In the Nick of Time

by James ChrispellIn the Nick of Time was much more highly polished than Nicolette Larson's first effort. Here, Nicolette Larson is backed up by a crack team of L.A. studio musicians, and the results are sort of mixed. True, she doesn't suffer from the dreaded sophomore jinx that plagues so many first hit artists, but In the Nick of Time doesn't have that wow-charm that Larson did. Her styles have broadened even more here to include '40s dance tunes alongside Motown sure-fire hits and '50s rockin'. While nothing here grabs the listener's attention, there is plenty of fine listening in store. Larson even co-wrote the title cut and was helped out by such stellar friends as Karla Bonoff and Michael McDonald, who duets with her on his own "Let Me Go, Love," which comes off as an almost too slick cut for the listener to grab hold of. Culled from the late '70s Hollywood slick machine, In the Nick of Time could use a little dirt to help make it all sound just a bit more real.