CD REVIEW: CHERIE CURRIE – Reverie

Shane | 29 July 2015 | Reply

CD REVIEW: CHERIE CURRIE – Reverie
Independent
16 March, 2015
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
7 /10

Cherie Currie’s new album (her first in 35 years) sees her exploring musical avenues that range broadly from re-recordings from her teenage days as singer with The Runaways (Is It Day Or Night?, American Nights – both featuring Lita Ford on guitar and vocals), through powerful balladry (Shades Of Me, Inner You [tasteful bluesy solo by Nick Maybery], Believe) and even some more electronic angles (the title track, Another Dream)

More than anything, stylistically it reminds us of a random snapshot of Suzi Quatro’s career – now there was a woman who creatively roamed as her mood took her.

Currie’s son, multi-instrumentalist Jake Hays co-produces and plays on much of the album, including singing the beautiful duet Shades of Me alongside his Mum. Unsurprisingly, their vocals work together extremely well, and Hays proves a very talented bloke in his own right.

Lyrically Currie leans heavily towards the ‘finding the real me’ trope: completely fair when you consider she struggled for a long time with drug addiction and finding her place in the world. Teen fame and being chewed up and spat out by the music industry and those who should have been protecting her and her band-mates will do that to you, I guess, and who could be so heartless as to begrudge her a musical rebirth.

Adding to the ‘closure’ aspect of Reverie is Kim Fowley’s involvement. Fowley offered to help produce the record to attone for his appalling treatment of her as manager of The Runaways, and contributed a couple of songs co-written with Currie and Hays (Queen Of The Asphalt Jungle is in a Runaways style, Dark World is moodier and darker, while the piano-led ballad I’m Happy is an autobiographical torch-burner with real style despite the twee chorus)

Reverie finds Currie staking a claim to be remembered for something more than The Runaways, and accordingly it shows she is capable of far more than just teen-rock chick chuggers. There’s a real class to much of the material here and in Hays she may have produced the best musical foil she’s ever had..