Once a raunchy teenager, the ex-lead singer of Transvision Vamp has now grown up into a feisty fifty year old and as I'm sure she'd be the first to say - Baby, I Don't Care.
And why should she? With old wild men like The Stones and Iggy Pop still strutting their stuff Wendy James is just a kid!
Not only that but, as the topless shot that graces the cover of her comeback album (The Price Of The Ticket) demonstrates, she remains pretty hot and to echo the words in Mel Brooks' The Producers "When you've got it - flaunt it!"
Her full-blooded, ballsy version of Dylan's It's Alright Ma on this album further proves that she has sass and style to spare. This is one of two bonus tracks featuring The Stooges' James Williamson on guitar.
The whole album is described as "a push for ever more current attitude" in the successful pitch for funds on Pledge Music. Its quality more than justifies the belief of those backers who have stuck by her over the years through thick and thin.
Good as the album is, in many ways Wendy James makes more sense as a singles artist. I'm not too sure what being a double A-side means in this day and age but this is one all the same.
It's not the only nod to the vinyl age. The whole sound is rooted in a kind of raw-edged rebel rock from the 1960s/70s that comes as second nature to the backing band she has assembled: Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Group on guitar, original Sex Pistol Glenn Matlock on bass and Bad Seed James Sciavunos on drums.
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You're A Dirtbomb,Lester is titled after legendary rock critic Lester Bangs and finds her lying in her bed (presumably in her current home in New York City) dreaming of new wave rockers and graffiti. It is part autobiographical ("I just wanted to play music") and part challenge to any man or woman who dares doubt her talent.
The song is coupled with the tough but tender Farewell To Love which is billed as "an end of the line cowboy ballad for the finish of a love affair". a description which basically says it all.
Looking back at her time during the 1980s as a not so innocent blonde bombshell, Wendy James recently said of Transvision Vamp: "we were ready for the world and the world was ready for us".
Three decades on, she's older, wiser but, on this showing, not in the mood for mellowing.
It's as if she is now posing the question: Is the world still ready for Wendy James?
Woe betide those who dare to answer in the negative!
Wendy James' website
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