Raitt was the first one I knew. I just remember "Something to Talk About" et al being all over adult contemporary anything, romantic comedy movie trailers, etc. I actually thought it was pleasant stuff, but I wasn't really diving into music past top 40 radio. It was a nice surprise to find out she had almost 20 years of stuff that no one played.
I remember Fundamental when it came out. IIRC she was on Oprah promoting it and gave a guitar away to a girl in the audience (maybe middle school age or jr. high?). She played something that I mistook for a Babyface song and I thought the rest would be the same. Then years later, on xgau's old recommendation, I checked it out again. I don't rate it as highly as he does, but there's surprisingly some good stuff on there, a few of which wouldn't sound out of place on a Los Lobos or Latin Playboys album, specifically the J.B. Lenoir tune (which is basically Raitt with Los Lobos) and "Cure for Love." I like "Spit of Love" too.
― birdistheword, Monday, 8 November 2021 18:42 (two years ago) link
Luck of the Draw is my favorite Raitt.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 8 November 2021 18:55 (two years ago) link
expert mom-rock
Yeah, it's really good. If you think of mom-rock not as a derogatory term but the pop music equivalent of, say, what used to be called (somewhat derogatorily) "women's films," you can't do much better. Getting older, family (parents passing away, raising children or grandchildren), they're universal topics, and she does them right and honestly.
I saw her in 2017 and after "Nick of Time" she said "I wrote that when I was afraid of turning 40....HUH." LMAO
― birdistheword, Monday, 8 November 2021 19:13 (two years ago) link
“Love Letter” and “Thing Called Love” and “Something to Talk About” all kind of set her up as the female counterpart to John Hiatt. (I assumed until checking now that he wrote all of these!) I’d like to dig deeper into what she does beyond this era.
― ... (Eazy), Monday, 8 November 2021 19:34 (two years ago) link
Warner Bros. should be your next stop then. That will cover her entire career before her unlikely "comeback" at Capitol. First three albums are probably her best. After that the albums get much more uneven, but nearly all of them have some good stuff on them.
In terms of the worst, that's easily the last WB album Nine Lives, completed under desultory conditions. (I like the Toots Hibbert cover though - it was a single.) The Glow isn't good either, but it does have a great Stax/Volt cover, "Your Good Thing (Is About To End)."
― birdistheword, Monday, 8 November 2021 22:53 (two years ago) link
"Something to Talk About" was such a unexpected phenomenon. A year and a half after her Grammys comeback, she earns a top fiver played alongside Karyn White and Jesus Jones and Marky Mark. Fully earned too -- she sings and plays the shit out of it.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 8 November 2021 22:55 (two years ago) link
That's for sure. I didn't realize how miraculous Bonnie Raitt's popularity was until years later.
FWIW Billboard did an oral history on Nick of Time for its anniversary: https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/8503466/bonnie-raitt-nick-of-time-oral-history-30th-anniversary/
It's a good read for fans and really emphasizes how much she bottomed out and how low the expectations were, even by the people who signed her Capitol (and they liked her). NOBODY in their right mind would've bet on a hit.
I kind of wish she pulled off an album with Prince, but given his luck with everyone else on his label, it probably worked out for the best.
― birdistheword, Monday, 8 November 2021 23:09 (two years ago) link
XP ...and then a few years later it gave a name to a now largely-forgotten Julia Roberts/Dennis Quaid romcom!
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 9 November 2021 00:43 (two years ago) link
It's even in the trailer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxbLkx8A1WI
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 9 November 2021 00:51 (two years ago) link
nice to see all the love for Give It Up and Green Light, HBD rock legend
― Communist Hockey Goblin (sleeve), Tuesday, 9 November 2021 01:07 (two years ago) link
one of the all-time voices
― surm, Tuesday, 9 November 2021 01:16 (two years ago) link
And Home Plate is yet another 70s peak. The follow-up, Sweet Forgiveness is not quite as good, but she set the bar high, and, as xgau said of this un, Anyone who can induce me to dance to Eric Kaz has got to be doing some kind of job.
― dow, Tuesday, 9 November 2021 01:22 (two years ago) link
said of Sweet Forgiveness, that is.
― dow, Tuesday, 9 November 2021 01:23 (two years ago) link
Way too many pesky ads on this JamBase item, but here's gist:Bonnie Raitt & Mavis Staples Announce Summer Tour 2022The iconic musicians will team up for concerts in July, August and September.
By Scott Bernstein Feb 16, 2022 • 8:16 am PST
― dow, Thursday, 17 February 2022 03:18 (two years ago) link
Only in the midwest and west. The east and southeast get Lucinda Williams, which is...fine, but it ain't Mavis.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Thursday, 17 February 2022 05:15 (two years ago) link
Also several with NRBQ, and at least one w Chris Smither, but mostly Mavis or Lucinda:https://tour.bonnieraitt.com/
― dow, Friday, 18 February 2022 01:45 (two years ago) link
Paywalled, but at the library just now, I read WSJ full-page rave for Just Like That, out Friday: Mark Richardson is not the most exciting writer, but we happen to agree on some stuff (like preferring Rust Bucket to Barn), and he's very conscientious, while going almost cut for cut through this one, which is apparently a colorful cohesion of originals and covers whose titles I don't recognize, nothing too obvious. Only thing that worries me: says the sound is "lean," foregrounding her vocals---damn, I always want the sparky details of her arrangements too---oh well, it's self-produced, no Boomer Wizards behind the throne, so maybe.
― dow, Wednesday, 20 April 2022 00:33 (one year ago) link
It's good. I'll have more to say at the end of the week.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 20 April 2022 00:35 (one year ago) link
Cool, thanks! Was gonna add(And her vocals are always prominent enough, seems like, so crucial need to go lean cuisine.)
― dow, Wednesday, 20 April 2022 00:37 (one year ago) link
The two tracks she's released so far (both originals?) sounded like traditional "old school" productions - blues-rock and R&B that sticks to the basics without too much polishing or tampering. For all I know, they could've been rehearsed then recorded them in one take. I know there's a Toots cover in there too, and I liked her version of "True Love Is Hard To Find."
Looking forward to her tour - last time I saw her was in 2017 at Lincoln Center's annual outdoor summer shows, and in retrospect it was kind of re-assuring to have her up there telling everyone "Don't worry, we can get through this!"
In contrast, the previous year had Patti Smith right after the RNC and she excoriated the GOP for their shameful rhetoric - she threw it back at them when she grabbed her electric guitar and yelled "EXECUTE THIS MOTHERFUCKER!" (since the RNC had chanted "execute Hillary") and unleashed a torrent of brutal feedback.
For whatever reason, I always thought of Raitt and Smith as the grandmothers everyone should have. Like if there's ever a Disney coming-of-age story in need of some stunt casting, I'd have both of them play the grandmothers the main character visits for life guidance.
― birdistheword, Wednesday, 20 April 2022 01:21 (one year ago) link
"Made Up Mind" is an NRBQ cover irrc
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 20 April 2022 09:46 (one year ago) link
Never knew this, but for "Cream" Prince apparently mixed in samples of Bonnie Raitt playing slide guitar. Raitt mentioned this while talking about her aborted collaboration with Prince and how he asked her to teach him how to play slide guitar.
― birdistheword, Friday, 22 April 2022 23:55 (one year ago) link
Wow, never heard of that! Well, come to think of it, he did work with Mavis Staples: she was a Paisley Park artist, even. Wonder what the problem was with Raitt? Maybe he was too weird for her, compared to Froom, Was, and so on.
― dow, Saturday, 23 April 2022 02:13 (one year ago) link
In the recent Questlove and Maron interviews, she said she was pretty hype to work with Prince but, at the same time, wasn't keen about her album sounding overtly Princey, so once they agreed to work together he ditched her for a European tour (the Sign O The Times tour) after she had canceled her own tour. She still sounds a little salty about it.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Saturday, 23 April 2022 02:29 (one year ago) link
As well she might!
― dow, Saturday, 23 April 2022 03:08 (one year ago) link
The beginning of the pre-chorus of "The Longing in Their Heart" where all of the lead instruments drop out except that rad mandolin part and vocals, that's on my list of all-time favorite musical moments.
Never knew this, but for "Cream" Prince apparently mixed in samples of Bonnie Raitt playing slide guitar. Raitt mentioned this while talking about her aborted collaboration with Prince and how he asked her to teach him how to play slide guitar.― birdistheword, Friday, April 22, 2022 6:55 PM (yesterday)
― birdistheword, Friday, April 22, 2022 6:55 PM (yesterday)
I wondered why "Cream" sounded like it could be a parallel-universe re-interpretation of "Something to Talk About"; all while the backup vocals on "STTA" sound heavily influenced by the chorus harmonies in "Take Me With U" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover". And then the chord progressions on the choruses of "Cream" and "STTA" conclude similarly. Yet both songs were released within a similar timeframe - as if Bonnie and The Purple One were telepathically communicating via the ouroboros of shared influence.
― Front-loaded albums are musical gerrymandering (Prefecture), Saturday, 23 April 2022 16:01 (one year ago) link
Until today, I had no idea this was the European cover for Nick of Time.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 26 April 2022 17:24 (one year ago) link
let's give'em something to talk about!
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 26 April 2022 17:34 (one year ago) link
Acid wash covers - they're gonna come back, just like the jeans!
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 26 April 2022 17:58 (one year ago) link
That reminds me of the European cover of White Light/White Heat:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Light/White_Heat#/media/File:VUToySoldiers.jpg
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 26 April 2022 21:15 (one year ago) link
Just saw her show at the Beacon. Her singing hasn’t diminished at all - if anything it’s as great as ever, and while the whole show was good (the new material went over well) there were three highlights that towered over the rest: “Nick of Time” (her phrasing was amazing), “Have a Heart” where her phrasing was at times remarkably sexy as if rewriting the song to suggest what the recipient was going to miss (I know she’s much older but that voice can’t be denied), and “Angel from Montgomery” which was incredibly powerful. She has apparently sung it at literally every concert she’s done, and the last time in NYC was with Prine at his Songwriters HoF induction. It’s really astonishing she can sing it so frequently and knock it out of the park every time like it’s never lost any meaning for her, and this time there was even more weight to it, possibly due to Prine being gone.
Lucinda Williams opened. Still on the road to recovery - just singing, no guitar from her yet - but she sung really well, close to if not right on 100%, and her band was fantastic.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 23 June 2022 05:59 (one year ago) link
When Bonnie Raitt & Her Band Had No Chill On SNL
pic.twitter.com/j4Obatqcx9— SNL Hosts Introducing the Musical Guest (@snlhostsintro) August 18, 2022
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 21 August 2022 23:19 (one year ago) link
just a btw in very with-it NPR newsletter:
(Meanwhile, the Grammy for song of the year — which honors songwriters specifically — was more or less a total surprise: It went to Bonnie Raitt for her song "Just Like That.")
― dow, Monday, 6 February 2023 20:55 (one year ago) link
Xgau was a fan - gave it an A- and put it at #39 on the "Dean's List."
― birdistheword, Monday, 6 February 2023 21:29 (one year ago) link
I reviewed it, made my top 40.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 6 February 2023 21:38 (one year ago) link
Legendary, nigh-universally beloved songwriter in still legendary and beloved shockah.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 February 2023 22:07 (one year ago) link
Her first Grammy (or other award?) for songwriting though---right-?
― dow, Monday, 6 February 2023 22:12 (one year ago) link
She's def. quality over quantity in that dept.
― dow, Monday, 6 February 2023 22:13 (one year ago) link
Yep - I think her first nomination for songwriting. (I was surprised she didn't get one for "Nick of Time" given how well the album did.)
― birdistheword, Monday, 6 February 2023 22:41 (one year ago) link
the album's best written jam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnI54ZpTxww
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 6 February 2023 22:53 (one year ago) link
Hold the phone! Her *other* Grammy wins last night: there were three in all:
American singer Bonnie Raitt took home three Grammy Awards this weekend, including one for a cover she did of a Manitoba band’s song.On Sunday, Raitt won the Grammy for Best Americana Performance for “Made Up Mind,” a cover of The Bros. Landreth’s song from their 2012 album called “Let It Lie." ...Raitt also won the 2023 Grammys for Song of the Year and Best American Roots Song for “Just Like That.”
On Sunday, Raitt won the Grammy for Best Americana Performance for “Made Up Mind,” a cover of The Bros. Landreth’s song from their 2012 album called “Let It Lie." ...Raitt also won the 2023 Grammys for Song of the Year and Best American Roots Song for “Just Like That.”
― dow, Tuesday, 7 February 2023 03:23 (one year ago) link
it's cool that this unknown blues singer has her own thread
― budo jeru, Tuesday, 7 February 2023 06:17 (one year ago) link
I did not know what Wiki sez:
As of 2023, Raitt has received thirteen competitive Grammy Awards, as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.[2]
― dow, Wednesday, 8 February 2023 03:20 (one year ago) link
ehhh, think that's actually 14 competitive---read your own lists, Wiki-- oh-ok, one of those is MusiCares Person of the Year, which
is an award presented annually by MusiCares, the charity arm of The Recording Academy, the same organization that distributes the Grammy Awards, to commend musicians for their artistic achievement in the music industry and dedication to philanthropy.[1][2]
― dow, Wednesday, 8 February 2023 03:32 (one year ago) link
I recently heard 'Thank You' from the first album in a cafe and I love it!
I incorrectly thought she was something to do with motorbikes
― saer, Wednesday, 8 February 2023 07:30 (one year ago) link
great song
― corrs unplugged, Wednesday, 8 February 2023 09:42 (one year ago) link
Before this ol' house computer stalls up again, I better state my theme as quickly as possible, maybe come back to it later:The theme seems to be replenishment, seeking and by cracky finding, in some forms of what may well be or emphatically is temporary relief, but via the schooling impact of age, of impressions that she gets, ouch-y, as Alfred's review references at the kick-off.The more inspirational sense of replenishment---the harder kind to find, because so easily confused with greeting card verse etc.---is exemplified by the title track, given a speculative ellipsis when adapted as album title: you can read between the dots if you like, rather than hold a candy cane exclamation mark or auto-inferred period: this last associated (via repeated listenings) to the closure-as-relief-as-replenishment of "Made Up Mind," her other Grammy winner--ah, the peace and quiet, anyway quiet, that will surely come after the sound of a slamming door, as the moonlight shines like gravy on the done deal.And it ain't necessarily that nobody's home---this may be the same house, with little bits of scrappy keepsakes, landmarks to take us through the rooms and down the hall, to where we say good night, in that familiar way---"eeriely restful," as Pauline Kael once remarked in passing of The Twilight Zone, back in the first years when it was on---ahhh, sleep, don't knock it.But there's a fallacy being courted, even slo-mo stripp-mined there in the made-up bed-mind, as pointed out in passing by the truth-vampire's enclosed system of perpetual motion replenishment, "Waitin' For Her To Blow": yeahhh, stress-test her road, build her up, break her down, get her to do it to herself, and start all over again. At first I thought of this as a music-biz thing, narrated by her Svengali drill sarge, but I can't say I've ever known of her being associated with anyone like this; she's always seemed self-driven, in good and bad ways (ex-hub and others have remarked on her temper of younger years), and here whatever devil's in her head expresses itself mostly impishly, in co-writing with her male guitarist, and as sung and played, with combo at its best here.(Should also mention that the Original Steely-worthy arrangements and executions of this alb overall are crucially recalibrated, esp.the speculative spotlights-streetlights of keys. which could be too beguiling, by otm acoustic solo acoustic features, just enough of them, and more often by the well-timed, astringent, expertly probing finger ov slide.)The brute force of "Waitin'" (one of those songs that I finally realize was always waiting to be written about, while experienced by so many people) is tapped in the one about rousing oneself (may be, at least in some instances, part of the breakdown-buildup in "Waitin'") to be "livin' for the ones that didn't make it," to the extent of looking at what their grandchildren are doing, and "Let it break you": which here sounds like Yeaaahhhhh Let It Rock(This is the only one that sounds a little stiff too me, although it's great stuff, and certainly a time-honored Stones ritual that maybe only Boomers can get through credibly, or would bother attempting, which is also in part about stiffs, is appropriately or or understandably a mite stiff; I can live with that.Alfred hears the Toots cover as lacking in skank, but to me the bluesly, muscular pushback, the striving of the sound goes with that of the words, of the obsessive, country-as-blues vision of oroving oneself as love-worthy, proving it past the ostensible love-object, to oneself---and these things can still feel so good when you get back into them again, like the one that's just about all the signs of slipping back toward that funny little thing called love (Though of course there's also slipping back into that closure thing, the blame game, with more moonlight even, and her solution is to turn it around, or resolve too, while sounding like she knows this won't be more than another move(so: more country appeal!)I haven't kept up with her albums very well since the 70s, but this set deepens and ages her vintage approach, keeping it potent, hitting harder than ever in some ways, with her classic method of blending x juxtaposing songs from different angles and writers.
― dow, Monday, 15 May 2023 18:23 (ten months ago) link
Slipstream also gave me the vintage BR buzz, though I didn't listen as much as I have to this, should also give the initially "disappointing" Dig In Deep more spins.
― dow, Monday, 15 May 2023 18:43 (ten months ago) link
I should have mentioned that her flair on this alb with themes of age, time, mortality---so often such an Ageing Rocker Looks At Life ponderosity, to varying degrees, musically and in doorstop memoirs---first showed in the way she took up "Angel From Montgomery" when Prine released it, I think: a rare theme back when the Average American was approx 23.6 years old; there was that one, and "Hello In There," and uh, "Tears of Rage"? "She's Leaving Home"? Not really the same thing, but about as close as empathy got back then. And, as bird says upthread, she's knocked it out of the park ever since, or often enough: Forever Old! But you can't make a whole album this good about age time etc. without living it, as Alfred indicated at the beginning of his Pitchfork review, and that's not enough, of course: she's got the songs, maybe most of which were written by much younger people--but who feels it knows it, at least some of the time, and she knew when.Give It Up was also a time-peak, looking back at what she'd learned and aimed for in the 60s, was looking toward in the 70s and beyond, in a moment of sustained balance---wise as a young woman's album and statement could be, limited by that, in a fine way, and antipodal to this album---if you gotta live that long, this is the way to do it.
And now here's a live set Alright at Midnight, from 1976: seems like a good soundboard(?)bootleg, with no info nowhere (except that it's on the Pipe Dream label), and for openers we join "Sweet Home Kokomo" already in progress, but good slide appetizer, and all other tracks seem complete. She follows a totally earned ("Righteous," we said back then)"Love Me Like A Man" with a totally earned as in guilty af "Run Like A Thief," also we get a very tense "My First Night With You," the xpost "Thank You," Bicentennial funk interjections, flashlights of electric piano (didn't catch the name but she says "Hes been playing with Van Morrison), Freebo's bass and tuba, conga ration, a couple of simplified arrangements ("Give It Up Or Let Me Go, "Under The Falling Sky") which totally work---plenty but not too much guitar from Raitt and Will McFarlane, also one of my fave vocals here (even before she hits those high notes) is on A. Toussaint's' "What Do You Want The Boy To Do"---it's 1976, these are the songs she's got!Boot prob yes, so get it while you can:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UkHXOt2cdw
Anyway
― dow, Thursday, 16 November 2023 02:48 (four months ago) link
In case it's gone by the time you see this, release date is 2022, and here's setlist:
Sweet Home Kokomo (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt1:40Love Me Like A Man (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt5:03Run Like A Thief (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt3:26Thank You (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt3:44Give It Up Or Let Me Go (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt5:47Band Introductions (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt1:38Sugar Mama (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt4:24Good Enough (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt3:06Walk Out The Front Door (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt4:45My First Night Alone With You (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt3:22What Do You Want The Boy To Do? (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt3:47Under The Falling Sky (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt5:34
Love Me Like A Man (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt5:03
Run Like A Thief (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt3:26
Thank You (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt3:44
Give It Up Or Let Me Go (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt5:47
Band Introductions (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt1:38
Sugar Mama (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt4:24
Good Enough (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt3:06
Walk Out The Front Door (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt4:45
My First Night Alone With You (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt3:22
What Do You Want The Boy To Do? (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt3:47
Under The Falling Sky (Live 1976)Bonnie Raitt5:34
― dow, Thursday, 16 November 2023 02:58 (four months ago) link
Bonnie RaittGreat American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA1976-05-24 (see notes)
01 //Sweet Home Kokomo02 Love Me Like A Man03 Run Like A Thief04 Thank You05 Give It Up Or Let Me Go*06 Sugar Mama07 Good Enough08 Walk Out The Front Door09 My First Night Alone Without You10 What Do You Want The Boy To Do?-- Encore11 Under the Falling Sky* w/ Freebo on Tuba
The Band:Jeff Labis - PianoWill McFarland - GuitarDennis Wooded - DrumsFreebo - Bass & TubaBegining track 7:Peter BonnettaRoosevelt Sikes
Source: FM > LP(?) > unknown > DATTransfer: DAT>Tascam DA-20mkII > coax > Delta Dio 2496 > Wavelab 4.0a (@ 24/48)Mastering: Wavelab 4.0a > X-Noise (23.1 dB threshold & 85% reduction) + Waves L1-Ultramaximzer (-1 dB left channel + 4 dB threshold increase) > conversion to 16/44.1 > WAV > FLACTrack 1 begins muddy and indistinct, but improves quickly.Original uploader's notes:
Broadcast on KSAN. This recording came to me dated "??-??-73." It contains songs that appear on the 1975 album Home Plate and the band here also played on 1977's Sweet Forgiveness, so 1973 is almost certainly wrong.
There are several hints about the correct date. Bonnie Raitt says that Taj Mahal is played at the Boarding House (also in San Francisco) that night and that Chris Smither played at the same venue, which is "my favorite club," about one year ago in February. Unfortunately, neither of those hints has helped me to find a definative date. Bonnie Raitt also says that "We just got off the road, we've been on the road since March 15, and, uh, went to England, had a [great?] time . . . and then spent the last 10 days w/ Little Feat, down through the Southeast . . . ." Finally, at the end of track 9, Bonnie Raitt mentions that there are other fans waiting outside to get into the venue, which suggests that this is an early show and that there was a second performance that night.
According to the liner notes on a Bonnie Raitt bootleg called "Collections" owned by a collector in Europe, this was recorded on 05.24.76 at the Great American Music Hall and broadcast on 05.26.76, (That bootleg contains two songs that are missing from this source: Women Be Wise and You Got To Know How.) So, that's how I've dated this performance. If anyone knows for sure, please let the world know, too.
Mastering Notes:
The original DAT was quite noisy, though not really hissy like an analog tape. There are, here and there, tiny pops and ticks that sound very much like an LP playback, including a few rough boundaries where the recording tape started and stopped. There is also some distortion in the right channel at certain frequencies (check out the piano at the begining of My First Night Without You). None of this is very serious compared to the overall quality of the recording.
I believe that this is an LP > DAT or something similar, and the background noise is a line noise added by the stereo equipment. Whatever it was, I removed it using the X-noise plugin, which required relatively a lot of reduction (23.1 dB threshold, 85% reduction). As for pops and ticks, none of them are loud and you won't notice them unless you're listening to the spaces between songs.
― Thus Sang Freud, Thursday, 16 November 2023 11:00 (four months ago) link
(the "me" in the above is not me.)
― Thus Sang Freud, Thursday, 16 November 2023 11:01 (four months ago) link
KSAN seems to hold on to a lot of pre-broadcast masters so that may exist somewhere. (IIRC a lot of them leaked out some years ago, mostly dating from 1977.)
Here's a great show from a year later - pre-FM master source, though it's missing the opening number.https://www.guitars101.com/threads/bonnie-raitt-1977-04-23-new-orleans-la-pre-fm-flac.730293/
― birdistheword, Friday, 17 November 2023 02:08 (four months ago) link
Thanks TSF, somehow I heard "Labis" and "Wooded" but my brain refused to trust my ears or vice-versa, because they weren't familiar and maybe "lacked" more common syllables or other parts, also didn't hear "Peter Bonnetta" at all (?), but knew about those other guys(used to have quite a nice early 70s LP by Roosevelt Sykes). Thanks bird, will try to nose around that site for link again later; a basketball video just now kept following me around on there (Web Sheriff in disguise?)
― dow, Friday, 17 November 2023 03:37 (four months ago) link