Five years since the release of her comeback album "Back To The Drive", Suzi Quatro delivers one of her most satisfying albums yet on the indie label Cherry Red Records, who recently re-released some of her early 70's albums.
And indeed she goes back to her roots of straight, anthemic, no frills radio-killing rock on this album. Produced by Mike Chapman, this album is sure to hook the kids into her universe as well as take the older listeners back to a time when music could grab you by the balls and brain alike and get you rocking out on the dancefloor.
Opening with the stompy rocker "A Girl Like Me", it has a killer chorus reminiscent of Robert Palmer's "Bad Case Of Loving You" and big dirty guitar work courtesy of one of Chapman's more recent proteges Natalie Allison.
"Whatever Love Is" is a more 80's soft rock affair with great introspective lyrics, and "Spotlight" follows on in the adult orientated rock ballad vein with dreamy synths, a lighter-waving chorus and a melody which owes a bit to Max Merrit & The Meteors 1976 smash hit "Slipping Away".
Just when you think that this album is going to be a solely adults music affair, the pace changes to show that Quatro has been keeping up with some of the more recent girl pop trends. She covers Goldfrapp's "Strict Machine" in a great glam boogie style and cheekily weaves a "Can the Can honey" line towards the end, and the momentum is made even better with the cover of Rihanna's "Breaking Dishes" which is an appealing mix of 70's rock combined with the R&B sensibilities of the original.
The next track is my personal favourite from the album "Rosie Rose", as it was the first track that I heard from the album a couple of years ago on Mike Chapman's MySpace website. Opening with some chinking clicky guitar scrubs, she yells "Do you love me?!", whilst the chords take on the same progression of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" to a more funky shuffly beat. Great vocals which are amongst her most aggressive.
"Hurt With You" is a reggae affair about an Australian fan whom she is particularly close to, and the only track to use brass. Almost sounds like the sequel to her 1978 hit "The Race Is On". The next two tracks "Hot Kill" and "Turn Into" take a bit of time to get used to, but the album quickly picks up again with a furiously fast jiving cover of "Hard Headed Woman" which finishes off the album nicely.
For Australian fans, the closing track is one of Quatro's finest ballads ever and her most poignant. "Singing With Angels" is an acoustic guitar affair about her undying love for Elvis Presley featuring his backing singers The Jordinaires doing the harmony and backing vocals. I felt a lump in my throat when she performed this song at Twin Towns Services Club in 2009 with her horn section doing the harmonies, I'm pretty sure that Elvis will be smiling upon her if he can hear this song in the heavens.
This album definitely shows that Suzi still has what it takes to be every rock fan's girl, and even at the age of 61 she shows no signs of slowing down. Once you're in the spotlight, everyone wants to see you at your best.
Friday, August 19, 2011
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