Bonnie Raitt

Streetlights Warner Brothers BS 2818

This is a case of over-production, too much attention to smoothing out wrinkles and not enough attention to preserving the wrinkles. There's the same excellent choice of material to fit Bonnie's voice, but there's hardly any raunch, just sweet-bitter soul. Bonnie's guitar, when it is present, is almost mixed out of existence. The songs by Allen Toussaint, James Taylor and Joni Mitchell don't do anything new either for the song or for Bonnie. It's not a bad album by any means, but it's not worth it. The first three albums are so much more interesting and satisfying, that you shouldn't get this one unless you have a compulsion to have everything Ms. Raitt ever puts out. But if you are a super-fan of Bonnie Raitt, you just may be disappointed, because this album hasn't much of the stuff that made Bonnie a joy to listen to in the first place-- good down-to-earth music.

--Paul J. Grant