Nick of Time | | |
| Tracks:
| • | Nick of Time - Bonnie Raitt, Raitt, Bonnie | | • | Thing Called Love - Bonnie Raitt, Hiatt, John | | • | Love Letter - Bonnie Raitt, Hayes, Bonnie | | • | Cry on My Shoulder - Bonnie Raitt, Ruff, Michael | | • | Real Man - Bonnie Raitt, Williams, Jerry Lyn | | • | Nobody's Girl - Bonnie Raitt, McNally, Larry John | | • | Have a Heart - Bonnie Raitt, Hayes, Bonnie | | • | Too Soon to Tell - Bonnie Raitt, Reid, Mike | | • | I Will Not Be Denied - Bonnie Raitt, Williams, Jerry Lyn | | • | I Ain't Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again - Bonnie Raitt, Lasley, David | | • | The Road's My Middle Name - Bonnie Raitt, Raitt, Bonnie |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential recording
Nick of Time is the watershed moment in Bonnie Raitt's recording career, the sound of a survivor finding new focus and purpose in her art after nearly 20 years of generally superb, commercially underachieving recordings. An exquisite interpretive singer and formidable guitarist who'd long ago honed her bluesy chops, Raitt raised the stakes by mixing the usual gourmet spread of smart cover choices with her own candid songs--and she knocked one over the fence with the opening track, the album's title song and a moving confession of a boomer's anxieties about age, death, and the impermanence of love. "Nick of Time" catapulted a feisty rock tomboy into a new station that made her as admired by female fans as the stage door johnnies who'd long loved her rock technique, and she covered the bet with other outside songs from John Hiatt ("Thing Called Love"), Bonnie Hayes ("Love Letter," "Have a Heart"), and Jerry L. Williams ("Real Man") that resonated with her persona as a tough, smart, but ultimately tender woman. --Sam Sutherland
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| Customer Reviews: Read 27 more reviews...
 LOVE The Roads My Middle Name November 20, 2007
Jennifer Charette (Austin, Texas, USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I absolutely LOVE The Roads My Middle Name (11th song on this album) Why is it that we have never heard of this song or why it didn't go to #1??? As a blues singer myself, I am definitely working on this one and I know it will be well accepted and liked. I am so hooked.
Bonnie makes me believe October 21, 2007
Jon Hirsch
a cold winter day in NYC or a warm summer night in Savannah, GA. This album full of wonderful tunes makes me remember how a singer/songwriiter can elevate the blues and make you feel like the true thing IS ringing in your ear.
I feel in love with my wife to this soundtrak of Nikc of time in 1990 and we have it always to remind us
Are You Ready For A Thing Called...Bonnie Raitt? July 29, 2007
Gregor von Kallahann
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Hmmm. With a review title like that, you can see why my career in marketing was short lived.
But marketing savvy obviously wasn't lacking at Capitol Records in 1989 when they released this, Bonnie Raitt's breakthrough album. Question is: What did they do that Warner's failed to do? Warner's had had her under contract for nearly two decades, released nine of her albums to generally solid reviews--but somehow never managed to make this talented (and likeable and ULTIMATELY marketable) connect with the mass audience. When she carried home all those Grammies in the spring of 1990, they must have been kicking themselves (or lopping off each other's heads).
But that's the business end. Artistically, Bonnie has proven a consistently strong artist/performer throughout her entire career. Yes, some of the albums were stronger than others, but she could always be counted on to put out interesting, engaging work. As a vocalist, she had the advantage of being able to "sing pretty," but with character and style. No one could put over an LA ballad better than Bonnie, her slight rasp gave those numbers a certain ache that few other singers could hope to duplicate. Her version of "Love Has No Pride," a number recorded by just about every female singer around in the 70s, was considered by many to be definitive (though I personally like Tracy Nelson's just as much). Why the raves? Well, she could bring a little attitude to a ballad that some might otherwise find maudlin (and others might find the story of their lives). Her straightforward, sincere-but-never-sappy readings of that song and all her other ballads could win the hearts of even the most hard-boiled critics.
And of course, she could turn right around and play a mean slide guitar on a blues or rock number. She should have been a star from the get-go. In fact, for those of us who weren't carefully monitoring such things, she WAS a star--or at least as big a star as she wanted to be. I mean, I was aware that she wasn't going triple platinum, but I always thought she had a solid career and a loyal following. And after a few albums, she even mustered a Top 40 hit in "Runaway," a song I've always loved even if some critics--and even some fans--didn't go for it.
So what was new with NICK? Actually, not all that much. You couldn't really say that Warners had no clue what to do with Bonnie all those years. This wasn't like Aretha's tenure at Columbia. Bonnie Raitt was recording the albums she wanted to do. The conventional wisdom was with the new contract at Capitol, she finally hooked up with a producer (Don Was) who knew what to do with her. Well, it certainly IS a well produced record (one of many to come), but the earlier ones for her old label weren't exactly dishwater either. Was did have a feel for texture that was unsurpassed: the sound is layered and crisp and designed to bring out Bonnie's unique vocal style to the best possible effect.
And of course, there's the material. Bonnie Raitt never claimed to be a great or especially prolific songwriter, but actually she has always been a consistently good one, as her compositions here evidence. The title track was just about as perfect an expression of aging boomer anxiety as you will find. The verses about hearing the bio-clock ticking, seeing one's parents (and one's self) age before one's eyes, and maybe lucking out and finding true love "in the nick of time" may seem even more poignant now in light of the subsequent loss of the singer's dad and the ultimate dissolution of her marriage to actor Michael O'Keefe.
No one could argue that her career took off pretty much "in the nick of time." Bonnie was by this point, a mature woman just entering her 40s, and while hardly "washed up" by any means, mass stardom was probably getting less and less likely with each passing year. Of course, there had been Tina Turner's remarkable career renaissance a few years earlier. And Grace Slick was enjoying greater commercial success (if much less critical acclaim) than just about at any time in her career. But in Bonnie Raitt's case, one got the sense that her grown up status was an actual selling point and not something to be glossed over with a spiky do or outrageous duds.
She still rocked out of course, as she proved on some of the album's other tracks, including the hit single "Thing Called Love," a witty John Hiatt number, and even more so on the harder rockers: "Real Man" and "I Will Not Be Denied" (both from the pen of Jerry L. Williams) and her own closer, "The Road Is My Middle Name"--and I always thought it was "Lynn." She had lost none of her spirit and spunk facing middle age. In fact, she was rocking out harder than ever.
Her ballads on this record were as sensitively performed as ever, with "Cry On My Shoulder" and "Too Soon To Tell" being real standouts. Her reading of "Nobody's Girl" is spot on, and "I Ain't Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again" serves as proof that in another life, she could have easily been a smoky voiced chanteuse. But it's on the mid-tempo numbers where Bonnie really hits her stride. The two numbers written by namesake Bonnie Hayes seem ideally suited for Bonnie Raitt. "Love Letter" and "Have a Heart" are among the CD's true gems. If the former's lyrics make it come off as a kind of distaff "Every Breath You Take," its slow funk groove makes the tune much more playful than predatory. As for "Have a Heart," well, what can you say about a song that begins with the lyrics, "Hey, shut up!..." and still manages to be as emotive as any of the sensitive tunes in Bonnie R.'s repertoire.
Strictly speaking, NICK OF TIME was probably not a bold step forward artistically. But its solid production values, excellent song selection and confident performances augured well for the success it ultimately proved to be. That and the fact that she finally had a record company that got behind her.
album and songbook:a great combonation July 17, 2007
Ed Wilson (allentown,pa)
if you are a guitar player,you will want both the nick of time album and songbook. that way,you can play along with the songs thing called love, loveletter,nick of time,have a heart,nobody's girl,i will not be denied,real man,and the road is my middle name.the album and songbook go great together,so get both,strap on your guitar and have some fun. ed wilson
Top of her game September 21, 2006
J. Deschenes (Lewiston ME)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was into Bonnie long before this album was released.This album garnered her a pile of Grammy awards and rightfully so.I consider this to be one of the top 20 albums in Rock history.If you only own one Bonnie Raitt CD this is the one!
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