The Runaways - Born to be Bad

 

As I always say, I bought the first Runaways album when it came out and have been a fan ever since, and have been kinda fascinated by their crazy story (reading another book on their tale right now, in fact) and have known various females who graced their ranks (and Joan hit on my then-girlfriend backstage at the Whiskey one time). This 10" album compiles some early, low-fi demos and live cuts from when the band was simply a three piece - Joan on guitar, Sandy on drums and Mikki Steele on bass and lead vocals - she's actually a pretty good vocalist, although without Joan's future r'n'r spirit. Apparently, they did a number of shows with this line-up and the demos were used to help stir up more interest in the group, of course. But, it also became apparent that while Joan was solid on rhythm, she was no lead guitarist and Mikki didn't fit in, hence the change to the line-up that most people know with Lita, Cherie and Jacky.

There are previously unreleased songs here, such as the opener "Yesterday's Kids", which showed some promise - wonder why they didn't work on it for the debut? - along with songs we know from the official records like a primitive version of "Is It Day or Night" where Joan shows that she is NOT a lead player. Also new - to me, anyway - is the upbeat to the point of frenzy (especially in the drum break) "Let's Party Tonight" that also includes some neat call'n'response vocals. Surprisingly - although maybe not really, since they were 70's rock kids - they attempt Free's "All Right Now", a terrific song that doesn't really work in this embryonic stage, as they stumble over parts of even this simply number and do not even attempt the instrumental break. But, they come back with another original, "Thunder", that works well and is pretty well worked out and Mikki sings it well, and side one closes with their take on Mitch Ryder's Detroit's take on Lou Reed's "Rock'n'Roll", which, again, is pretty much already set up as they would later record it.

A couple more familiar numbers open side two, with reasonably together versions of their anthem "American Nights" (again showing that they really did need a second guitarist - sorry, Joan!) and "California Paradise", then another unreleased number, "I'm a Star" (sadly, not super memorable), before a strong threesome of "You Drive Me Wild", "Born to be Bad" (without Jett's overwrought faux conversation with her parents on the album version) and their cover of "Wild Thing".

Like I say, the sound quality is less than stellar, as you would expect from demos that never were supposed to 

see the light of day, but it is a fun record of the early days of the band. Obviously, for fans only, but fans will

certainly want to hear it.

(PS - there apparently are a number of different releases for this as I have seen at least a half dozen different

covers online, none of them being the cover that I own. So, it should be available if you're looking for it!)