Live album shows just how this 1970s all-girl band could rock
After two albums for Mercury that produced mixed artistic results and few commercial gains, this Los Angeles quintet took their act to Japan and found itself welcomed as stars. Though the tour was reported to be very rough on all five members (and bassist Jackie Fox quit the band before the tour’s final show), this live recording shows just what they were capable of. Freed from the daily abuse of Kim Fowley’s svengali-like machinations and pumped up by adoring Japanese fans, the quintet unleashed their full rock ‘n’ roll spirit. Signature originals, “Queens of Noise,†“California Paradise,†“Neon Angels on the Road to Ruin†and “American Nights†finally became the teen anthems they were written to be, and covers of The Troggs’ “Wild Thing†and Lou Reed’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll†rock harder than their studio counterparts. Originally released in Japan, and subsequently in Canada, this was a collector’s item for nearly thirty years before seeing CD reissue.
As on their studio albums, Sandy West proved herself the motor of the band’s muscular rock. In contrast to their studio recordings, the bass and rhythm guitars push the band with plenty of bottom end, and Lita Ford’s lead guitar is more powerful for its restraint. Cherie Currie and Joan Jett are both in fine voice throughout, with Currie really acquitting herself as a true rock singer – albeit still a theatrical one. Those who saw the original Runaways quintet live know just how they were shortchanged by Fowley’s jailbait marketing and the anemic, sludgy sound of their studio albums. Playing live, even as Currie strutted the stage in her corset and fishnets the group never failed to rock. There are a few bum notes and miscues here and there, but this live album is proof that the Runaways were a lot more rock band than Kim Fowley initially envisioned or ever really wanted to admit. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com] 