Give It Up
This 1972 collection set the bar it took years for Raitt to clear again. Moving easily between sensitive singer-songwriter and bawdy blues-mama roles, the blazing redhead proved she was a talent to watch on several fronts. Raitt demonstrated a keen instinct for finding suitable material, adopting Jackson Browne's "Under the Falling Sky" and Eric Kaz's "Love Has No Pride" as if she'd penned them herself. The honeyed vocals and slashing slide guitar heard onGive It Upidentified Raitt instantly to anyone who encountered this album. Unfortunately, it would be nearly two decades before many did catch on to her appeal.--Steve Stolder