Joanna Dean-Misbehavin'

Yesterrock/ Universal

2012

Have you ever laid awake at night when you couldn't sleep and thought to yourself "I wonder what Janis Joplin would have sounded like fronting a hard rock outfit in the 80s" only to realize that A) It would never have happened since Joplin went to Rock and Roll Heaven at way too early an age and B) You really need to get a life? Me neither. So, with that said then raise your hand if your curious now? I understand why you would be because that thought is a rather interesting one to ponder. Now, I've got to be honest and say I had never heard of Joanna Dean before getting this promo in my Inbox. The promo let me know that Joanna had "A delicious combination of Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt and Maggie Bell" and that "Joanna’s voice and the southern bluesy hard rock approach of her songs made more than a few people stand up and take a lot of notice." It must have not been much of a pressing then the first time around because I had never heard of this lovely lady with talent to burn. Either that or that rock I was living under in 1988 was really well insulated. Let's see, I would have been 15 or so yeah, this wouldn't have appealed to me then as I was a Megadeath/Metallica/Slayer or S.N.F.U./S.O.D./C.O.C. kind of lad. Too bad as this is some well crafted and catching blues based hard rock with a leading lady/guitarist who, to these ears at least, sounds like Janis Joplin if she had been raised on both the blues and 70's hard rock. Thankfully Yesterrock (with the help of Universal Music Germany) is giving everyone a chance to hear this gem in a re-mastered version. From the sounds of it this was a rather rare album. Amazon does have several used copies for sale starting at around $15.00, but one has to wonder if that has more to do with the fact that this album is being re-issued now in a much better sound then how rare it is. Who knows. All I know for sure is that tracks like the title cut, "Kiss This" and "Once Is Enough" are killer tunes. Now, Joanna did play with the band Bad Romance (who released "Code of Honor" in 1990) and she did have a record deal with Polydor at one point. Otherwise there does not seem to be much in the way of information about her online. She had a great deal of talent too so that is a shame. This record offers everyone a good chance to hear a woman who had a killer set of pipes and could, simply put, rock out. It's fun and one of those deals where you can just sit back and enjoy an album with little in the way of investment other then emotions.