Nine Lives (Remastered)

Many people criticize this one for being too ‘80s. This was not a great time in Bonnie’s career, but it’s worth checking out to hear Bonnie’s voice in a variety of contexts (rock, reggae, pop). I like the rock sounds of No Way To Treat A Lady and Running Back To Me, the Caribbean rhythm of Who But A Fool (Let a Thief Into Paradise, and the ballad Angel.

Nine Lives is about as “80’s” as Bonnie Raitt ever got. Certain tracks such as “Runnin’ Back To Me” and “Who But A Fool” and “Freezin’"contain dated synthesizer sounds but this album does contain a few standout tracks such as the opening “No Way To Treat A Lady” and the reggae-tingled “Good Love Is Hard To Find” - both of which are available on her first greatest hits installment The Bonnie Raitt Collection. “Stand Up To The Night” is very 80’s with it’s dark arena rock feel, and though it does not compare with any of Raitt’s best work, it is still a standout track for this particular album.

Many of these songs, Who but a fool, Crimes of passion, Angel, have that trademark Bonnie passion somewhere in there but the production just was not up to Bonnie Raitt standards. Sure it was well into the 80's and Bonnie's music was dated for this time(the 1970's history at this point in time), she struggled for recording material, but always a big talent on stage. Looking back all these years I've got to say she sure had a great voice, just needed some material worthy of her talents, she found it a few years later with Baby Mine and the Nick of Time sessions. Worth putting into your collection, I've always found Who but a fool such a funky, soulful tune played loud, you hear Bonnie's passions and what was to come.

Stand Up To The Night is the only song worth the money. It is totally lame, but 80's cool!