Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Imagine a time when the world was just as divided about women in certain positions in life, the thought of a female Prime Minister a few years away, that the insanity of unequal pay for doing the same job still is an issue that has not been resolved, that up and down the land feminism was a cause that was both just and true, not about doing down men but making sure we saw the world for all in equal terms. Imagine that and realise that the world may have been slow to embrace such completely logical thinking but Rock music embraced it without hesitation.
The first true woman of Rock, the renowned and unabashed Suzi Quatro, a leather wearing tornado, a Legend, for some the world now is just as confusing as it was back when Ms. Quatro became a fixture on television and radio but for those that whole-heartedly supported this dynamic, song writing machine, who saw, felt and experienced the greatness that was always roaring, always exploding, the Legend was no myth, this was creativity in a storm, this was the originality in a sea of musical innovation and it took a young woman from Detroit to lead the way.
Whilst for many the seventies were perhaps a landscape of the bland leading the bland, that beige was the in thing and to show any type of rebel instinct was to be showered with abuse, to be labelled as a danger to society, that you were personally responsible for the slow decline in Western civilisation, for the enlightened and the daring, Ms. Quatro’s appearance was one of sensational fire. A memory rekindled of the forceful approach that dominated the Baby Boomer generation, they had seen their mother’s and sisters achieve so much and now here was a woman ready to spearhead the next stage of the fight but never allowing herself to be anything but fabulous, vigorous and looking for a fight with a million bass cords.
The Best of Suzi Quatro: Legend might be subjective to some but the motivation of hearing so many songs that capture the essence of the performer from across her career, the cool rebel, the feminist icon, the singer of beautiful ballads and even greater Rock express train like songs, this compilation is as near to greatness as you can come without including every song she ever recorded.
Tracks such as Can The Can, Daytona Demon, Stumblin’ In, Suicide, Dancing In The Wind, 48 Crash and Devil Gate Drive all frame the moments in which they were conceived but they gate crash the decades that surround them, it is impossible to not enjoy the memory of a woman who refused to entertain the bland, the usual and annoyingly vanilla; The Best of Suzi Quatro: Legend is after all a love note to rebellion and the blistering drive.
Suzi Quatro’s The Best Of Suzi Quatro: Legend is released on Friday 22nd September.
Suzi Quatro will be coming to Liverpool’s Echo Arena on Wednesday 18th October 2017 as part of The Legends Tour with David Essex, The Osmonds and Hot Chocolate.
Ian D. Hall