Album Review:
...And I Mean It!
- Release Date: 1979
- Genre: Rock
- Label: Hip-O Select
- Artist: Genya Ravan
- Flags: Lyrics are included with the album
- Rating:
- Similar Albums: Secret Sessions,
Collection , The Ballad of Mott: A Retrospective,Topaz , Al's Big Deal/Unclaimed Freight, The Best of ZZ Top [1977], George Thorogood & the Destroyers, The Hoople, Mott, Brain Capers, David Johansen,YUI Orta , You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic, Shades of Ian Hunter, Ian Hunter, Truth/Beck-Ola
Review
...And I Mean It is an amalgam of girl group, new wave, blues, pop and folk/rock by Genya Ravan. To hear her exquisite voice on Night Owl soaring above her own backing vocals is intense, imagine Etta James backed by The Sex Pistols doing a rock version of Earth Angel. Of all Genya Ravan's work, ...And I Mean It is possibly the most concise and picture perfect statement of what the woman is musically about. A girl group pioneer who worked with Richard Perry prior to his finding The Pointer Sisters groove, there is no doubt Ravan influenced that major producer, and his work did the same for her. Pedal To The Medal is high - end treble rock before it came into vogue. This is the other side of Siren, the album Genya produced for Ronnie Spector, with more emphasis on a good-time rocking party. I'm Wired, Wired, Wired is a rock & roll anthem for people who burn the candle at both ends, while I Won't Sleep On The Wet Spot embodies the unbridled sexuality of this album. The music crunches while Ravan uses her voice, her production skills, and her legacy to create something far removed from her days in Ten Wheel Drive. The horns are replaced by searing guitars and Charlie Giordano's magical piano work. The sound of the keyboard and its erratic splashes really are key to I Won't Sleep On The Wet Spot, while the guitar and bass battle it out. Steve..., on the other hand, is Goldie & The Gingerbreads ten years after. This Genya Ravan/Conrad Taylor composition was the 45 from the album, and it has hit written all over it. 20th Century just didn't have the right mechanisms in place to get some of the great music they put out on radio, such a pity as Harriet Schock, Randy Edelman and the fake soundtrack for All This And World War II (a Beatles tribute album) contained songs that should have been big hits. What did hit off this album, on FM radio as an album track, is the brilliant duet by Ian Hunter and Genya Ravan, the subtle and folky Junkman. Released on Hunter's excellent Once Bitten Twice Shy CD on Legacy in 2000, the song and performance is timeless. Ravan once told this writer "I was asleep with the tv on, and was saying to myself...that's my voice...that's my song...that's me! I woke up to find Junkman on TV in a film" (paraphrased). The song got placed in a cable movie without the producer's knowledge! Junkman was a sound not heard on FM radio prior to its release, much like MTV's "unplugged" versions of songs, it is more unplugged than most of this material, take the rocked out version of Motown that is the cover of Marvin Gaye's Stubborn Kinda Girl or the Springsteen-style blast that is It's Me, a tune Bruce should cover. ...And I Mean It is the work of a gifted woman making a rock and roll statement on her terms. The world has yet to realize what a truly polished diamond this album is. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music GuideTracks
| Track Title | iTunes | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Pedal to the Metal (Oh Girls, It Was Spray Net City Then) | Genya Ravan | Genya Ravan | (4:05) | |
| I Won't Sleep on the Wet Spot No More (I Feel a Change and Rearrange) | Genya Ravan | Genya Ravan | (4:19) | |
| Steve... (Go All the Way With Me) | Genya Ravan | Genya Ravan | (3:33) | |
| Stubborn Kinda Girl (I Got News for You-I Made Plans for Two) | Genya Ravan | (4:00) | ||
| It's Me (You're So Drunk on Your Own Perfume) | Genya Ravan | Genya Ravan | (3:39) | |
| Love Isn't Love (Baby Baby Let's Forget Small Talk) | Genya Ravan | Genya Ravan | (3:45) | |
| I'm Wired, Wired, Wired (Glitter Packed-Double Tracked) | Genya Ravan | Genya Ravan | (6:00) | |
| Roto Root Her (Buy Me an Ankle Bracelet) | Genya Ravan | Genya Ravan | (3:27) | |
| Night Owl (It's Owl Owl Over) | Tony Allen | Genya Ravan | (2:20) | |
| Junkman (I'll Be Your Twilight Lover) | Joe Droukas | Genya Ravan | (5:55) |
