Right Down The Line

It sure was nice to see a new album from Bonnie Raitt recently. "Slipstream" has all the good stuff you'd expect from Bonnie, yet she's also managed to update and punch up her signature sound, no small feat for any musician.

Bonnie has a history of making savvy choices of older songs to cover. She's re-invented quite a few songs over the years; in some cases making them more identifiable with herself than with the original artist, such as "Angel From Montgomery", written by John Prine, or the rockin' title track from her 1982 album, "Green Light", borrowed from NRBQ. Incidentally, former NRBQ guitarist Al Anderson penned no less than three new songs for "Slipstream". There's also songs form Bob Dylan, Loudon Wainwright III and Randall Bramblett; not a slouch in the bunch.

The subject at hand today is her reggae-fied version of the Gerry Rafferty tune, "Right Down The Line". It's not only the second track on "Slipstream", but it's the first single released from the album, so Bonnie's not shy about leading with a good cover. This song will soon be a highlight of her live shows, if it's not already. Enjoy!

 

1978 was a breakthrough year for Gerry Rafferty. His album, "City To City" was a huge hit, thanks to the hugely successful singles "Baker Street" and today's feature, "Right Down The Line", which made it to #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Rafferty had tasted success previously with Stealers Wheel, back in 1973. That bands' debut album featured the hit "Stuck In The Middle With You", which enjoyed a revival from its use in a memorable scene from the 1992 motion picture, "Reservoir Dogs". Their four albums were produced by the legendary songwriting team of Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller. Former Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick recorded the 1st album. Sounds like they had everything going for them.

Although often overshadowed by "Baker Street", "Right Down The Line" has earned a place of its own in pop history.

In September 2011, EMI issued a remastered 2 disc collector's edition of "City To City" featuring previously unheard demo versions of "Baker Street" and other tracks from the album. You can find it at Amazon, for about 6 bucks new, along with all the Bonnie Raitt music you can handle.