Bonnie Raitt: The Best of

By GRAHAM REID

(Herald rating: * * * * )

Lately this flame-haired singer, songwriter and seminal slide guitarist

hasn't enjoyed the profile she once had here, especially in those few years around her early 90s show and the excellent albums Nick of Time, Luck of the Draw (which featured the saucy Something to Talk About and the aching I Can't Make You Love Me) and Longing in Their Hearts.

This 18-track collection includes those previously mentioned songs alongside her memorable treatments of John Hiatt's Thing Called Love and Lover's Will, Richard Thompson's melancholy Dimming of the Day, four songs from her '99 Silver Lining album (including the juju of Oliver Mtukudzi's Hear Me Lord and the David Gray-penned title track) and spots in three live tracks as a centrepiece: the solo blues of Love Me Like a Man, the duet with Bryan Adams on his Rock Steady, and the rocking blues I Believe I'm In Love With You with Fabulous Thunderbird harmonica player/singer Kim Wilson. A useful overview of her past decade which sits neatly alongside the 1990 Bonnie Raitt Collection covering her rather more gritty years.

Label: Capitol