Two singles were released from the album, a cover of Gerry Rafferty's "Right Down the Line", and "Used to Rule the World", both of which charted on the Billboard Triple A chart.[14] The album also spawned a highly successful concert tour. The Slipstream Tour was the 82nd best-selling American tour of 2012 earning 11.3 million dollars and selling 201,313 tickets.[15]
Critical reception
Slipstream received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 74 based on 13 reviews, which indicates "generally favourable reviews".[1]
Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly called Slipstream a"superb...mix of rock, blues, folk, and funk" and "The singer's best album since 1975's underrated Home Plate.[7] Allen Morrison of American Songwriter also claimed "Slipstream is Bonnie Raitt’s best album in years and one of the best of her 40-year career."[3] The Columbus Dispatch noted "Slipstream does represent a split decision, between the quiet anguish of the Joe Henry-produced tracks and the rockers written by Al Anderson and other bluesy compatriots. But this combination of musical approaches doesn’t seem frenzied. In Raitt’s hands, it’s all chicken soup for the middle-aged-rocker soul."[16]
Holly Gleason of Paste wrote "It’s been seven years since Bonnie Raitt released Souls Alike, and a lot of life has happened. Losing her parents, brother and a best friend has left the veteran blues/soul rocker with plenty to think about—and that pensiveness colors Slipstream with knowing acceptance, nuanced takes on loss and a grace that finds splendor in the raw places."[8] Thom Jurek of Allmusic wrote "There are a few lesser moments, but they don't distract; Slipstream reveals Raitt at another creative peak."[2] Simon Gage of the Daily Express declared "this eclectic album, her first in seven years..touches on blues, reggae, old-school soul and rock....The voice is as loaded with emotion as ever and the songs of the highest calibre with work by Bob Dylan and Loudon Wainwright III among them."[9]
The album was placed at No. 22 on Rolling Stone's list of the top 50 albums of 2012. With the magazine remarking "As young stars like Adele and Katy Perry cover her songs, Raitt continues what she’s been doing, more or less, for 40-plus years: Pick a bunch of smart, tender tunes by great writers (Slipstream includes a pair by Bob Dylan), add one or two of her own, and sing them in a soulful ache, dotted by her casual slideguitar punctuations.."[17]
Debuting at No. 6 on the Billboard 200, Slipstream became Raitt's highest-charting album in 18 years.[19] It also debuted at No. 1 on both the Rock Albums and Blues Albums charts.[20][21] selling around 63,000 copies. The album has sold 334,000 albums in the US as of January 2016.[22]
Slipstream became the 106th best-selling album and 9th best-selling independent album in the United States in 2012.[23][24]Slipstream was also the best-selling Blues album of 2012, and Bonnie Raitt was the best-selling Blues artist of 2012.[25][26]
