Time and The Nick of Time 3 out of 5 Stars
The stars aligned for Bonnie Raitt and her tenth album. A new record company (Capitol) that was hot to break her after a couple decades of cult status, a hot producer (Don Was) and a batch of songs tailored to her rough but tender pop-blues style. Combined with a couple great videos (especially Dennis Quaid in "Thing Called Love"), and things just seemed right. Suddenly, "Nick Of Time
" started selling in tonnage and Bonnie Raitt jumped from critical darling to stadium act. Add the the self-penned title song captured a worried baby-boomers' aging zeitgeist, and the album suddenly became Grammy bait. (See also Genius Loves Company 
and Raising Sand
.) After all, the academy loves a good comeback story if the music is as firmly middle of the road as is "Nick of Time." Was helped in that department by smoothing everything up to a fine polish. If you compare Raiit's gently rolling "Thing Called Love" to John Hiatt's spiky original, you'd see what I mean. Fellow cult singer Bonnie Hayes
got a sudden rush of exposure by having two songs included, the sweet "Have A Heart" (plucked as the theme to a Bob Hoskins movie) and the surly "Love Letters." Jerry Williams' "Real Man" also highlights Raitt's smooth, honest style. The original first half of the album remains a flawless set. It sent Raitt home from the 1989 Grammys with a pack of awards, including album of the year. It also set up the successful pattern for following albums, including the delight of Luck of the Draw
.
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