Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Bebe Buell 'Hard Love' CD


Bebe Buell                                 Hard Love
(Niji, 2011)

Bebe Buell is probably best known these days, if at all, as the main inspiration for the character Penny Lane in director Cameron Crowe's celluloid love letter to his years as a scribe for Rolling Stone magazine back in the 1970's or perhaps as the mother of Liv Tyler. Tell someone she's a singer, with a new album fresh out and they'll either shrug in indifference, or worse laugh. Which is their loss as Hard Love is a tight little rocker of an album, kicking along at a tempo remarkable for a woman of her years. Mention of her exact age would be crass, but she was Playboy's November 1974 centrefold if you want to make an educated guess. 
The sound and feel of  Hard Love has a lot in common with Ronnie Spector's excellent 2006 album 'Last of the Rock & Roll Stars'. It's New York rock with one foot in the recording studio and the other still in the back room of Max's Kansas City circa 1975. Bebe has an amazing history to draw lyrical inspiration from, and it's clear from tunes like 'Baby Baby' that she's still in love with rock'n'roll and the sort of snake hipped boys who play it. It's not all rock'n'roll lust though. 'Black Angel' a tribute to deceased Ramone's vocalist Joey is a beautiful rock ballad with real emotional punch... "walking down the street that bears your name... your photo's in my black angel frame/fly black angel, fly away"... not a dry eye in the house as that tune fades out! Along with the strong originals, Bebe also covers The Runaway's 'Heartbeat' and Gang of Four's 'I Love a Man in Uniform', a pretty obscure choice, but also a prime indication that Bebe's still got excellent taste when it comes to rocking' men and the music they make.

Bebe Buell - Devil You Know

Bebe Buell - Interview


No comments:

Post a Comment