#492: Nick of Time (Bonnie Raitt, 1989)

Bonnie Raitt waited 18 years for her breakthrough, which means that her career was the age of a legal adult by the time she hit it big. Perhaps this explains why this record is so at home in adult contemporary, the oft-maligned descendent of easy listening and home to such musical luminaries as Lionel Ritchie and Barry Manilow. Raitt surely has a gorgeous voice, rough and warm like a hastily constructed campfire, but she rarely raises your pulse on this album of sleepy country ballads and songs where she explains that she's no longer a young woman and as such desires a man of a similar age and disposition. The only time where this album briefly aroused my excitement was the intro to Real Man, which is not dissimilar to December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night). Only Raitt's singing and the competent orchestrations (including some excellent harmonica) save this album from being a complete write-off. 2/5.