An artist born and raised as a street kid in New York, on more than one occasion Janey Street was on the cusp of stardom. First when she was still in high school, and twice after, Street was signed to a major label and even hit the Billboard Charts with two singles and saw plenty of rotation on MTV. Abruptly, however, Street was dropped from her deal, but she still continued to gig around her Los Angeles home while taking odd jobs to survive.
Now living in Nashville and hooked up with the Blue Elan label, Street has the chance to reinvent her career on this first album with her new home. Across 12 tracks, the veteran aligns her soaring voice against pop, blues, R&B, and soulful and retro sounds as she discusses universal themes with plenty of rock ‘n’ roll spirit.
While some tunes are certainly more blues influenced, like the sweet love song with soulful backing vocals of “Wrap My Mind Around You,” others, such as “Undone,” are more folky in nature, with a softer but playful edge.
There’s certainly a knack for breezy melody all over the album, and tracks like the organ friendly pop-rock of “When You Are Loved” and warm acoustic guitars of “In My Own Skin” are difficult to forget, though the album takes a darker turn with the grittier, more forceful vocals and atmosphere of “Guilty Pleasures.”
Despite the skimming of many genres, Street mostly stays in the area of guitar and key heavy rock ‘n’ roll with sincere storytelling. Timeless tunes like “Wreckage” or “Dignity” (featuring Dame Crawford) are both fine examples of her easily digestible art, with the latter even bringing in a hip-hop influence. “Under The Clock,” one of her hits from the ’80s, is revisited here, and it’s just as fun and memorable as it was back then and makes us wonder just how far she could have gone commercially had her record deal not ended.
While some might call this a comeback, the truth is Janey Street never left. She’s consistently made music for several decades now (mostly in TV and film for many years), and this is among her best work to date.
