Fundamental

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Fundamental Features

• Bonnie Raitt- Fundamental

About Fundamental

Amazon.com Bonnie Raitt's marvelous voice, saucy grooves, and singing slide guitar are this album's fundamentals. But these 11 love songs are more than a back-to-basics exercise. Coproducers Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake help Raitt create the edgiest arrangements she's ever had. Which explains the dry, in-your-face vocal sound of "Round and Round" and the near-naked framing of the best guitar solos, like Los Lobos' David Hidalgo's probing Jimmie Vaughan masquerade on "Cure for Love." Raitt herself plays a rippling African-style melody line on "One Belief Away." And the jittery guitar break and pumping piano on "I Need Love" threaten to knock the tune's tonal center to pieces. Her lyrics are crafty, too, whether she's calling down the furies as she opts for another spin on the flaming "Spit of Love" or feeling romance tug like quicksand in "Cure for Love." A little weird, maybe, but commanding, wise, real, and beautiful. --Ted Drozdowski Product description Bonnie Raitt ~ Fundamental Review Unfortunately, while [Raitt's] voice remains a marvel of the aging process, Fundamental is hampered by pleasant but slight melodies. . . . -- Entertainment Weekly [Bonnie Raitt] enlists producers Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake on a quest for the fundamental things.... The material flattens slightly about halfway through and the production gets straighter as well.... But in a musical world where "everything's carefully prearranged," Raitt has thrown a Birkenstock in the works, and the clatter sounds like life itself. -- Rolling Stone [T]he heart of [Fundamental], by a 48-year-old slide-guitarist whose simmering, big-girl blues sound remains as seductive as ever, can be found in two songs ... "Meet Me Half Way" and "I'm on Your Side." Both are state-of-the-heart explorations, given at a relationship's midterm when the future can go either way. -- [T]here is always a reassuring sense of quality that permeates whatever [Bonnie Raitt] touches. Fundamental ... is no exception.... She may be coasting, but she's still a classy performer. -- What the Critics Say