Well Jan has definitely uncovered some gems in this Lost Songs album. It is certainly a female classic rock collection and as Jan explains in the CD sleeve the songs were left behind because she didn't want to be pigeon holed into this female rock genre.
I was expecting badly mixed and produced old recordings but was pleasantly surprised with the quality and clarity. There is some background noise, hissing and some songs sound muddy, but then again this is to be expected from resurrected DAT tapes.
Track 3 - Old Man Says sticks out as one of my favourites with excellent drumming and up tempo toe tapping rock goodness.
Track 9 - Your Mind is Amaze has fantastic deep and raunchy guitar sounds and cool riffs. Turn it up loud and destroy your speakers!
A few tracks let the album down for me, including Burger Generation (Track 10), it wafts along and the vocals are too piercing. The background hissing is also unbearable.
Just as I was getting a little tired of some mediocre tracks, I was brought out of my slumber for tracks 15 & 16, On Ice and Blissfully Unaware. These are two great songs that stand out in their own right.
The last two songs on the album don’t fit at all and are drum and bass style remixes, maybe they should have stayed Lost Songs as it just doesn't feel right.
Overall if you are a Jan fan, what are you waiting for?
Jan Hellriegel was born in West Auckland to a family of six. While it is true that she worked at her father's panelbeaters (A.F. Hellriegel Panelbeaters Ltd) it was, contrary to popular legend, in the office and not pumping iron. Nonetheless, she has always been the New Zealand media's 'Westie' darling.
Jan moved to Dunedin to attend Otago University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, and met up with the friends who would later become Cassandra's Ears. Jan also took vocal training in Speech and Singing at Sister Mary Leo.
At this point she joined her brother Rob's band, Working With Walt, and sang on their 1985 EP '4 Sides', even writing one song, 'Christina', and playing guitars. Between 1989 and 1991 Cassandra's Ears formed to record a song for a Dunedin rock compilation, 'Weird Culture Weird Custom'. Their song The Replacements was released by National Student Radio. The band played local gigs, wrote more material, and eventually released two popular records, 'Private Wasteland' and 'Your Estimation'.