Description

This Runaways recording was done in August of 1985 after five days of being a band. The Runaways at this point is actually Joan Jett, Micki Steele, and Sandy West as a power trio, produced and directed by Kim Fowley. It truly is an historical document but with some dreadful sound. Fowley aint no Phil Spector, although he seems to want his name posted more than the creator of ‘Be My Baby’. The former producer of Helen Reddy is in his element here, and though these tapes are not as appealing as when Dinky Dawson engineered Fowley's work with Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, he does get these young gals to give a go at Chip Taylor's ‘Wild Thing’, as well as an almost carbon copy of Mitch Ryder's version of Lou Reed's chestnut ‘Rock 'n' Roll’. It is interesting that Mercury, the home of the New York Dolls, would find these demos so appealing as to give the Runaways the deal. Listening to them, it is easier to imagine Kim Fowley knew how to schmooze the powers that be, the raw energy of a future Joan Jett, someone who would graduate to Ritchie Cordell and Kenny Laguna — becoming their female Tommy James — makes these classic tapes very special indeed. Jett does a credible basement version of Free's ‘All Right Now’ and a bunch of titles like ‘Let's Party Tonight’, ‘Thunder’, ‘You Drive Me Wild’, ‘I'm a Star’ and others. The sad thing about this project is that fans don't get more information on how it all came together; the liner notes, written by Kim Fowley in 1991, just ramble. The sonic quality is horrible, your typical microphone in the room while a band makes noise routine, but it is Joan Jett, and for fans it works, it definitely works, and it's nice to know she eventually found people to work with who knew enough to put her name on the marquee instead of theirs. Track listing: 1. Yesterday's Kids 2. Is It Day Or Night? 3. Let's Party Tonight 4. All Right Now 5. Thunder 6. Rock & Roll 7. American Nights 8. California Paradise 9. I'm A Star 10. You Drive Me Wild 11. Born To Be Bad 12. Wild Thing