Up Your Alley

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: May 20, 1988
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000026IJ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #87,425 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All Hail Joan Jett, February 10, 2010

By 

Michael Neiss (Princeton, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Up Your Alley (Audio CD)

I'm sure that in any serious discussion of rock-chick luminaries there would be the inevitable nods to the incendiary booze-blues of Janis Joplin, the subtle explosiveness of Grace Slick or the swirling sorcery of Stevie Nicks. Unfortunately, within the very narrow corridors of the rock caste system you'll never talk (or drink) long enough to get around to a performer who is every bit their equal - Joan Jett.

In many respects she never escaped the extremely long and suffocating shadow of her one monster hit, I Love Rock and Roll, a heavy rotation radio staple of the early 1980's. Unfortunately, while her mega-watt star turn was fleeting her early body of work has more than guaranteed her legacy - specifically Bad Reputation - a balls-to-the-wall rock record that is still incinerating iPods even today.

However, Jett remains the ultimate guilty pleasure. And, if the rock Illuminati who all talk a good game about Joplin (my bet is that they have not voluntarily played her records for twenty years) were truthful, any party is a much better affair with Jett's snarling, erotic swagger on soundtrack.

All of which brings me around to her late 1980's comeback recording, Up Your Alley. While many performers facing a make-or-break career crossroads would slip into another guise to broaden their appeal (Rod Stewart, anyone?) Jett stayed true to herself and unleashed what I believe is her best and most satisfying work - forty minutes of decibel shredding power-chord rock that is relentless and life affirming. From the opening of the one prominent single, I Hate Myself For Loving You through Riding With James Dean, Little Liar and a blistering cover of Chuck Berry's Tulane, Jett delivers the booming pyrotechnics in leather and bass-line spades!

Up Your Alley was... is... the welcome return of an authentic rock original - and one of the best driving records around. Five Stars!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Underplayed and underappreciated., April 17, 2000

By 

Tim H. Medlin (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Up Your Alley (Audio CD)

Though most famous for their early 80s hit "I Love Rock'n Roll", Joan Jett & The Blackhearts received too little acclaim for this effort. The only tract to gain exposure, "I Hate Myself for Loving You", is good and somewhat reminiscent of their afore mentioned hit, but it's arguably one of the least impressive selections from a great album. Even after many years, I regularly play this CD for songs like "Desire", "Tulane", "Little Liar", and "Just Like in the Movies". I truly can't imagine how anyone can listen to "Desire" more than once without pronouncing it a great tune, and then wondering how in the world it never got more play years ago. The more you listen, the better this one gets.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars JOAN JETT MAKES HER MARK, February 7, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Up Your Alley (Audio CD)

Want to know what Joan Jett is all about? This is the place to find out. On "Up Your Alley" Joan shows us what it's like to really love rock and roll by doing what she does best: creating those three-chord rock songs so vibrant they make you dance and so memorably written and performed that you can't stop singing them after the first listen. No better hook can be heard in any chorus in rock history than on "I Hate Myself For Loving You", a spitefully irreverent dedication to one of THOSE people....and she more than makes up for this bitterness in "Play That Song Again", a tune which then makes us believe, truly believe, that this is where Joan's heart really is....in the music. Will you believe the cold brutal honesty of "You Want In, I Want Out" or the more homey and endearing sentiment in "Desire"? Well, I'll bet even money that Joan Jett makes you believe both...and makes you ask yourself if there is really anything more to it than being enraptured by the music she is making.