Album (Remastered)

Joan Jett’s second LP with the Blackhearts, Album continues the formula of I Love Rock ’N Roll: pop hooks bolstered by fist-pumping guitar and black leather attitude. On Album the Blackhearts sound like more of a band, and not just an amplifier for Jett’s sneering riffs. “Fake Friends” adopts a barroom swing to make the Faces proud, while “Coney Island Whitefish” is a deliciously venomous put-down of a bad date: “When I took you out your ugly, dirty mouth was like a sewer / All ya did was moan, so I left ya on your own I said screw ya.” By this point Jett had perfected her raspy yowl, and songs like “Handyman” and “I Love Playing With Fire” define her persona as the bad girl from the wrong side of the tracks. No one has been better at playing the kind of gum-chewing gal you want on your side when a fight breaks out in the school yard. As always, Jett chooses her covers well, squeezing every catty insult from the Rolling Stones’ “Star Star” and turning Sly & The Family Stone’s “Everyday People” into a punk rocker’s rallying call.