Through the history of rock music rarely has one album had the transformative effect on the story of an artist as NICK OF TIME (March 1989) had upon the career of Bonnie Raitt.
By this stage of the game Raitt (born Burbank, California 8/11/1949), was 18 years down a road that since a self-titled 1971 debut set had gone back and forth between peaks and pot-holes – this gifted guitarist, singer and occasional songwriter not always captured to best effect on the nine albums she had cut for Warner Bros, that up until 1986 constituted her body of studio work.
Despite the positive reviews that greeted her ‘Green Light‘ release of 1982, due to diminishing commercial returns she was dropped by Warner Bros the following year. They did, however, issue the humdrum ‘Nine Lives‘ (1986) which comprised primarily of songs cut while Raitt was still signed to them. But the record only served to reduce her critical standing while stalling at 138 on the U.S. charts, those professional travails mirrored at this point by personal troubles connected to alcohol and drug use.
Subsequently breaking these habits was the first step on the path to rejuvenation, the second coming in the form of being signed by Capitol Records midway through 1988. It is tempting to say that for Raitt the turnaround in fortune was completed when ‘Nick of Time‘ (her first effort for Capitol) quickly became the best-selling record she had ever made.
True, there have always been comebacks in the music business, but beyond them is the sudden elevation of Bonnie Raitt to widespread stardom. Her tenth studio album eventually went to number one on the Billboard listings, attained sales figures upward of five million – its popularity reaching a peak shortly after Raitt won three Grammys for ‘Nick of Time‘ when the awards next came around.
Seldom have such right album/right moment portents been soon perfectly aligned (it could be argued Tom Petty’s ‘Full Moon Fever‘ gave 1989 two). Working with producer Don Was for the first time, together he and Raitt craft an instantly accessible blend of pristine soft-rock, easy going blues and affecting ballads – all of which fall in behind the serene pop-balladry of the self-written title piece.
Retaining the services of drummer Ricky Fataar from her previous endeavours, Raitt (guitar/keyboards) and bassist James ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson form the core trio of players, while guest appearances through this agreeable 11-track collection are invited from Graham Nash, David Crosby, top notch session guitarists Michael Landau, John Jorgenson and J.D. Maness (pedal steel), with cameos also enlisted from revered percussionist Paulinho Da Costa and piano-playing jazz maestro Herbie Hancock.
Raitt (piano) Hutchinson and Fataar are joined by Landau and Da Costa for the resonant opening track that has since taken on the status of her signature song.
Built on a framework of melodic r&b, with an immediately engaging vocal Raitt describes the circumstances of a mature female friend keen to have a baby, her intentions wracked with indecision and cramped by the constraints of time. In the second verse Raitt shifts focus to the more universal theme of watching parents grow older, the couple in this case viewed from the standpoint of their 40-year-old daughter:
‘I see my folks are getting on/And I watch their bodies change/I know they see the same in me/And it makes us both feel strange/No matter how you tell yourself/It’s what we all go through/Those lines are pretty hard to take/When they’re staring back at you.’
Well served by an uncluttered arrangement and sympathetic production, Raitt had never sounded so effective on record, this superbly conceived piece further enhanced by an insightful final verse that bring poignant personal ruminations to the fore:
‘Just when I thought I’d had enough/And all my tears were shed/No promise left unbroken/There were no painful words unsaid/You came along and showed me/I could leave it all behind/You opened up my heart again/And then much to my surprise/I found love, baby/Love in the nick of time.’
Winning two of her three Grammys for the vocals of the ‘Nick of Time‘ L.P. (Best Female Rock Vocal Performance/Best Female Pop Vocal Performance), that Raitt lost out in ‘Song of the Year‘ category to ‘Wind Beneath my Wings‘ by Bette Midler says more about the limited perspective of those judging than attributes of the respective songs.
Raitt returns to the more familiar position of slide-guitar toting band leader with her energetic reading of the John Hiatt song ‘Thing Called Love.‘
Wanting for nothing in terms of energy, the engaging chorus coupled with her assured playing serve to make it a rumbustious, if precise, example of the contrived country-blues that would serve Shania Twain well further down the line.
Of the two songs by San Francisco-based singer-songwriter Bonnie Hayes that Raitt chooses to include, ‘Love Letter‘ is a slow-burning blues-pop lament relating to a love affair yet to fully spark, (‘Push comes to shove/Shove comes to touch/Touch will come to love’), the piece coloured by understated horns and synthesizer decoration indicative of the era. The other track contributed by Hayes is ‘Have a Heart‘ whose inflections are closer to reggae than rock, a plaintive vocal and luscious slide-solo the defining elements of an otherwise pedestrian account of a love in ruins.
Another writer receiving double representation is Dallas-born songsmith Jerry L. Williams, whose compositions are both of an upbeat variety.
Having had his work covered previously by Raitt, the former, a churning blues-rocker entitled ‘Real Man‘ allows the narrator scope to gleefully state what she no longer feels is important (‘I don’t want no million dollars/I don’t need no diamond ring‘), the track given added dynamism by the rousing harp embellishments of Fabulous Thunderbirds front man Kim Wilson.
The latter Williams offering is ‘I Will Not Be Denied‘ an assertive affair with overtones of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Fattened up by a horn section and lush backing vocals, it is easy to imagine Raitt cutting such a number for one of her earlier albums, although here the authentic blues dimension of her work has been smoothed by Was for representation in more mainstream territory.
There are more concessions to prevailing late-80s trends through her reading of the Michael Ruff song ‘Cry on my Shoulder‘, the layered keyboard work of the writer rooting it firmly in the era. Testament to the assuring nature of friendship, (‘I know it’s hard sometimes/And things seem larger than they are/But if you need to let it go/Then you can call on me‘), the appearance of Crosby & Nash on backing vocals give the track an emotive dimension as they had long since been in her orbit and vice-versa.
Written by Larry John McNally, whose songs would subsequently appear on albums by Rod Stewart, the Eagles and Don Henley (among many others), ‘Nobody’s Girl‘ is an acoustic guitar ballad Raitt performs accompanied only by Chuck Domanico on acoustic bass.
Amounting to a series of observations regarding a woman steadfastly independent while wrestling with loneliness (‘And she’s a walking contradiction/But I ache for her inside/She’s fragile like a string of pearls/She’s nobody’s girl’), the song is eloquently delivered, minimal instrumentation creating maximum space for a striking vocal.
She is also heard to exemplary effect on ‘Too Soon To Tell‘, a song written by contemporary country songwriters Mike Reid and Rory Brooke. Delivering the piece as a tender torch ballad allows Raitt to summon a telling vulnerability that had not always been evident in her voice, yet if anything she surpasses that accomplished vocal performance with a magnificent reading of the David and Julie Lasley-penned, ‘I Ain’t Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again.’
Backed only by Hancock, as the melancholy piano chords ebb and flow Raitt conveys a tale of romantic heartbreak (‘I don’t know what we did wrong/I just know if you come home/I ain’t gonna let you break my heart again‘), musician and vocalist creating nigh-on three minutes of peerless resonance – the song wrapped in the atmospheric nuance of a late hours nightclub duet.
To close the record Raitt returns to her folk-blues origins, ‘The Road’s My Middle Name‘ self-written testament to how life unfolds for a dues-paying, travelling musician, ‘I hear it callin’/Sound so sweet and plain/I gotta go, baby/’Cause the road’s my middle name.’
While the wailing harmonica of Wilson accentuates the blues connotations, the smooth-backing vocals of Arnold McCuller and Sir Harry Bowens – that give a number of tracks their refined ambience – provide the balance between back catalogue Bonnie and the current going Raitt.
Despite Warner Bros initially hedging their bets when it came to promoting ‘Nick of Time‘, the album, buoyed by widespread positive reviews, made steady progress up the U.S. charts. It had already become her most successful record before returning to the top ten on being triumphant at the Grammys, (the third of which she won in ‘Album of the Year‘ category), Raitt, for two weeks in April 1990, also finding herself with a number one L.P.
This was strange new territory even for an artist blessed with remarkable endurance – the 18 year-period between her debut set charting (136) and finally having a release sitting atop of the pile, the longest wait in this regard experienced by any artist through rock history.
While the 1991 follow-up ‘Luck of the Draw‘ failed to emulate ‘Nick of Time‘ in making the top spot (reaching number three), it won the same amount of Grammys (3) and sold a colossal seven million copies – tide and time waiting for no man, or woman, but making an exception in the case Bonnie Raitt.
Bravo madam.
BONNIE RAITT – NICK OF TIME (Released March 21 1989):
Nick of Time/Thing Called Love/Love Letter/Real Man/Nobody’s Girl/Have a Heart/Too Soon to Tell/I Will Not Be Denied/I Ain’t Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again/The Road’s My Middle Name;
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