Suzi Quatro - Unreleased Emotion (CD)

Unreleased Emotion

By Larrikin70  Dec 22, 2005

Pros: Rare tracks and out-takes

Cons: none

"Unreleased Emotion" is a dig into Suzi's early 80's catalogue, which had been sitting in the vaults of RAK Records after she left the label in 1980 to sign with producer Mike Chapman's 'Dreamland' Records. By the 80'...;s, Suzi had largely given away her aggressive rock queen image to go for something more softer and more intelligent. Indeed, these songs written by her and husband Len Tuckey showed a sense of maturity of them as both a couple, and Suzi's entry into motherhood. The opening track "Pardon Me" has a nice jaunting backing with some lyrics about breaking up. "Can I Be Your Girl" has nods to Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" with lyrics that sound like a rock'n'roll personal ad. The power-poppish "Strange Encounters" has one of the best bass riffs to come out of rock music ever, with some very haunting lyrics and the moshing chorus. Suzi also dabbles with a bit of dirty country redneck rock with the hilarious "Good Girl (Looking For A Bad Time)" featuring some excellent harmonies and steel guitar solos to electrify your heart strings over that fantasy girl in the short shorts and cowboy boots, whilst the boogie beat of "Just Like Mama" shows a more casual laid back side to Suzi. The album is not as striking as her early work. Indeed, it is the sort of album you can listen to whilst washing your car or doing the vacuuming with the "Shake 'n' Vac". You won't find any of the songs to contend with the likes of "Can The Can" or "48 Crash", but if you like the idea of Suzi being a multi-dimensional figure both personally and artistically, then this album will surely delight you as it did for me. Read more Less