Classic Rock
Cherie Currie releases “The Cleopatra Sessions” on 4 December: nine tracks she recorded for Cleopatra Records, most of which had never appeared on a physical format. The vinyl is purple marble and the pressing runs to eighty-five copies, two per customer at most.
Side A opens with a new version of “Cherry Bomb” — The Runaways’ first single, from June 1976, and therefore exactly half a century old — featuring Wayne Kramer and Marky Ramone. There is also “When You’re Young” with Essex, “I Can See You” with Cheetah Chrome and “Whatever You Do! Don’t!” with Rick Derringer.
Side B has “Leader Of The Pack” with James Williamson, “For Your Eyes Only” (cut in 2000), “I Got You Babe”, a “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” with Tracii Guns and “Magnet And Steel” with Mick Box.
“This is my favorite redo,” Currie says of “Cherry Bomb”. “Working with the late, great Bob Kulick made it so full of spunk and sass.”
Cleopatra has not given a recording date for each track: it places some around 2000 and others simply as more recent. Currie signed in the label’s early days: her relationship with Cleopatra goes back thirty years.
Text by Enric Vilaplana