PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Suzi Quatro is celebrating an astonishing 50 years in the music business – a feat that not many people manage. To coincide with this anniversary, Cherry Red Records are releasing a 4CD box set – The Girl from Detroit city.
In the UK she has had 18 hit singles, including five top ten hits and two No. 1s (Can The Can and Devil Gate Drive) and in the Seveties spent an impressive 101 weeks in the charts. That’s at a time when anyone watching Top of the Pops would have seen very few female musicians – there were plenty of female singers appearing, but a woman playing guitar or bass was virtually unknown, so the sight of Sizi Quatro in her leather jumpsuit playing bass and singing was a memorable sight.
She’s received awards including a lifetime achievement award at the Detroit Music Awards, has written an autobiography (Unzipped), performed a one woman show at the London Hippodrome casino based on the autobiography, appeared in several stage musicals and has appeared in numerous TV shows including Happy Days, Minder, Dempsey & Makepeace, Absolutely Fabulous and Midsomer Murders. She’s also done several shows on radio 2.
So, onto the box set – what can you expect for your money (£35)? Well in short, you can expect four discs packed full of songs from her long career – 82 of them in fact, which is over 5 hours of music. That’s a hell of a lot of music for your money. There’s even a new song – “The girl from Detroit city”, which is being released at the end of september as a digital download single, but it’s only available on CD as part of this box set. The liner notes track Suzi’s career from the outset to the present day, and include a load of album & poster artwork and photographs.
As you’d expect, all her hits from the 70s are here and so too is material right up to her 2011 album “In the spotlight”. As well has her own songs there are covers of Abba’s “Does your mama know”, Goldfrapp’s Strict Machine and Rhianna’s Breaking Dishes. It’s not all rock or pop either – you also have “I Got the Sun in the Mornin’ (and the Moon at Night)” and “Moonshine Lullaby” which are from the musical Annie get your gun.
The box set starts way back in the early 60s with “What a way to die” which was recorded by Suzi with her all girl band The Pleasure Seekers, and as you work your way through the box set, the songs move from the 60s to the 70s, and right through to her more recent material. It’s always fascinating to listen to a collection like this and to hear how an artist has changed through the years.
Most people will know her hits, but I suspect a lot of her other material will be new to most people. There’s a real variety here – from the straight rock songs, to the musical songs, to pop covers, to ballads. With five hours of songs to listen to it’s taken a lot of listening before writing thhis review, but if I were to try and talk about all the songs I’d be here till well after the release date. What I can say is that this box set has been a real pleasure to listen to. I was only familiar with her 70’s hits and a few of the other rock songs from the 70s, so I wasn’t expecting quite as much depth as there is here. There really is a lot to enjoy, and a mix of songs that show a different side of her music and vocals to the hits that we are all familiar with. I’ve been really impressed by many of the songs here, and can definitely recommend this album – well worth buying and listening to.
“The girl from Detroit city” will be released on 27th October 2014
Track Listing:
Disc: 1
1. What A Way To Die
2. Light Of Love
3. Locked In Your Love
4. Rolling Stone
5. Can The Can
6. Ain’t Ya Something Honey
7. 48 Crash
8. All Shook Up
9. Glycerine Queen
10. Daytona Demon
11. Roman Fingers
12. Devil Gate Drive
13. In The Morning
14. Too Big
15. The Wild One (Single Version)
16. Your Mamma Won’t Like Me
17. I Bit Off More Than I Could Chew
18. You Can Make Me Want You
19. Michael
20. I May Be Too Young
21. Half As Much As Me
22. American Lady (Alternative Version)
Disc: 2
1. Tear Me Apart
2. If You Can’t Give Me Love
3. Suicide
4. The Race Is On
5. Stumblin’ In (With Chris Norman)
6. I’ve Never Been In Love
7. Mind Demons
8. She’s In Love With You
9. Hollywood
10. Mama’s Boy
11. Love Hurts
12. Rock Hard
13. Lonely Is The Hardest
14. Ego In The Night
15. Lipstick
16. Glad All Over
17. Heart Of Stone
18. Main Attraction
19. Two Miles Out Of Georgia
20. Can I Be Your Girl
21. Good Girl (Looking For A Bad Time)
22. Wild Thing (With Reg Presley)
Disc: 3
1. I Got The Sun In The Morning
2. Moonshine Lullaby
3. If You Can’t Give Me Love (Piano Version)
4. Baby You’re A Star
5. Kiss Me Goodbye
6. Back To The Drive
7. I’ll Walk Through The Fire With You
8. No Choice
9. I Don’t Do Gentle
10. Fifteen Minutes Of Fame
11. Whatever Love Is
12. Strict Machine
13. Breaking Dishes
14. A Girl Like Me
15. Singing With Angels
16. Does Your Mama Know (With Andy Scott)
17. The Cost Of Living
18. Girl From Detroit City
Disc: 4
1. Curly Hair For Sale
2. Sugar Flash Rapper
3. Ain’t Got No Home
4. Sweet Nothin’s
5. Wild In The Night
6. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
7. What Goes Around (Demo Version)
8. Love And War
9. Walking Through The Changes
10. Warm Leatherette
11. Intimate Strangers
12. And So To Bed
13. Sometimes Love Is Letting Go
14. Flying To My Destiny
15. Free The Butterfly
16. Ambition
17. If There Ever Was A Reason
18. Desperado (With Jeff Beck)
19. Dancing In The Wind
20. No Choice (Demo Version)
