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Friday, July 06, 2012

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.

7 comments:

  1. A talented chick who was good-looking enough for the video age but who was unfortunate to fall through the cracks of the grunge rock era of the early nineties. Too bad.

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  2. For all the good the grunge movement did by killing off the worst of the worst hair metal bands it also killed a lot of good artists. I have been listening to this album quite a bit and the more I do the more I like it. She had some nice talent.

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  3. Never heard her. I recognized her because when that Bad Romance album came out in 1990 there were ads for it in every magazine. The ads were the typical stick the big haired chick in the front and put the ugly dudes all in the shadows of the background. Never heard the Bad Romance album either.

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  4. scott whitt8:16 PM

    After reading you review I was intrigued and while on YouTube found this clip of her and Tom Kiefer singing "Love Hurts" at Farm Aid.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWGMvABCTz4&feature=related

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  5. Cool, I've never heard of her, but as a bigtime Janis fan as well as heavy metal, I appreciate your sharing all this! You rock! If you'd like, why don't you share in my forum http://www.sevenstringforum.com?

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  6. A damn fine album and I've been after a CD copy for ages. Great news.

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  7. Lana-If you want to link it to your forum I am fine with that.

    Scott-I will have to check out that cover. I love that song.

    Big D-You'll love this as the sound...well, sounds deeper!

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