Album Review: Bonnie Raitt - Slipstream

Slide legend Bonnie Raitt returns after a seven-year hiatus with her 19th album. On hand is her signature slide guitar and sultry vocal delivery, yet this time she also seeks to move beyond the confines of her established persona.

Slipstream begins with the funk-fuelled Used To Rule The World, a song that bops and grooves in Chicago style as it espouses baby boomer camaraderie. It's a personal statement of confusion but also one of playful defiance where the forgotten characters are “mystified, standing with the rest of us, who used to rule the world.”

However, while being an album to which younger listeners may find it difficult to relate, the musicality and song choice is hard to ignore. Raitt is as known for blues as she is for country and everything else in between and this release delivers all of this yet also manages to value-add a few more twists. A dual-pronged production approach and two bands competing for floor space meant this album could have been a complete mess. Yet somehow it's coherent and well-levelled with Raitt delivering moments of tenderness and angst on Bob Dylan's Million Miles and Standing In The Doorway. However the true highlight of the album is the Paul Brady/Michael O'Keefe track, Hollywood Marriage, that Raitt injects with understated sarcasm.

Slipstream could have been another income earner for a career that has spanned five decades yet instead feels fresh and contemporary. This will be one to buy for the parents yet more youthful ears may benefit from hearing a true legend that is free from the casual disassociation that occurs to many wornout rock stars in the twilight of their careers.