I've just purchased my copy of "Back To The Drive" from Toombul Music (one of
the largest music retail stores in the Southern Hemisphere), and I thought I'd
give you a track-by-track analysis on it:

Back To The Drive: Wow!! The intro to this track is electric with the cacophony
and Suzi's screaming intro from "Devil Gate Drive" sampled. This track grabs
you instantly and is designed to rock your head right into the floorboards. A
shame that Nicky Chinn wasn't there to co-write it. But it's quite easily the
best song that Suzi has done since "Lipstick". 10/10

15 Minutes Of Fame: There's a nice Greek folk sound to this track, and a very
astute look at the disposability of the modern music scene of which Suzi has
been one of the survivors. Nice track to sing along to in the pub waving a
schooner about. 8/10

Duality: Suzi experiments with an Indian raga before taking it into a
psychedelic stoner track. Her sibilant vocals add to the dark and intriguing
ambience of this track. 9/10

I Don't Do Gentle: Showing a love for big-band jazz and blues, this reminds me a
bit of "Brain Confusion" and "All Shook Up". Definitely one that you can throw
your partner over your head and under your legs to on the dancefloor. I love
this track! 10/10

I'll Walk Through The Fire With You: I think that Laura could have featured a
lot more on lead vocals on this track, and she has a fantastic soulful voice.
It's a rather standard 80's sounding track that sounds like it could have been
from the "Oh, Suzi Q" album. 7/10

Wasted Moments: The chugging guitar intro to this song rocks, and it's
definitely one of the stronger tracks even though it's lyrically sparse. 10/10

Rockin' In The Free World: A cover of the Neil Young song. I have to admit I've not heard the original, but she does an OK job of it. 8/10

No Choice: It's one that needs repeated listening before you can decide whether
you love it or hate it. I think it's okay 7/10

Sometimes Love Is Letting Go: One of the few tear-jerking moments from Suzi up
there with "Catsize", "Lonely Is The Hardest", and "Starlight Lady". It has a
hymn-like stillness to it, and sounds like Bette Midler's "the Rose" in some
parts. It's not often we hear this side of Suzi, and I think it'd make a great
single. 9/10

Dancing In The Wind: Apart from the intro, this track tends to drag on a bit.
Not one of the better songs that she has come up with, but that's my opinion.
6/10

Free The Butterfly: Beautiful, and one of her most personal songs to date.
10/10

Born Making Noise: Great closer to the album, and I love the blues harp playing
on it. It sounds a little bit like Bon Jovi's "Bad Medicine", except a little
faster. That's not a bad thing, since it was one of my favourite songs as a
17-year-old. 9/10

Thanks Suzi, Laura, Len, Andy, Steve, Mike and the others for bringing a smile
to my face for the first time in a long time. I hope that this album will do
the rounds for Suzi and get her back on the throne again!! :-D

I have been in love with Suzi long before she was known as Lether Tuskadero on Happy Days. As a kid I used to blast her first couple of albums everytime my parents would let me. No other female rocker has ever grabbed me like she did. "Back To The Drive" was a complete shock when I saw it sitting in the record bin. I assumed it was another compilation. I picked it up to see if "Sticks & Stones" was included on this one and just about screamed like a 12 year old girl when I saw it was brand spankin' new! When I put this album on I got a tear in my as it instantly made me miss Chin & Chapman and their excellent body of work. Suzi sounds nearly as good as she did 30 years ago. This album is much better than anyone could have expected in 2006. Her choice of songs is eclectic but this is an album worth of decent rock & roll. I could track by track it but that's been done here already. More so than anything else this album brings you back to a time & place. That's what I hope for when I buy something new by an old favorite. I got to reminece about a time period I look back fondly on becuase of this excellent record. Andy Scott is front and centre on "Dancing In The Wind" the song will make you long for Tucker, Connolly & Priest. Do yourself a favour and support a very worthy album. This will not be a disappointment to anyone who loves that 70's glam rock feeling.

Why Suzi Quatro isn't A) as big in the United States as she is everywhere else in the world or B) already in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is beyond me. SO much more than just "Leather Tuscadero" or "Stumblin' In", this little leather-clad lady - along with Fanny - was a true pioneer, kicking down doors for many of the female rockers out there today who followed her. Now, with the very strong BACK TO THE DRIVE, her first release of all-new studio material in over a decade, Quatro seems to be gunning for that long-overdue recognition...or at least a little respect. From the sly "I'm baaack!!!" that opens things on the disc's title track to the nasty little laugh that helps wrap things up on the album closer "Born Making Noise", it's clear that that classic Quatro edge and fire is alive and well. True, it gets sanded down a bit at times throughout the disc, but, overall, Quatro can still (to quote one of her own hits!) "Rock Hard!" As stated earlier, things kick off with the title track, a rollicking call to arms. While many other rockers in their fifties are content to do "Greatest Hits" tours or, worse yet, just stay at home, Quatro wants it as wild and as rowdy as it all was 30 years ago. With a grinding power-chord heavy arrangement and a howling lead vocal....well, she just might get her way! "15 Minutes Of Fame" is an intoxicating blend of light and dark, sort of a musical Black & Tan. A bouncy sing-along chorus offsets cryptic lyrics about the music industry and, just maybe, life ("Egos come and egos go/On the stairway to success/Justifying our existence...puttin' us to the test/We can all fall down, the mighty and tall/We can all lose our crown/And the ones you hurt on the rocky road up/Trip you up...on the way back down"). Quatro's lead vocal is both knowing and observant, while the arrangement is bouyant without being bubble-gummy. A real winner! "Duality" is one of my two favorite cuts off of BTTD....there's just something magical about the track! Quatro's vocal is both sensual and smooth, yet relaxed, while the instrumentation moves along at a spirited clip. Toss in some great lyrics - "My hopes, my fears, my broken dreams/Buried deep in the desert dust/Buried deep in that place called lust" - and you have one of Quatro's Top Five all-time best songs. If the rumour is true, and there's soon to be a US release for BACK...., I seriously hope they consider "Duality" as a single - it's a hit waiting to happen! "I Don't Do Gentle" has a rowdy, bawdy vibe to it, what with it's barroom piano, swinging horns and doo-wop backing vocals. Granted, the song goes on about 30-45 seconds too long, but it's still great fun! "I'll Walk Through The Fire With You", a track Quatro co-wrote and duets on with daughter Laura Tuckey, has an easy-going groove to it, along with thoughtful lyrics about the love/hate, push/pull aspect of relationships, be they romantic or parent/child. "Wasted Moments" is the only real bomb on BACK TO THE DRIVE.....it's like a (bad) outtake from 1982's MAIN ATTRACTION, all electronica-heavy and screechy vocals. At five minutes running time, these are definitely "Wasted Moments." Things do a 180 with Quatro's cover of Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free World." Quatro has always shined when doing covers, and this is no exception. A snarling lead vocal and a blistering arrangement help to make it one of the disc's best cuts. Brilliant! On the flip side of the coin, one of Quatro's main weaknesses has always been her attempts at ballads. Not overly gifted as a vocalist or lyricist for the genre, her efforts are usually hit or miss at best. That tradition continues on BACK TO THE DRIVE. "No Choice" is a hit, what with it's smooth, subtle verses and big, anthem-like chorus, while "Sometimes Love Is Letting Go" is pretty much a miss....trying for earnest and heartfelt, the track instead comes across as slightly cloying and cliched. At her age and at this stage of her career, Quatro really needs to avoid this type of song in the future. Though "Dancing In The Wind" is marred by some silly "Artist-As-Victim" lyrics, the instrumentation is upbeat and energetic. The music also saves "Free The Butterfly." With it's jazzy groove, gentle percussion and simmering sax, the sultry arrangement makes up for the slightly sophomoric lyrics ("So let the chrysalis begin, free the butterfly within/Spread my wings, I wanna fly"). Things end on a high note, though, with the rip-roaring "Born Making Noise." In the classic Quatro vein, the song is belted out with a joy and abandon that's simply exhilarating.....you BELIEVE the lyrics "Make no mistake about it/I ain't no shrinkin' violet!" THIS is the kind of gut-level rocker she needs to concentrate on with her next release. Here's hoping A) it won't be another decade before that happens and B) that maybe, just maybe, that one, along with the very good BACK TO THE DRIVE, will help garner Suzi Quatro some of the respect that's long overdue her (As with all my reviews, I'm giving the disc an extra half a star for including the lyrics).

Well, Suzi is definitely back. Back To The Drive is an incredibly good CD from end to end. I think this is a better album than any of the five Grammy winners/nominees I have from last year including the overall winner. When you finish playing this album (16 times so far) you really do want a second volume. It is nice to see a complete album (like the nine other Suzi normal albums I have) with all good and different sounding songs, as opposed to one or two hits and 10 filler tracks or every song sounding the same like you see so much today. Back to the Drive (song) is a great Mike Chapman opener very appropriate for her and the "glam rock" Sweet guys on this album. The closer, Born Making Noise reminds me more of her original style of songs. I also really like the swinger I Don't Do Gentle. There are a couple of "softer" more emotional songs, Sometimes Love Is Letting Go and Free the Butterfly. There is a little funky main attraction style song, 15 Minutes of Fame; a song with a little Indian flavor, Duality; and a very nice duet with her daughter, I'll Walk through the Fire with You. The overall sound is a little fuller with the horns and harmonica than her early, simple and raw, rock sound. The two down points are that her Elvis tribute "Singing with Angels" which I heard on her radio show is not on the album and it has the STUPID EMI Copy Control (dual partition disk). I was able to carefully load it on my i-book and ipods and burn a copy so I don't think much will happen on a Mac (at least anything I could see) but the auto run might cause trouble on a pc and there are Windows and Mac executables in the AUDIO partition.

ITS HERE.

Finally its been years but for all of us die hard Suzi Quatro fans the wait is finally over.

The album Rocks and it Rocks Hard...Its starts of with a great rock track and the title of the album and goes through 12 great tracks and 12 tracks later, your left gasping for more.

Suzi has really pulled it off with this album. its Raw and it rocks a great cover of Neil Young's Rockin in the free world included in this package done in the true Quatro vein loud and hard.

This CD has many great tracks, such as Dancing in the wind duality 15 Minutes of Fame Back to the Drive and No choice plus many more.

its a great job Suzi and with a smashing cover to say the least.

Well Done again Queen of Rock n Roll you have delivered...