SOME compilations flatter, some temporarily build up a career all over again (think The Beautiful South's Carry On Up The Charts).
Others act as a nice reminder of a career decently spent. Bonnie Raitt has been a long-time toiler and traveller in American music, starting out in the 1970s, when she recorded eight albums for Warner. This "best of" is, strictly speaking, no such beast - because it confines itself to the Capitol years, starting in 1989, with Nick Of Time. Songs from that album include Thing Called Love, by John Hiatt (another toiler and traveller with dust on his shoes). Eighteen songs in all from the flame-haired singer-songwriter, with highlights being a cover of Richard Thompson's Dimming Of The Day and the three live tracks, especially Love Me Like A Man. Raitt is a notable slide guitarist and these concert performances resonate with excitement. Many of the other songs lack this tingle factor, tending to the work-woman-like.
Updated: 12:13 Thursday, July 24, 2003
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