Tim Brough's Black Leather Bookshelf

Don't Hate Yourself for Loving Her
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Joan Jett is a true rock and roll survivor. After the crash of The Runaways, who were often derided as some kind of stunt/joke from Kim Fowley, she rose from the ashes, got rock impresario Neil Bogart to sign her, and released "Bad Reputation." While it was the second album, "I Love Rock and Roll" to really make the breaks happen, Joan rose from the ashes and has kept her career going into the next century. This two disc Greatest Hits anthology is a super way to find out just how (and why) she never went down without a fight.

First off, she dusts off a couple of Runaways tracks, "Cherry Bomb" "School Days" and "You Drive Me Wild" show that The Runaways were perfectly capable of turning out decent rock songs, and Jett takes them over with authority. She's had a knack for doing that from the start, as her choice selection of cover songs has always shown. Here you get "Do You Wanna Touch," "Crimson and Clover," "Everyday People," "AC/DC" (the Sweet song, not the band, although her version of "Dirty Deeds" could have fit nicely), and her explosive version of a song Bruce Springsteen handed over to her, "Light Of Day." Oh yeah, and an obscure song from a band called The Arrows, "I Love Rock and Roll." OK, so we've established that Jett has eclectic tastes in rock artists, but what about her own songs?

"Why should I care about a Bad Reputation?" she barked out on her debut LP. Indeed, she rocks without giving a darn about what the world thought of her. She mixed hard rock, punk energy and glam, sometimes in the same song. There's a direct line from "Do You Wanna Touch" to "I Hate Myself for Loving You." You can't deny the kiss off of "Fake Friends." Or a subversive sense of humor by recording "Love Is All Around" (the theme to the Mary Tyler Moore show) and punking it up. Jett proves she can still cook with a pair of songs from 2006's "Sinner," one of which is a gas of a redo of The Replacements' "Androgynous."

"Greatest Hits" has 21 songs between the two CD's, so there's not much to quibble about (and I am guessing Epic records kept control as very little of those years are represented). But for an enduring talent of Joan Jett's caliber, you'll get your money's worth from this set.

Gaslighting
5 Out of 5 Stars

This is the album that pulls it all together for The Gaslight Anthem. I have to admit, my fondness for "American Slang" has grown in the time since I've owned it, and if I had to re-rate it, I'd bump it to 4 stars. "Handwritten" finally culminates all the band's influences (Nirvana, Tom Petty, Springsteen) and forges them into a band identity. That alone makes "Handwritten" the TGA's best to date.

That's not all the group is about. There's an energy that producer Brendon O'Brien (Pearl Jam, Springsteen) has managed to harness that previous TGA discs haven't. The eleven songs here unleash a punkish racket at times, but remain lyrically focused while asking a lot of questions. In fact, almost every song starts off with a question, including "What's Your Favorite Song?" on the title track. But the questioning is sincere, and when they drop the adrenaline for a benediction ballad about a thinning relationship ("National Anthem"), it's good enough to make you tear up. The Gaslight Anthem are the kind of band that, should you see them in a local pub, would either have you raising your bottle clenched by your pumping fist, or crying in your beer over how damn good they are and how rare a band that rocks like they mean it seems to be these days.

The deluxe edition contains three bonus tracks that return the the bands' roots. One is a TGA original, but it's the other two that are telling. First up is Nirvana's "Sliver" (aka, "Grandma take me home"), and the Kurt Cobain resemblance is stunning. Then a straightforward version of Tom Petty's "You Got Lucky," one of Petty's darker singles. Singer Brian Fallon finds the everyman melodrama that Petty has always known, and milks the song for all he can. That everyman vibe infuses so much of "Handwritten" that you can't help but love it. Like a lot of the artists mentioned in this review (maybe John Mellencamp or Against Me on "New Wave"), TGA know that their listeners are probably still in that bar, clutching that bottle, and getting on when a band sings more about them than glitz and glamor. Already a best of for 2012.


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Get yourself a song to sing
4 Out Of 5 Stars
Bruce Springsteen is one cross Boss. He sees the country going to hell, he feels the pain of his best friend's death, and he's got a few things he wants to get off his chest. Suits me fine. After the tepid "Working on a Dream" and "Magic," Springsteen gets a belly full of fire and breathes it out on "Wrecking Ball." Every song here is the Bruce we've missed when he sang stuff like "Queen of The Supermarket" or "Girls in Their Summer Clothes." This is Springsteen of "Born In The USA" and "The Rising," the mature, fighting fit man who isn't afraid to speak his mind.

That's obvious from the first song, "We Take Care Of Our Own." If Bruce picked up anything from "The Seger Sessions," it was that a protest song can be as unambiguous as it is forceful. Tightwired between rah-rah patriotism and WTF happened to us ferocity, Bruce tears into a nation "between the shotgun shacks and the superdome," where "the Calvary never came" before neatly tying it to the chorus of "Wherever this Flag is flown, we take care of our own." That old sap Ronnie Reagan could have mistook it for a campaign anthem like he did "Born in The USA." No-one, though, will confuse the vulture capitalists of "Death to My Hometown" with jingoism. It's all but an anthem for the occupy crowd (complete with guest shots from Tom Morello on featured songs).

As for his Big Man, "Land of Hope and Dreams" says it all. If you can't pull it from the heartfelt tribute written on the CD's inner booklet, then let the rising organ and gospel wails will. Like the acoustic tribute "Terry's Song" (the hidden track on "Magic"), it captures the essence of a lifelong friendship in the way I think a lot of Clarence Clemmons' fans would have been hoping for. "Wrecking Ball" is the Springsteen we thought may have gone missing. Yet, like the titular object for which this disc is named, he is crashing through or expectations once again.





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Mellencamp Takes Control
3 Out Of 5 Stars

In 1982, John Mellencamp finally became the big star he had been pitched as when "American Fool" rose to number one on the Billboard album charts. Mellencamp, who was still John Cougar at the time, ditched the overproduction of his first series of albums and stripped the sound down to a bare-bones Stonesy swagger. Also, while Mellencamp had shown some decency as a songwriter with Springsteen/Seger aspirations, his previous albums had yet to deliver more than a handful of decent songs ("I Need a Lover," "Miami," "This Time" come to mind). Not so on "American Fool."

The original side one of the album exploded with two moments of pure brilliance. Both "Hurts So Good" and "Jack & Diana" captured all the elements of Mellencamp's idols; "Hurts" for the Stones like "Start Me Up" riff and "Jack & Diane" for the Springsteen heartland melodrama. Plus, each was catchy as the best singles of the period, when radio was essentially dominated by the likes of "Thriller." Even "Hand To Hold On To," the album's third single, boasted a killer hook. Add the tenderness of "Weakest Moments," and you had the first album where Mellencamp could boost his songwriting prowess. His band, which included guitarist Larry Crane and power drummer Kenny Aronoff, was also hitting a fresh peak, adding the album with some much needed muscle.

However, they still had not completely gelled. The remainder of the album starts to blend together too much ("Can You Take It" is all but a re-write of "Hurt So Good," "Thundering Hearts" doesn't meet the Springsteen/Seger standard Mellencamp is obviously aiming for, etc). He'd now offered living proof that he was more than hype, and he'd make another huge leap by the next album "Uh Huh," when he'd ultimately reclaim his Mellencamp name. But just for "Hurts So Good" and "Jack and Diane," John "Cougar" could now show that he could deliver stalwart American Rock.

PS - The bonus pseudo-title song bonus is so-so, and he'd ultimately steal some of the lyric for "Crumblin' Down."