Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
To take a gentle walk through an artist’s life is one of the greatest pleasures that anybody can really hope for. The collected works of Constable, Turner or Van Gogh in an art museum for all to see, an entire volume of Shakespeare’s sonnets in which to let the heart sing, a marathon run of Richard Burton or Pam Grier films at your local art house cinema or a night spent in listening to the recordings of Harlem sensation Gladys Bentley, all art is a series of seeing the performer from first breath, through magical momentum to a hopeful ovation at the end. To walk in their footsteps should be seen as an honour.
That courtesy is extended quite rightly to American Rock legend Suzi Quatro as she celebrates the release of The Girl From Detroit City, a 4 C.D. box set which charts an incredible 50 years for the undisputed Queen of Rock and Roll.
To have survived fifty years in such a cut throat business is impressive; to still be vibrant, to be releasing new material that gets great press is nothing short of sensational. It is something in which many that find music enthralling enough to pick up a guitar in the 21st Century can only ever dream about fulfilling. The abundance of tracks in the presentation box set is astronomical, 50 years, 82 enormous tracks in which the songs ring heavy and true, they form a fabric of thoughts and contemplative opinions and musical drama that can only be described as utterly enjoyable.
Tracks that somehow may have been missed due to the sheer intensity of life endured or enjoyed by the listener come flooding out as if a hose has decided to blow everything it once stood for and go out in a blaze of glory and aiming for the ultimate rainbow to be seen in the puddles and slicks of American and British streets and by-ways.
The album encompasses early releases from her days in the Pleasure Seekers, one of the first all-female Rock bands to grace the American airwaves, the knock about hits of the 1970s which includes the outrageous songs Can the Can, 48 Crash and Devil Gate Drive which was part of the Glam era period but undoubtedly finer, more approachable and heavier than any of her male counterparts were seemingly willing to try to emulate and through to her later, more reflective, arguably deeply personal music it is no wonder that the 82 tracks on offer showcase a musician who was ahead of her time but who also set a standard very few have had the ability of matching.
Suzi Quatro shows no sign of slowing down, with more music to come and a book of poetry coming out in 2015, the footsteps listeners have taken in this journey of a well-lived life, will relish in the still visible path behind her but also take comfort in the unseen steps to come. The Girl From Detroit City; a woman for all times and places.
Ian D. Hall