Linda Ronstadt caught a lot of flack with this album for daring to jump on the punk/new wave bandwagon in the 80’s, but for all that, this album stands up better than many others from that era. For one thing,
Ronstadt has talent, something most of the other acts from that time were lacking.
Granted, the title song is bombastic overkill and Elvis Costello’s ˝Talking in the Dark˝ is a throwaway.
But her take on his ˝Party Girl˝ is powerful and ˝Girls Talk˝ is as terrific as Dave Edmonds version.
˝How Do I Make You˝ is awesome: a very convincingly hard-edged rocker.
She also puts an edgy spin on her remakes of The Hollies ˝Can’t Let Go˝ and Little Anthony and the Imperials ˝Hurts So Bad˝ that, in my opinion, top the originals. It probably was wrong for this album to get tagged as punk when really its your basic power pop, done with the same taste and professionalism Ronstadt has shown thoughout her career.