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ALWAYS starts me out with a wiggle to my walk.In my opinion this is the best album Bonnie's ever put out. This is the CD I play on the weekends, first thing in the morning.
I hadn't heard it for 10 or more years and it sounds even better now.If you're in doubt-buy this CD. I bought this first as a vinyl LP, then a cassette tape and now as a CD.
One of Bonnie's major influences, Sippie Wallace, is represented by two songs (Mighty tight woman, Women be wise) while Bonnie also covers Any day woman (Paul Siebel), Walking blues (Robert Johnson) and Since I fell for you (Bud Johnson) among others.No serious Bonnie Raitt fan should be without this classic album. This album mixes blues, pop, rock and R+B - other influences came later - though blues is the main influence here.Bonnie wrote two of the songs here (Thank you, Finest loving man) but relied mainly on covers, beginning with a cover of Bluebird (written by Stephen Stills, famous as a member first of Buffalo Springfield then of Crosby Stills and Nash). While there were some people who recognized Bonnie's talent from the beginning, Bonnie had to wait almost twenty years after its release for her major breakthrough, during which time she gradually acquired more fans. So it was that this album, which remains one of Bonnie's best, has continued to sell steadily as all those new fans discover Bonnie's legacy.
This is a great album. It doesn't hurt that Junior Wells, local heros Willie Murphy and Dave Ray (of Koerner Ray and Glover) were involved. I do like Nick of Time and some of the tunes on Silver Lining, but I think this is the real Bonnie Raitt. The music has a little raw edge to it (it was recorded in a garage after all) but, the slide guitar work is great, and it clearly shows Bonnie Raitt was had a lot of talent even at the tender age of 21.
A great time capsule of the beginning of her career as a guitar player and singer. A truly great blues record with the contribution of Junior Wells. It is unfortunate that Bonnie went far afield of these roots to become much more commercially successful.
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