Bonnie Raitt’s Nick of Time wins Grammy for Album of the Year

Nick of Time Bonnie Raitt

Released: March 21, 1989 Charted: April 15, 1989 Peak: 13 US, 51 UK, -- CN, 58 AU, 4 DF Sales (in millions): 5.6 US, -- UK, 5.9 world (includes US and UK) Genre: blues-rock

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Nick of Time (9/16/89, 92 BB, 10 AC, 82 UK, 1 DF) Thing Called Love (3/18/89, 11 AR, 15 DF) Love Letter (6/24/89, 49 AR, 35 AC, 73 CN, 16 DF) Cry on My Shoulder (37 DF) Real Man (19 DF) Nobody’s Girl (34 DF) Have a Heart (2/3/90, 49 BB, 3 AC, 16 CN, 19 DF)) Too Soon to Tell (38 DF) I Will Not Be Denied (37 DF) I Ain’t Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again The Road’s My Middle Name (32 DF) Total Running Time: 42:31

Rating: 4.113 out of 5.00 (average of 20 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About Bonnie Raitt Blues-rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist Bonnie Raitt was born in 1949 in Burbank, California. She got her start playing with Mississippi Fred McDowell at the Philadelphia Folk Festival and as an opening act for John Hammond at the Gaslight Café in New York. Word spread about her performance after she was seen by a reporter from Newsweek. She signed a record deal with Warner Bros. and released her debut album in 1971. Raitt established herself as “an exquisite interpretive singer and formidable guitarist who’d long ago honed her bluesy chops.” AZ She became “a reliable cult artist, delivering a string of solid records that were moderate successes and usually musically satisfying.” AM They were “generally superb, commercially underachieving recordings.” AZ No Overnight Sensation However, in the mid-‘80s her career “looked to be heading for the graveyard.” RD when her ninth album, Nine Lives, failed to reach the top 100 on the Billboard album chart and Warner Bros. dropped her. She signed with Capitol Records and made one of the greatest comebacks in music history. Tenth album Nick of Time, was “the watershed moment in Bonnie Raitt’s recording career, the sound of a survivor finding new focus and purpose in her art after nearly 20 years.” AZ She combined her “usual gourmet spread of smart cover choices with her own candid songs.” AZ They “resonated with her persona as a tough, smart, but ultimately tender woman.” AZ Don Was Most telling, however, was her decision to collaborate with producer Don Was. “The pairing seemed a little odd, since he was primarily known for the weird hipster funk of Was (Not Was) and the B-52’s’ quirky eponymous debut, but the match turned out to be inspired. Was used Raitt’s classic early-‘70s records as a blueprint, choosing to update the sound with a smooth, professional production and a batch of excellent contemporary songs.” AM “In this context, Raitt flourishes; she never rocks too hard, but there is grit to her singing and playing, even when the surfaces are clean and inviting.” AM It “catapulted a feisty rock tomboy into a new station that made her as admired by female fans as the stage door johnnies who’d long loved her rock technique.” AZ Grammy Surprise Raitt shocked the music industry when Nick of Time won the Grammy for Album of the Year in February 1990. She also picked up Grammys for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance (for the album) and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (for the title cut). That propelled the album up the charts, where it reached #1 more than a year after its release and went on to sell more than 5 million copies. It was a great comeback album that made for a great story, but the record never would have been a blockbuster success if it wasn’t for the music, which is among the finest Raitt ever made. She must have realized this, since Nick of Time served as the blueprint for the majority of her ‘90s albums.” AM “Nick of Time” “She knocked one over the fence with the opening track,” AZ, “the album’s title track” RD “which smoothly sets heartache to a toe-tapping beat.” RD It is “a moving confession of a boomer’s anxieties about age, death, and the impermanence of love.” AZ Other Songs “While she only has two original songs here, Nick of Time plays like autobiography, which is a testament to the power of the songs, performances, and productions.” AM Her cover of John Hiatt’s Thing Called Love is “a rowdy tune that would fit easily on modern ‘new country radio.” RD “Raitt honky-tonks her way through the powerful Love Letter,” RD one of two songs originally written and performed by Bonnie Hayes. The other was Have a Heart. All three songs reached one or more Billboard charts.

Resources: AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine AZ Amazon review by Sam Sutherland RD Robert Dimery (2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited: New York, NY. Page 627. Related DMDB Links: Last updated 12/3/2024.