Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - Sinner
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Free Music Notes for Sinner
Free Music Review: Joan Jett is finally back!
Hit: 4 Stars
And with an album that's quite good for a Joan Jett studio record. "Riddles" is a standard fare type of song (blues/rock) for Joan and good way to start the album. Following that we get the first single/video, a cover of The Sweet's "A.C.D.C." which she does very nicely (and the video is pretty darn good too). There is a slightly disappointing version of "Andrognyous", which sounds a bit watered down; it's shame because the song works so well in her live show. However, for the most part this album rocks, and in some cases - "Change The World" and "Tube Talkin" - it rocks hard and fast. Worth your time to pick this one up and enjoy.Free Music Review: Jett
Hit: 4 Stars
Now this is a pretty good return to form for Joan Jett. She still is able to deliver some great stuff. This time she also gets a more decent production that really packs some punch. Especiallly the single ACDC which is the highlight of the album with its punkish hard-rock feel. The rest sometimes tends to go into sludgy heavy metal but is still saved by her energy. Very good record.Free Music Review: Joan Jett still rocks!
Hit: 4 Stars
Even after all of these years, Joan Jett still knows what makes a good rock & roll album. After seeing her live in Champaign-Urbana in April '08, and being really impressed by the quality of her new songs, her new band, and her over-all live sound, I bought this album and wasn't disappointed. If you're a fan of her old stuff and her big hits, you won't be either.Free Music Review: Settling For Less With Joan Jett, Part 10
Hit: 3 Stars
Joan Jett, while being one of my all-time favorite performers, has the most inconsistent catalog of perhaps anyone whose career I've ever followed. For every fully-realized, hard-rocking disc (ALBUM, UP YOUR ALLEY) there's an example of a half-done, mixed-bag album that sounds like part rehearsal, part contractural obligation, and part god-i-need-some-money-quick. Case in point: after her absolutely killing 1994 Warner Brothers set, PURE AND SIMPLE, in which she pretty much blew everything else she had ever done away both writing-wise and sonically, she waited 5 years to deliver FETISH on her own Blackheart label, which consisted of two new songs, two live tracks, and 10 tracks that had been lifted from albums she released over 15 years earlier. Huh? Imagine Led Zeppelin re-releasing half the songs from their first album on "In Through The Out Door" with two new songs. Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?
So now, as much as I love her, I always approach a new CD from her with caution. I check for song titles I've seen before, and sure enough, "Fetish" appears again from the last album, as does "Baby Blue". Even scarier, a remake of her own "100 Feet Away", from 1983's ALBUM, appears (at least it's redone, but still...).
The fact that there was a Jett CD, NAKED, released only overseas last year was a red flag to me; did that mean US litigation over previous contracts, or worse, just no market here? So I'm even more surprised to see that SINNER consists of mostly the same tracks, with a couple of changes (Joan wisely drops her "Rocky Horror" track "Science Fiction", which was over years before she did it). But "Kiss On The Lips" and her cover of "Season Of The Witch" from NAKED are bumped for songs she'd released already? Check her drink.
So as I dig into SINNER as a loving but hostile witness, I am even more dumbfounded than ever. This time, even when the songs are more consistent, the recordings themselves aren't; obviously recorded at different places, they sound like those places were on different planets. The opener, "Riddles" (which was titled "Right In The Middle" on NAKED...doh!) is crisp, clear, and a damn good song, directly political no less. It's followed by the album's grand slam, a cover of Sweet's "A.C.D.C" that left my speakers smoking but had a slightly more muddled EQ than "Riddles". So why does the next track, the otherwise fine song "Five", sound like it was lifted from the sound board (badly) onto a cassette, then transferred to vinyl, then sampled onto CD? This happens over and over on the album, making it feel like someone made you a mix tape of their favorite JJ songs from her whole career. It's called mastering, Joan, see into it.
Once you get over the sonic shenanigans, SINNER is really enjoyable, with lots of surprises. "Everyone Knows" will be taken as her gay coming-out song, but Joan walks all over it without saying it directly, and she's entitled for sure. She lets out the steam without spilling the beans, which will make her gay fans happy and still keep the straight ones from hating her. Good for her. It's called smarts and diplomacy. And her politics are not just personal, they're just global, as evident in "Riddles" and "Change The World".
And the music is as snappy as the lyrics, sometimes even more so. Even the ballad "Watersign" benefits from great production and a killer lead guitar. It's always been a pleasure to hear Joan go from balls-out rock to intelligent introspection without sacrificing songwriting quality on either. The one misstep seems to be the inclusion of "Androgynous", long in the live set but just incapable of catching fire on record, at least on this try. I hope this doesn't mean it will be on the next three CDs.
So, once you look through the baggage, SINNER is a good album, even by Ms. Jett's high water marks, "I Love Rock 'N Roll" (just rock) and "The French Song" (rock and produce the hell out of it). If only the baggage weren't so heavy, so dark, and showing up at the airport everytime she lands. Advice from a real fan: save the songs, no matter how good you know they are, until you have enough for a whole album, and then only use them once. Otherwise, Joan Jett will always be seen as an amateur who got lucky every few decades. And her fans know she's a hell of a lot more than that.
Free Music Review: OK album - was it worth 10 years wait? No
Hit: 3 Stars
I've been a diehard Runaways and Joan Jett fan for over 25 years. After waiting 10 years for a new CD, I eagerly awaited "Sinner." Unfortunately, there is not much new on the CD - and I couldn't believe she redid "Hundred Feet Away." After 10 years, couldn't she write a new song? Then I read the reviews and found out that some of the "Sinner" songs were already released on "Naked" (which I hadn't known was out).
Her voice sounds good, the music sounds tight. But I have always been uncomfortable with her S&M songs and have to skip by "Fetish." This is definitely not an album for young listeners. I was surprised it wasn't released with the option to have "Fetish" or not since it's so explicit.
She seems to be much more comfortable with being political and FINALLY, she is out of the closet. I am glad for her and wish her well. Love that she's on the Warped Tour this year.
Having been a fan for so long, I've sat through blah albums before, so I'm not worried that she's lost her touch. I just hope I don't have to wait another 10 years for a new CD!
I thought it was interesting that she thanked Cherie Currie and Sandy West in the liner notes - check out the documentary "Edgeplay: A Film about the Runaways" for the bad blood between Joan and the Runaways (which is never explained in the film, which Joan refused to appear in). Hopefully, they have worked things out.
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