Green Light (Bonnie Raitt album)



Green Light is the eighth album by Bonnie Raitt, released in 1982.

"What I wanted this time out was a combination of the music I've been listening to recently," Raitt said in 1982, "Billy Burnette, the Blasters, Rockpile, and the rock-a-billy New Wave scene. I knew I had to get away from the slick sound I had with the Peter Asher record...I was a little stung by the lack of response to The Glow. And I was disappointed by not being able to make a record that sounded the way I wanted it to sound. Moving to Shangri-la, I wanted to get back to the roots and to the funkiness I had on earlier records, even though I'm not crazy about how they sound. They sound like I was having a lot more fun than I really was. Green Light is the first album I actually had fun doing."

Green Light earned Raitt her strongest reviews in years, with critic Robert Christgau writing that "on The Glow the present-day female interpreter refused to die, and now she does even better by the suspect notion of good ol' you-know-what. The strength of [Green Light] runs too deep to rise up and grab you all at once, so you might begin with "Me and the Boys", arch as usual from NRBQ but formally advanced pull-out-the-stops (with all postfeminist peculiarities accounted for) when Bonnie and the boys get down on it."

According to Raitt, the album's hard-rock approach came as a surprise to some of her peers. "Well, a lot of my friends thought I had moved to the beach and turned into Gidget. But it's not like I suddenly became an airhead. I needed to lighten up a bit, that's all. I was laughing all the time, having a lot of fun, hanging out at this funky old studio that had hippie blankets hanging from the ceiling. Now I'm getting some feedback from people who feel the same way that I do about rock and roll. Then there are other, more conservative friends whom I've known for years who still wish I was sitting in a chair playing acoustic guitar."

Track listing

 * 1) "Keep This Heart in Mind" (Fred Marrone, Steve Holsapple)– 3:20
 * 2) "River of Tears" (Eric Kaz) – 4:54
 * 3) "Can't Get Enough" (Raitt, Walt Richmond) – 2:51
 * 4) "Willya Wontcha" (Johnny Lee Schell) – 3:22
 * 5) "Let's Keep It Between Us" (Bob Dylan) – 4:43
 * 6) "Me and the Boys" (Terry Adams) – 3:38
 * 7) "I Can't Help Myself" (Ricky Fataar, Ray Ohara, Raitt, Johnny Lee Schell) – 3:06
 * 8) "Baby Come Back" (Eddy Grant) – 2:48
 * 9) "Talk to Me" (Jerry Lynn Williams) – 3:22
 * 10) "Green Lights" (Terry Adams, Joey Spampinato) – 3:14

Personnel
with:
 * Bonnie Raitt - guitar, vocals, background vocals, slide guitar
 * The Bump Band
 * Ian "Mac" McLagan - guitar, keyboard
 * Johnny Lee Schell - organ, guitar, percussion, autoharp, keyboard, vocals, background vocals
 * Ray Ohara - bass
 * Ricky Fataar - percussion, drums, vocals, background vocals
 * Steve Raitt - vocals, background vocals
 * Melanie Rosales - vocals, background vocals
 * William D. "Smitty" Smith - organ, keyboard on "Let's Keep It Between Us"
 * Rick Vito - additional guitar
 * Mac James - additional guitar on "Baby Come Back"
 * David Woodford - saxophone
 * Rob Fraboni - percussion on "Can't Get Enough"
 * Jackson Browne - vocals, background vocals on "Keep This Heart in Mind"
 * Vince Gill - vocals, background vocals on "I Can't Help Myself"
 * Richard Manuel - vocals, harmony vocals on "Rivers of Tears"

Production

 * Producer: Rob Fraboni
 * Engineers: Terry Becker, Tim Kramer
 * Mastering: Mike Reese
 * Remastering supervisor: Ed Cherney
 * Remastering: Keith Blake, Gregg Geller
 * Project coordinator: Jo Motta
 * Assistant: Thom Yuill
 * Art direction: Tim Ritchie
 * Design: Mac James
 * Photography: John Livzey

Charts
Album - Billboard (America)

Singles - Billboard (America)