Rock 'n' Roll Resurrection

's first release following the less than pleasant dismantling of was this dramatic recounting of a New Year's Eve 1979 show in Toronto, Canada. Dominated by an absolutely phenomenal rendering of the already supercharged title track, it's a magnificent album, rounding up an intelligent selection of both the classics ( ) that brought such notoriety elsewhere in the 1970s and the savage rockers that proved he/she was so much more than Just a Pretty Weird Face. Remarkable reinventions of and are pure brilliance, while serves much the same purpose in 's career-long catalog of self-definition as did a couple of years before. One can lament the fact that the original weren't around to fire up the show even further, but this is still a great-sounding live recording, with a brutal band and a frontman in the finest fettle. The / era really didn't produce many great live albums -- but here's one, regardless. ~ Dave Thompson