Takin My Time
Along withGive It Up, Bonnie Raitt's third album,Takin' My Time, stands as her finest work prior to her 1989 critical and commercial watershed,Nick of Time. Featuring an eclectic mix of pop, rock, blues, and soul, the material ranges from Eric Kaz's powerful ballad "Cry Like a Rainstorm" and Jackson Browne's "I Thought I Was a Child" to the snappy acoustic blues of Mississippi Fred McDowell's "Write Me a Few of Your Lines/Kokomo Blues" and the charming calypso "Wah She Go Do." Raitt is backed on the album by members of Little Feat as well as Taj Mahal, legendary New Orleans drummer Earl Palmer, and Rolling Stones sax man Ernie Watts, giving the album a loose, grooving vibe. Her versions of Mose Allison's smoldering "Everybody's Cryin' Mercy" and Randy Newman's sly "Guilty" are real standouts.--Daniel Durchholz