If crack cocaine was a thing in the early 1970s, someone would have to wonder who at Warner Brothers was smoking it. There were so many artists signed to the label that, in reality, they had no idea how to market, and while the releases were critically acclaimed, they hardly were setting the charts on fire.
One such case is Bonnie Raitt. Who would have expected that the next genre of blues music was going to come from a 21-year-old white woman from Burbank? Yet there she was, daring to pull off slide guitar riffs from just outside the Delta while throwing in a bit of a pop influence. Her self-titled debut from 1971 is a slap in the face to the listener, challenging them to wake up and pay attention… and, for the most part, is well worth the time.
Raitt has lots of help to sell the goods on this one, including blues legends Junior Wells and A.C. Reed, but she is clearly the star of the show throughout this disc’s 11 cuts. Looking back long after the fact, one can hear the roots of albums like Nick Of Time hidden in these cuts, suggesting the commercial success she would eventually have, but was currently eluding her. (She wouldn’t make her first appearance on the Billboard album charts until the next year with her follow-up release.)
In a sense, this is a damned shame, especially considering that the ’70s was the pinnacle of the “pull your own” era in radio. Tracks like “Since I Fell For You,” “I Ain’t Blue” and “Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead” all would have—check that, should have—been huge hits for Raitt. While the overall sound of the album is unpolished due to it being recorded live to four-track, it does capture the essence of the music, and suggests that Raitt was far more mature than her age suggested.
Even her cover choices seem inspired. Who would think to turn Buffalo Springfield’s “Bluebird” into a blues tune? Who could have made Robert Johnson’s “Walking Blues” into her own track? And covering a forgotten blues legend like Sippie Wallace to close the album with “Women Be Wise”? Raitt does all of this successfully… and then some.
The only real weakness to Bonnie Raitt is the overall rough sound to the production. I could raise issues about the lack of a stable backing band, but the truth is whoever is featured on the track in question is able to properly contribute to the song and sound. I could say I’d have liked Raitt’s slide guitar mixed a little higher, but that’s nitpicking.
Chances are most people never discovered Raitt until she finally achieved commercial success with Nick Of Time. One listen to Bonnie Raitt and I guarantee people will be asking why she hadn’t been properly discovered 20 years prior—and, truth be told, it’s a fair and valid question. Don’t wait any longer… discover this one now.