Album Review:
Takin' My Time
- Release Date: 1973
- Genre: Rock
- Label: Rhino
- Total Time: 37:37
- Artist: Bonnie Raitt
- Rating:
- Styles: Pop/Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Blues-Rock
- Similar Albums:
Woodstock I , The Definitive Collection, Anyway the Wind Blows: The Anthology, Teaser and the Firecat, There Goes Rhymin' Simon, Son of Schmilsson, Special Edition, Troubadour, Travel Log
Review
This album is an overlooked gem in the catalog of Bonnie Raitt. On Takin' My Time, she wears her influences proudly in an eclectic musical mix containing blues, jazz, folk, New Orleans R&B, and calypso. Although she did not write her own material for this album, she demonstrates an excellent ear for songs and chooses material from some of the best songwriters of the day. She is a great interpreter, and her renditions of Jackson Browne's "I Thought I Was a Child" and Randy Newman's "Guilty" from this album are the definitive versions of these songs. The highlights of this album are the romantic ballads "I Gave My Love a Candle" and "Cry Like a Rainstorm," where Raitt adds an emotional depth to the performance unusual for such a young woman. (Perhaps that's a result of her spending time with elder statesmen of the blues community such as Mississippi Fred McDowell and Sippie Wallace.) Although the faster-paced songs like the calypso "Wah She Go Do" seem a little out of place, the playful tune is welcome among an album filled with the heartache of the slower tunes. Despite being a relative newcomer, Raitt had already earned the respect of her mentors and her peers, as evidenced by the musical contributions of Taj Mahal, and Little Feat members Lowell George and Bill Payne on the album. This is the last consistent album she would make until her comeback in the mid-'80s. ~ Vik Iyengar , All Music GuideTracks
| Track Title | iTunes | Composers | Performers | Time |
| You've Been in Love Too Long | Ivy Hunter, Clarence Paul, William "Mickey" Stevenson | Bonnie Raitt | (3:43) | |
| I Gave My Love a Candle | Joel Zoss | Bonnie Raitt | (4:20) | |
| Let Me In | Yvonne Baker, Alphonso Howell | Bonnie Raitt | (3:38) | |
| Everybody's Cryin' Mercy | Mose Allison | Bonnie Raitt | (3:29) | |
| Cry Like a Rainstorm | Eric Kaz | Bonnie Raitt | (3:55) | |
| Wah She Go Do | Bonnie Raitt | (3:12) | ||
| I Feel the Same |  |
Chris Smither | Bonnie Raitt | (4:40) |
| I Thought I Was a Child | Jackson Browne | Bonnie Raitt | (3:49) | |
| Write Me a Few of Your Lines/Kokomo Blues | Mississippi Fred McDowell | Bonnie Raitt | (3:36) | |
| Guilty | |
Randy Newman | Bonnie Raitt | (2:58) |
