There is no doubt in my mind that to a certain generation of pre-pubescent boys, the appearance of a leather-clad female bassist on Top of the Pops cranking out hits like “Can The Can”, “Devil Gate Drive” or “48 Smash” had to be one of the highlights of our week. I was just ten years old when that first song got to #1, and I had never seen anything like it. As far as I was concerned female musicians didn’t dress like that, didn’t sound like that, and none of them played bass guitar! So, when I was asked if I wanted to review this album I became ten years old again straight away, and grabbed it. But I’m not ten anymore, and Suzi isn’t in her early twenties (as I write this she’s 69), and this is her seventeenth studio album.

While Suzi still has the powerful voice she always had, without the Chinn-Chapman songwriting team behind her, it is safe to say that this is an album for fans only. There is the odd song which reminds the listener of the glory days, but songs such as “Love Isn’t Fair” makes on think of the days when she was duetting with Chris Norman from Smokie as it sounds like a song from the mid-Seventies, where it should have stayed. She may still be a great performer, and have fans yelling out for more at concerts, but this isn’t an album which even they will often be returning to. Songs such as “Macho Man” show she hasn’t totally forgotten the old days, but they are too few and too far between.

Rating: 5/10

Links:
https://www.suziquatro.com/
https://www.facebook.com/steamhammerofficial/