Souls Alike

Bonnie Raitt | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 13, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B0009ZE9K8
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,715 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #37 in Music > Blues > Slide Guitar

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

After almost 35 years of recording, Bonnie Raitt knows exactly who she is and what she wants, as Souls Alike, the first self-produced album of her career, attests. Though Raitt wrote none of the material, the selection bears her imprint and highlights both her strengths and her range. The album's opening "I Will Not Be Broken" provides the sort of signature, stick-to-your-guns affirmation for Raitt that "My Way" did for Frank Sinatra and "I Won't Back Down" did for Tom Petty. Two songs written by pianist Jon Cleary, "Love on One Condition" and "Unnecessary Mercenary," reflect the Little Feat-in-New Orleans side to Raitt's music, while the reggae underpinnings of "God Was in the Water," the electro-worldbeat of "Deep Water," and the slide-guitar funk of "Trinkets" find her settling naturally into a variety of grooves. Though she makes a sharp left turn into the sonic surrealism of "Crooked Crown," she returns to the reflective balladry that has marked her musical maturity with "So Close," "I Don't Want Anything to Change," and the jazzy sophistication of the closing "The Bed I Made." While there are few surprises here, the album ranks with the most soul-satisfying of Raitt's career. --Don McLeese

Recommended Bonnie Raitt

Nick of Time	Give It Up	Takin' My Time
Luck of the Draw	Silver Lining	Road Tested

Product Description

Japanese pressing of the 18th album in this Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's remarkable career features the earliest release. It's her first album ever to bear the credit Produced by Bonnie Raitt. The album features sounds ranging from the swampy groove and electronic loops of 'Deep Water' to the crystalline lament 'I Don't Want Anything to Change'. Throughout, Raitt's unparalleled slide guitar playing is pushed to sizzling new heights. Songs like 'The Bed I Made' and the edgy, angular 'Crooked Crown' address complex emotions-thorny, adult themes. The first single lifted from the album is 'I Will Not Be Broken'. EMI. 2005. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bonnie's Strongest Set In A While, September 24, 2005

By 

Juan Mobili (Valley Cottage, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Souls Alike (Audio CD)

It is amazing, when you think about it, that Souls Alike marks the 35th year of Raitt's recording career. Whether you worship everything she does or not, she has been a great example of artistic loyalty to one's own musical path.

That said, there are two facts about this album worth highlighting right away: these songs are her strongest set, possibly, since her breakthrough "In The Nick Of Time" and, secondly, you shouldn't expect a dramatic departure from what Bonnie has offered you so far.

What makes this album a solid four stars is that it gathers some of Raitt's most inspired slide guitar work in years as well as melodies sung so masterfully that they could belong to the famous album mentioned above.
Stand-outs are "I Will Not Be Broken," "God Was In the Water," "I Don't Want Anything to Change" "Deep Water" and, probably the best song in the album, "The Bed I Made." In addition to Raitt's delivery, these songs are also great examples of dead-on arrangements and production, and the work of a band that understands Bonnie's message and had the chops to provide the right mood whether the tunes had to rock or an intimate sound was needed.

Altogether, these songs showed Bonnie Raitt affirming the path she's chosen, honest and hard-earned stories of a woman who's at peace with herself and not about to sway from who she is.
Those who loved everything she does may find my rating harsh, for them this may be five stars, hands down. Still, whether you are one of them or not, this album should be enough reason to believe that she "will not be broken" nor will she stop telling it like it is.

53 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Floating Free, September 26, 2005

By 

Lee Armstrong (Winterville, NC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Souls Alike (Audio CD)

One of Bonnie Raitt's talents has always been to seek out excellent songwriters. Randall Bramblett's "Thin Places" is an excellent disc as is "No More Mr. Lucky" from which "God Was in the Water" opens this "Souls Alike" set. Its mystical lyric with a melody that oozes as much as rocks is a diamond, "Sittin' in a tiny boat driftin' on the mindless sea; & if I disappear, at least I'm floating free." Maybe my favorite track is "Love on One Condition" penned by band member Jon Cleary with its bouncy beat & Bonnie's sassy tease on the vocal almost letting you hear her knowing wink, "I'll grant you love on one condition." Likewise bouncy, Lee Clayton (probably one of my FAVORITE unknown vocalists) and Pat McLaughlin (also a rave fave singer) penned "Two Lights in the Nighttime" with its catchy chorus and Bonnie's vocal, "Ain't nothin' that a fightin' heart won't do." Bonnie nails the track, assuring a long stay in my personal top ten! Gordon Kennedy (whose name often appears on songs that make me stop to find the songwriter) penned the opener "I Will Not Be Broken" with a determined delightful vocal by Bonnie, "What is freedom if I can't be me?" Maia Sharp whose work with Art Garfunkel and her 3 solo CDs are among my favorites co-wrote three of the tracks on this disc as she did on the title track for the Dixie Chicks' "Home." "Crooked Crown" is one of the most musically experimental tracks with an unsettling dissonance that crunches over the equally distinctive lyric, "My prodigy & my idiot play for the prize of my delicate line; somehow the score at the end of the day is still 51-49." Sharp's "I Don't Want Anything to Change" has a sad loose lonely end-of-the-day feel. The Maia-penned closer "The Bed I Made" is a smoky neo-torch song that Bonnie enhances with her aching vocal, "The wine dark room, the flashing eyes that hung me from my string of lies." "Souls Alike" has no weak tracks. It shows Raitt experimenting within her format, playing with an excellent band, finding excellent material & polishing it to a fine luster. Enjoy!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great album, August 23, 2006

By 

Nancy (Baltimore, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Souls Alike (Audio CD)

I am astounded that there are Bonnie Raitt fans that don't like this album!` Well, to each his own.. I fell in love with Bonnie Raitt in the early 90's with "Nick of Time,"- then found the older albums to be even better. Forgot about Ms Raitt for awhile-then heard "Unnecessarily Mercenary" on a local college radio station last week . This new CD is just fantastic-great mix of songs. Lyrics on "Trinkets" are cool...Check this out.