Give It Up

Bonnie Raitt

album cover

The First Flicker of Raitt Greatness

All the qualities that made Bonnie Raitt's Nick of Time (1989) a multi-Grammy-winning smash hit—the sneaky slide-guitar asides, the confiding relationship odes, the stoic, slightly troubled vocals—are present, in more concentrated form, on her second album, Give It Up (1972).

Both offer joyful, effortless-sounding pop songs and uncommonly touching ballads—the last song on Give It Up, the plaintive "Love Has No Pride," has been a cornerstone of Raitt's live shows ever since. And both depend on Raitt's deeply felt yet pretension-free vocals—she's part wise blues belter and part '70s earth mama, with a pinch of Ma Rainey and a dash of Janis Joplin.

But there's a key difference between the works, and it has to do with recording methodology: Nick of Time was made in the Age of Overdubs, when record makers with substantial budgets hunkered down for months in the studio, assembling songs by layering instruments one atop another. It's unassailably polished, if a tad numb-sounding when compared with the loose Give It Up, which was made with a small group of musicians huddled together in pursuit of a groove, in real time.

Here's Bonnie Raitt before stardom came calling, when she could cut loose with a mean and greasy rhythm section, adding little quips of tasty guitar to the proceedings. Her spare, barbed-wire lines sit perfectly inside the beat, coaxing out greatness from all around her. Beneath Raitt's words, there's a rich parallel musical dialogue under way, lively exchanges of little ideas and happy accidents that demonstrate what can happen when everyone locks into the same musical frequency in the same moment. It's not an exotic approach—thousands of records share the Give It Up give-and-take—but in the age of music assembled on computers, it sure can feel that way.

Genre: Rock
Released: 1972, Warner Bros.
Key Tracks: "Love Me like a Man," "Give It Up or Let Me Go," "Too Long at the Fair," "Love Has No Pride"
Catalog Choice: Green Light; Nick of Time
Next Stop: J.J. Cale: Troubadour
After That: Shelby Lynne: I Am Shelby Lynne
Book Pages: 629–630