Silver Lining

Amazon.com

The latest in a series of highly polished albums of good-natured boogie, blues, and singer-songwriter fare, Bonnie Raitt's Silver Lining won't disappoint the initiated. Recorded with her highly seasoned road band and coproduced (again) by the ubiquitous Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake, this is a high-quality product. The question, as always, is whether the material raises it to the level of extraordinary. Raitt picks songs shrewdly. Here, the unearthed gems are David Gray's title song and the closing ballad, "Wounded Heart," by Jude Johnson. Less successful and more, well, familiar are the songs cowritten with her bandmates. Instrumental highlights include Bonnie's slide duel with Roy Rogers on "Gnawin' It" and Andy Abad's highlife guitar chops on Oliver Mtukudzi's "Hear Me Lord." Jon Cleary's barrelhouse keys throughout owe a debt to Billy Payne of Little Feat. One may occasionally wish the producers had been allowed more rein to pepper the arrangements with their trademark quirky instrumentation, but the record rewards repeated listens. --Rob Stewart

Product description

Personnel includes: Bonnie Raitt (vocals, electric & National slide guitar); Jon Cleary (vocals, piano, keyboards, synthesizer); George Marinelli (acoustic & electric guitars, mandolin, background vocals); Tommy Simms (electric guitar, background vocals); Roy Rogers (slide guitar); Habib Koite (gut string guitar); Steve Berlin (baritone saxophone); Mitchell Froom (organ, keyboards, synthesizer); James "Hutch" Hutchinson (acoustic & electric bass); Ricky Fataar (drums, percussion, background vocals); Nahaamadou Kone (talking drum); Pete Thomas (percussion); Steve Raitt (background vocals). Producers: Bonnie Raitt, Mitchell Froom, Tchad Blake. Recorded at The Sound Factory, Hollywood, California. "Time Of Our Lives" was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Personnel: Bonnie Raitt (vocals, slide guitar, background vocals); Jon Cleary (vocals, piano, Clavinet, Wurlitzer organ, keyboards, Moog synthesizer, background vocals); George Marinelli (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, background vocals); Mike Dean (guitar, keyboards); Andy Abad (guitar); Tommy Sims (electric guitar, background vocals); Roy Rogers (slide guitar); Habib Koit? (gut-string guitar); Steve Berlin (baritone saxophone); Freebo (tuba); Mitchell Froom (piano, Clavinet, organ, reed organ, Wurlitzer organ, synthesizer, Moog synthesizer); Benmont Tench (piano); Steve Nider (keyboards); K?l?tigui Diabat? (balafon); James "Hutch" Hutchinson (acoustic bass); Ricky Fataar (drums, percussion, background vocals); John Cregar (drums); Alex Acu?a (congas, talking drum); Pete Thomas (percussion); Steve Raitt, Fred White , Arnold McCuller, Bernard Fowler (background vocals). Audio Mixers: Paul Middleton ; Tchad Blake. Recording information: The Sound Factory, Los Angeles, CA. Photographers: Ann Cutting; Henry Diltz; Pat Johnson ; Tchad Blake. SILVER LINING may be Bonnie Raitt's 16th album, but this scarlet-haired troubadour shows no signs of a creative downturn., ISBN13:B00005YXJA ISBN10:B00005YXJA Material Type:audioCD