THE
SIRENS - The Sirens (Get
Hip)
Can the girls make an album as lump-headed as the guys? Does the fertile Detroit
scene have still more juice? What would happen if Suzy Quatro grew fangs,
hustled up a couple streetwise chicks, and recorded 
an
all-covers album? The Sirens’ debut answers all of these important questions.
We already knew the lasses could match the lads on smarts, so stupidity was
the next frontier. And what’s wrong with that? Some of the best records
of all-time revel in it, and when you hear the Sirens shamble along like mother
grizzlies through picnic baskets as if they’re paying more homage to
Seduce (forgotten Detroit metalheads) than to the Stooges, you just gotta
admire the spectacle.
Indeed, the sound of these Motor City kitties is a cross between trashy ’70s
glam metal and the “garage rawk revival” horn blown more than
“Taps” on an Air Force base. And cover glam they do, from Quatro’s
“Glycerine Queen” to Slade’s “Gudbuy T’ Jane”
to Gary Glitter’s “I Didn’t Know I Loved You (Till I Saw
You Rock and Roll),” which British metal queens Rock Goddess also tackled
20 years ago. But other than the jubilant shredding of girl group standard
“I’m Blue,” that’s it on the familiar territory, as
only someone with an expansive record collection will pick up on covers of
the Equals (“Diversion”), the Luv’d Ones (“I’m
Leaving You”), and the Hollywood Brats (“Chez Maximes”)
-- plus some so obscure that even I don’t recognize ’em.
In a manner not unlike the Cramps or even fellow Detroiters the Dirtbombs,
however, the Sirens leave an original mark on all 12 songs. And when you factor
in the snazzy red-flame skirts, the two ex-Gore Gore Girls (Deanne Iovan and
Melody Licious) in the ranks, and vocalist Muffy Kroha’s family ties
to the Gories, you’ll know why the Quatro analogy fits somehow. -Doug
Sheppard
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