Rocking a killer
Joan Jett shag and the most prominent cleavage of any female guitarist since the heyday of
Lita Ford's solo career, Canadian pop-metal heroine
Britt Black (former lead guitarist for the Lilith Fair's gothy cousin
Bif Naked) starts her solo career with the proudly retro
Blackout. Those former
Runaways are clearly among
Black's main influences, along with
Pat Benatar, fellow Canucks
Loverboy, and a generation's worth of poodle-haired rockers both male and female. These 13 songs are crisp riff-rockers without a shred of substance beyond their inherent catchiness, with fist-in-the-air choruses and the occasional flashy guitar solo. Although it seems vaguely weird to be reviewing a new album in 2006 that would have been a perfect fit on MTV's Headbanger's Ball in 1987, this kind of semi-metallic, semi-punk rock & roll never truly goes out of style, and the best songs here (specifically "Sick & Tired" and "Good Girls") will bring out the spandex-clad bandana rocker in anyone. ~ Stewart Mason