Bonnie Raitt - Classic or Dud?

yeah, between that and hearing megan mullaly's 'far from me' it's been a good week of finding great fem-fronted Prine versions

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!)

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.

"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+

My problem with "Have a Heart" is the stranded synthesizer.

Homeplate was one of my top ten in the 70s alternative poll thingy earlier this year. She's one of my favorite singers.

She's doing right by me this evening. Not gonna lie.

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4eEG597kME

damn she rules

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.

"Not the Only One" is a beautiful song.

^yes

thirded

I love Luck of the Draw - an almost perfect studio-rock album.

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/

yeah good read

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.

really great job from Jonathan.

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.

That's a good list above, but no "Pride" no credibility.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbqXMQCq59U

cool article!

this is quite sly i must say: "Modern adult-contemporary musicians like Faith Hill or Neko Case..."

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

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

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

ILX headphones threads star/frequent choice, that is.

*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

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.

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)

Ha, I think Scott was noting the error in calling it a Dave Edmunds cover when it was in fact NRBQ...

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.

Very happy for her that she's scored her biggest hit in years: Starbucks rock that's cool.

what hit?

goddamn I love the way the chorus hits on this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krF6LpUXODc

New album is damn good. I've waited my whole life for a Bonnie Raitt cover of INXS' "Need You Tonight."

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.

My playlist.

listening to the Streetlights album, feel like it's categorized as singer/songwriter/rock, but really it's a great soul album

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.

Nick of Time is one of the best songs ever by anyone

The first post here is so gross. "Nick of Time" is a great song, though, isn't it?

"Not the Only One" is a beautiful song.

― 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!

Adore this lady

mandatory listening

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4tJiyU_gjY
Can't Find My Way Home - Bonnie Raitt & Lowell George & John Hammond Jr & Freebo

PRAISE BONNIE

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.)

Happy birthday, good lady.

This video, seriously

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoA_f7H-g1Y

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.com
is "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

"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).