Bonnie Raitt "Bonnie Raitt" (Warner Brothers, 1971) (LP)
(Produced by Willie Murphy)
This is a dazzling debut, solidly in the blues camp and packed with impressively first-rate performances. Bonnie burns through several classic blues covers, ranging from Robert Johnson to Sippie Wallace, as well as hippie-era types like Stephen Stills and folk-bluesman John Koerner. Top it off with her confident, lusty delivery and considerable chops as a guitar player, and you got yourself one heck of a nice record. Highly recommended!
Bonnie Raitt "Give It Up" (Warner Brothers, 1972) (LP)
(Produced by Michael Cuscuna)
This followup album may be my favorite Bonnie Raitt album, although it shows her swiftly branching out into more torchy terrain. Another Sippie Wallace tune (the wonderfully raunchy "You Got To Know How") is the main holdover from her traditionalist blues leanings, along with an irresistible New Orleans-style version of Barbara George's "I Know"... Bonnie self-pens a few nice new tunes, and introduces several nice up-and-coming roots-ish songwriters -- Eric Kaz, Chris Smither and Joel Zoss -- to the world at large. A solid album, which includes one of her best ballads, "Love Has No Pride," which is maudlin, but effective. Another highly recommended record.
Bonnie Raitt "Takin' My Time" (Warner Brothers, 1973) (LP)
(Produced by John Hall)
The balancing act between ballads and blues opens up wide on this one, though still mostly with top-notch results. The blues stuff -- "Let Me In," "Kokomo Blues" -- is pretty killer, as are some of the newer tunes she covers, such as Jackson Browne's "I Thought I Was A Child", Mose Allison's "Everybody's Crying Mercy," and a particularly nice version of Randy Newman's (!) "Guilty." The only blemishes on here are Eric Kaz's followup ballad, "Cry Like A Rainstorm" and Joel Zoss's "I Gave My Love A Candle," which are both too syrupy, and point towards problems further down the road. Still, another great record.
Bonnie Raitt "Streetlights" (Warner Brothers, 1974) (LP)
(Produced by Jerry Ragovoy)
Things start to go soft here, and uncommitted listeners may have a hard time giving Bonnie the benefit of the doubt... The highpoint is her version of John Prine's "Angel From Montgomery," which is the definitive version of this excellent song. But the rest of this album is pretty goopy, and even the bluesier material is starting to sound a bit forced. Her next album, 1975's Home Plate, is entirely negligible.
Bonnie Raitt "Home Plate" (Warner Brothers, 1975) (LP)
(Produced by Paul Rothschild)
Bonnie's first truly bogus album, marked by overly-slick LA production, and not enough oomph to back it up. That may seem like a harsh assessment, but really, she was off her game on this one -- the soft numbers are way to goopy, and the "rootsy" stuff sounds forced and overly refined. You can skip this one.
Bonnie Raitt "Sweet Forgiveness" (Warner Brothers, 1977) (LP)
(Produced by Paul Rothschild)
A guilty pleasure, but also a nice rebound from Home Plate. Many of the dudes in her stable of favorite writers have worn out their welcome, particularly Eric Kaz and Jackson Browne, but Paul Seibel's classic tearjerker, "Louise" (which he originally recorded in 1973), is a stunner. And don't ever tell anyone I told you this, but I also like her version of Karla Bonoff's "Home." A whole lot... a very pretty song.
Bonnie Raitt "The Glow" (Warner Brothers, 1979) (LP)
(Produced by Peter Asher)
The 'Seventies closed out with a winner for Bonnie... Goopy, glossy, lavishly overproduced and sappy... but a winner. It's one of her most overtly rock'n'roll albums, with a healthy dose of Motown soul thrown in on top... Her version of Isaac Hayes' "Your Good Thing (Is About To End)" is wildly oversexed and over the top, but it works for me, as does the kitschy, gender-switched rendition of Bobby Troup's "The Boy Can't Help It"... It's definitely a guilty pleasure, but a pleasure nonetheless.
Bonnie Raitt "Green Light" (Warner Brothers, 1982)
(Produced by Rob Fraboni & Tim Kramer)
Teaming up with pianist Terry Adams from NRBQ, Bonnie dashes off a full-on rock album that's giddy and outlandish, raucous and largely unsubtle. I could understand why a lot of folks wouldn't like this album -- but I like it a lot. It's nice to hear Bonnie let her hair down, and just rock out in a goofy, unpretentious manner. Few of these songs stand out as classics, or even as mildly transcendent, but they're fun to listen to, and she's singing right in my range... so why resist? Eric Kaz makes a nice save for himself, with "River Of Tears", which doesn't have much lyrical depth, but a nice comfortable chorus. Also of note is her irony-drenched reading of Bob Dylan's "Let's Keep It Between Us," which preaches the evils of gossip. This new wave-ish outing isn't for everyone, but from time to time it still makes its way onto the stereo at my house.
Bonnie Raitt "Nine Lives" (Warner Brothers, 1986)
(Produced by Rob Fraboni, Russ Kunkel, Bill Payne, George Massenburg & Steve Tyrell)
Bonnie Raitt "The Nick Of Time" (Capitol Records, 1989)
(Produced by Don Was)
By most accounts, the '80s were not a great time for Raitt's spiritual life -- touring hard and partying even harder took its toll, both personally and professionally. But the switch to a new label -- and a more clean-and-sober outlook -- helped turn things around. This album was hailed as a brilliant comeback, and indeed it won Bonnie Grammy Awards, and shot her to the top of the US charts. But it also signaled warning signs for old-time fans: the Don Was-produced ballads were even slicker, and more given to shimmering electric keyboards and synths, and the blues tunes had more of a musclebound, beer-ad forcefulness to them. You couldn't deny that Raitt had her chops, but some of us questioned the direction she was heading off on... Still, more power to her -- if anyone ever deserved the the chance to cash in, it was Bonnie.
Bonnie Raitt "Luck Of The Draw" (Capitol Records, 1991)
(Produced by Bonnie Raitt & Don Was)
Bonnie Raitt "Longing In Their Hearts" (Capitol Records, 1994)
(Produced by Bonnie Raitt & Don Was)
Bonnie Raitt "Road Tested" (Capitol Records, 1995)
(Produced by Bonnie Raitt & Don Was)
Bonnie thunders her way through two live CDs worth of old favorites -- "Three Time Loser," "Love Letter," "Angel From Montgomery," "Louise," etc. -- and a few new tunes, including surprise entries such as a cover of the Talking Heads' "Burning Down The House." As the album title implies, it's a well-proven, highly professional crew that delivers the goods... Bonnie and her band provide a tough, muscular sound, while also sharing some of the limelight with guests such as Jackson Browne, Kim Wilson, Ruth Brown, Charles Brown, Bruce Hornsby and Bryan Adams. In terms of subtlety and emotional range, you're probably better off hearing these songs in their original versions, but this sure is a nice glimpse at her live performance style.
Bonnie Raitt "Fundamental" (Capitol Records, 1998)
(Produced by Bonnie Raitt, Tchad Blake & Mitchell Froom)
Bonnie Raitt "Silver Lining" (Capitol Records, 2002)
(Produced by Bonnie Raitt, Tchad Blake & Mitchell Froom)
Bonnie Raitt "Souls Alike" (Capitol Records, 2002)
(Produced by Bonnie Raitt & Tchad Blake)
Bonnie Raitt "Slipstream" (Red Wing Records, 2012)
(Produced by Bonnie Raitt & Joe Henry)
Man, it's been a while... Not only is this Bonnie Raitt's first studio album is several years, it's also a set that's packed with original material that Ms. Raitt wrote herself, which is kind of a newish-thing for this roots-blues powerhouse. Keep 'em coming, Bonnie!
Bonnie Raitt "Dig In Deep" (Redwing Records, 2016)
(Produced by Bonnie Raitt & Joe Henry)
Bonnie Raitt "Just Like That" (Redwing Records, 2022)
(Produced by Bonnie Raitt)
Go ahead, laugh all you want... I know that Bonnie Raitt has (or had) a lousy reputation among the hipoisie (of my time) as a schmaltzy, yuppified soul balladeer. But so what? The hipsters were wrong. I grew up digging Raitt's early stuff, and it's still great... and to tell the truth, her new records don't suffer too badly, either. Bonnie's career dates back to the early 1970s when she was (literally) a freckle-faced little kid, foisting herself upon as many old bluesman as she could find, and soaking up all their musical skill and savvy. She was also Broadway star John Raitt's daughter, which may account for some of the ease with which she became such a well-beloved performer on the outskirts of the LA rock scene. Here's a quick look at some of best stuff...
Bonnie Raitt "The Bonnie Raitt Collection" (Warner Brothers, 1990)
Fred McDowell "The Best Of Fred McDowell" (Arhoolie Records, 2002)
Sippie Wallace "Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 1 (1923-1925)" (Document Records, 1995)
