Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

An excellent compilation of Jett's biggest songs, with a few rarities thrown in. If you haven't heard "Fake Friends" since you were 12, then you're in for a nice surprise. Also of interest is her cover of the theme song from The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Now semiretired, I guess, an honored spinster godmother throughout grrrlland, she's always been endearingly, maddeningly consistent, stubbornly unimaginative in all matters of form. Hence her albums have failed to ignite even though explosions were what her commitment to the rock and roll basics was supposed to insure. But this compilation is the cherry bomb. Combining her own songwriting peaks--from "Bad Reputation" and "I Love Rock n Roll" to "Fake Friends" and the Light of Day non-Oscar winner--with the like-minded strokes of such symbolic friends as Sly Stone, Jonathan Richman, and Tommy James, the material only dips as semiretirement approaches. And she goes out on the Mary Tyler Moore theme. (Grade - A)