Slipstream

1. 01Used to Rule the World4:13
2. 02Right Down the Line5:28
3. 03Million Miles6:22
4. 04You Can't Fail Me Now4:16
5. 05Down to You3:57
6. 06Take My Love With You4:21

Slipstream provides ample proof of just how much fans have missed Bonnie Raitt since 2005's Souls Alike. The album was recorded over a period of a year at Ocean Way in Hollywood and at Joe Henry's Garfield House. The four tracks cut at Henry's studio in 2010 and 2011 include two of his own songs, and two covers of Bob Dylan tunes ("Million Miles" and "Standing in the Doorway") from the latter's Time Out of Mind. Raitt's voice has never sounded better. She's expanded her lower range with an expressiveness that is soulful, rich, and rings emotionally true -- though she's sacrificed none of her higher register. Her voice can command and reveal a devastating tenderness. Guest Bill Frisell appears on three tunes here. He's on both Dylan tunes and his lyrical, lovely touch is also heard on her definitive reading of the Henry/Loudon Wainwright III tune "You Can't Fail Me Now." On "Million Miles," the interplay between Frisell's signature tone and Raitt's nasty electric slide work is symbiotic. On the latter, Raitt's voice sounds like it's inside the human heart at its most open and willfully defenseless vulnerability. It reminds us of what made her readings of "Love Has No Pride" and "I C…