Album Review: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - ‘Sinner’
By Patrick Luce Aug 31, 2006, 15:09 GMT

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’s ‘Sinner’ features 14 tracks that are filled with the attitude and hard rock guitar riffs that have made the singer a legend in the music industry and an icon in punk rock.

Although Jett has been a name in rock since the early 1980’s, the singer shows no signs of slowing down (a fate that falls on even the hardest of rock acts as they age), and instead fills the album with same trademark guitar and snarls that she unleashed on the music industry with 1981’s ‘Bad Reputation.’

‘Sinner’ kicks off with the poppy guitar-rock track “Riddles” where Jett attacks the current political administration, and the state of the world. The song features catchy lyrics that simply point out the singer’s frustration with the government and its policies. The theme of getting involved in the direction of government is also visited on the track “Change the World” – where Jett uses fast guitars to share a message of the responsibility of everyone has to make the world a better place.

Jett follows some of the more serious political tracks of the album with straight forward rock songs like “A.C.D.C.,” “Five,” and “Naked.” The tracks feature the classic Jett sound with choruses that will quickly hook you on the entire album.

The singer lets her darker rock side show on the album as well thanks to tracks like “Fetish” – that features heavy guitar riffs, raunchy lyrics, and Jett screeching out the song. She slows things down from time to time with songs like “Watersign,” “Androgynous,” and “Baby Blue” (which was one of my favorite songs on the album).

I wasn’t too sure what to expect out of ‘Sinner,’ but was hooked on the album by the second track. Jett and the Blackhearts have crafted an album that builds from a poppy punk rock sound, to a hard rock, to end with the slower guitar driven quasi-ballad “Bad Time.”

‘Sinner’ is filled with great songs, Jett’s trademark attitude, and lots of guitar. Fans of Jett will want to get this album, and fans of “real” rock will want to check it out. It is worth taking a chance on, and won’t disappoint