I have a soft spot for JOAN JETT. She was in THE RUNAWAYS, produced the legendary first album by THE GERMS, influenced lots of other great female rockers (from L7 and BIKINI KILL to PEACHES), is a campaigner for Home Alive (an anti-violence organization founded after the rape and murder of THE GITS-singer Mia Zapata) and in the meantime churned out some of the coolest, rock'n'roll ever! Unlike her fellow ex-Runaway LITA FORD (who?) JETT's records have a timeless quality, even the less succesful ones. Her version of LESLEY GORE's "You Don't Own Me" (from 1981's Bad Reputation) still makes me all weepy and shit everytime I hear it and rumour has it she even did the wild thing with Carmen Electra. What's not to like?

Apart from "Naked" (which was only released in Japan) this is her first album in more than 10 years. And it's pretty great! There's two covers (THE SWEET's "A.C.D.C." and THE REPLACEMENTS' "Androgynous" - is she trying to make a point here?), the rest is all original material (with the occasional co-writing credit for people like Linda Perry and Kathleen Hanna). And what has the last decade done to miss JETT? Has she finally grown up and become the next NORAH JONES? Perhaps filled an album with C&W or acoustic singer/songwriter-ditties? Made a rock opera? Hell no! Right from the opening track (the impossibly catchy "Riddles") I'm dancing round my living room, feeling like a little kid again. And that's exactly what good rock'n'roll should do. There's a few mellow moments (in which she manages to avoid the cheese - always a danger with this kind of music) but when she's loud she even gives DANKO JONES a run for his money. Of course you don't listen to albums like this for their inventiveness. No, listening to a new JOAN JETT is sort of like meeting up with a dear old friend again you haven't seen in a long time. If this record wasn't already released in 2006 it would definitely make an entry in my top 10 of 2007.

- Van Hoften

OFFICIAL SITE: www.joanjett.com

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