‘Slipstream’ almost top Raitt
Bonnie Raitt sounds rested and ready on her latest CD. Its bluesiest songs boast a funky ease. Its guitar licks linger longer. And Raitt’s vocals sound confident and free.
There may well be simple explanations for this. The long-running star hasn’t released a new album in seven years, a biblical stretch in which she took a rare break after four decades dense with touring. Raitt also carved out time to heal from an adult-sized portion of mourning.
In the leadup to her last album, 2005’s “Souls Alike,” the singer lost her mother and father (musical theater star John Raitt). In the time since, her brother died, as did a close friend.
Not that these compounded losses stirred any graver, or more contemplative, music. Despite the usual number of songs dedicated to romantic longing and resignation, there’s a certain lightness to much of “Slipstream” — and not always for the better.
Some of the slackening may stem from the fact that the disc rates as Raitt’s first released without a boss. It’s on her own label, named Redwing for her hair color. It’s just the second work Raitt has produced herself (in the main). Americana star Joe Henry produced four of the tracks.
The breezier tone shows right on the opening song, “Used to Rule the World.” It’s a satirical piece that uses the metaphor of a fading beauty queen for the weakened economies of the West (countries like France and our own), while nations like India and China are on the rise. There’s a clean quality to the production and a loosening of time constraints, allowing Raitt to slip in a few slide leads, contrasting two other guitar players. She’s a sly soloist, and should do this kind of thing more often.
Raitt also keeps things light by sending up reality TV stars in a lyric penned by ex-husband/ actor Michael O’keefe (“Marriage Made in Hollywood”). But at times, the comfort of the project can undercut a necessary tension. The cover of Gerry Rafferty’s pretty “Right Down the Line” doesn’t benefit from the flip reggae arrangement.
The song selection throughout, while respectable, doesn’t match her peak. No song here has the sterling brilliance of those on the ideal Raitt CDS: “Give It Up,” “Home Plate” and “Nick of Time.”
Luckily, her performance overcomes most of the qualifications. Raitt has always been an agile, robust and singular singer. If anything, she seems to have gained chops with age. In “You Can’t Fail Me Now,” she snakes up the scale with emotive care, pausing to punch meaning into just the right words. In covers of two Dylan songs from 1998, she finds melodies that weren’t there before.
Even better, “Not Cause I Wanted To” serves as the flip side of her classic “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” This time she plays the guilty party. While only a few such moments highlight the work, throughout the CD you can hear the warm hum of a mature woman in full command of her skills, and, it seems, herself.