Nick of Time

Nick of Time
Studio album by Bonnie Raitt
Released	March 21, 1989
Recorded	Oceanway, Capitol, Hollywood Sound & The Record Plant
Genre	Rock
Length	42:31
Label	Capitol
Producer	Don Was
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (B) link
Bonnie Raitt chronology
Nine Lives (1986) Nick of Time (1989) Luck of the Draw (1991)

Nick of Time is the tenth blues rock album by Bonnie Raitt, released on March 21, 1989.

Nick of Time topped the Billboard 200 chart, selling five million copies, and won three Grammy Awards, including Album Of The Year. In 2003, the album was ranked number 229 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Background

Before work began on Nick of Time, Raitt had been courted by several major labels.^{[citation needed]} It was during this time^{[citation needed]} that Raitt met producer Don Was through Hal Wilner, who was putting together Stay Awake, a tribute album to Disney music for A&M. Was and Wilner both wanted Raitt to sing lead on an adult-contemporary arrangement of "Baby Mine" (the lullaby from Dumbo) created by Was. Raitt was very pleased with the sessions, and she asked Was to produce her next album.^{[citation needed]}

Track listing

1. "Nick of Time" (Raitt) – 3:52
2. "Thing Called Love" (John Hiatt) – 3:52
3. "Love Letter" (Bonnie Hayes) – 4:04
4. "Cry on My Shoulder" (Michael Ruff) – 3:44
5. "Real Man" (Jerry Lynn Williams) – 4:27
6. "Nobody's Girl" (Larry John McNally) – 3:14
7. "Have A Heart" (Bonnie Hayes) – 4:50
8. "Too Soon to Tell" (Rory Michael Bourke, Mike Reid) – 3:45
9. "I Will Not Be Denied" (Jerry Lynn Williams) – 4:55
10. "I Ain't Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again" (David Lasley, Julie Lasley) – 2:38
11. "The Road's My Middle Name" (Raitt) – 3:31

Personnel

Production

• Producer: Don Was
• Engineer: Ed Cherney
• Assistant engineers: Clark Germain, Leslie Ann Jones, Jim Mitchell, Charles Paakkari, Martin Schmelzle
• Mixing: Ed Cherney
• Mastering: Greg Fulginiti, Steve Hoffman
• Production manager: Roberta Ballard
• Pre-production: Marcia McGovern
• Art direction: Tommy Steele
• Photography: Deborah Frankel
• Hair stylist: Gina Furth
• Make-up: Paul Starr

Comments from Raitt

Raitt holding the three Grammys she won for Nick of Time.

In 1989:^{[citation needed]}

"I wanted to make a record that was more like Give It Up. It's a return to roots, as it were. It's been really refreshing for me to play a lot of guitar and just go back to stripped down production...In many ways this is like a first album. It's for a new label and getting all of this attention and critical acclaim. And it's my first sober album. My first single and sober album, being this age and being straight...."

In 1991, about the album's three Grammy Awards:^{[citation needed]}

"It was just so unexpected. I figured I might win the 'Rock-Female' award, that the record did well enough and people were gonna give me sort of a career nod: 'Alright Bonnie, you got your [act] together. Got a new label, you wrote a song straight — hallelujah — let's give you a prize.' Kind of a pat on the back. But the others were beyond belief. I wasn't even there the rest of the night, after the album won. Ella Fitzgerald was reading my name! I mean, I'll never get over it as long as I live."