Suzi Quatro “Suzi Quatro” 1974. Bell Records, promotional copy. From the back cover: “Imagine yourself strapped into one of those vibrating exercise machines that makes you shake uncontrollably like a bowl of jello, flesh aquiver. Now, imagine that a demon inside the machine has accelerated the belt, and you can’t slow it down, let alone stop it. Get the idea? That’s the feeling you get when Suzi Quatro rock-and-rolls you with this action-packed collection of eleven hot and heavy non-stop tunes.” I also love this description of her by journalist Philip Norman: “Of all female rock singers, she appears the most emancipated: a small girl leading an all-man group in which she herself plays bass guitar. The image is of a tomboy, lank-haired, tight-bottomed and (twice) tattooed; a rocker, a brooder, a loner, a knife-carrier; a hell-cat, a wild cat, a storm child, refugee from the frightened city of Detroit.”

Glam rock in the spirit of T. Rex and the New York Dolls, Detroit-native Quatro found most of her success outside of the US, especially in the UK and Australia where the single from Suzi Quatro “48 Crash” hit #3 and #1, respectively. I love the track “Official Suburbian Superman;” it’s a snakey groove that prominently features her bass-playing prowess. She ‘breathes sensual new life’ with a heavy dash of toughness into several covers, including the Beatles’ “I Wanna Be Your Man,” Elvis Presley’s “All Shook Up” and “Shakin’ All Over.” And for grins, here is a montage of all of her musical performances as Leather Tuscadero on Happy Days.