"I'm back!" Kicking off her first collection of all new material in over a decade with one of the most unequivocal declarations in her entire catalog,
the Divine Miss Q is clearly out for blood. Titled for one of the most self-defining singles of the '70s, the raw roar of "Devilgate Drive,"
Back to the Drive serves up a dozen tracks that might look back to the Chinnichap era for energy and enthusiasm (
Mike Chapman is among her collaborators here), but are eyeing the future too. Too many of her contemporaries, after all, are content to simply spin out the old hits again and again, until you cannot move for all the re-recordings.
Back to the Drive is all new -- as she proves with her assault upon its one cover,
Neil Young's "Rocking in the Free World." Guitars on stun, vocals on 11,
Back to the Drive rocks as hard as any of
Quatro's '70s discs, but -- more importantly than that -- it sounds as fresh as any of them as well. More than three decades have elapsed since "Can the Can" ushered her into view, but
Back to the Drive is the sound of her starting all over again. And it's up there with the best records she's ever made. ~ Dave Thompson