Ahead of their giant North American tour with Bryan Adams this summer, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts released a brand new EP titled “Mindsets.”

Before we go into the review and look at the individual songs and whatnot, for those that aren’t sure what the difference between an EP and an LP is, the answer is simple. An EP contains around 4-6 songs anywhere in the neighborhood of 20 minutes while an LP is a full-length album or “Long Play” for the technical wording.

Since “Mindsets” is an EP the ratings at the end of the review will be out of five rather than ten. I think it’s only fair to score an EP out of five then 1- since an EP is half of an LP.

To start off, I will say that I am a giant Joan Jett & the Blackhearts fan. I think that she is awesome and truly a living legend in Rock and Roll and it’s great to see that she is still recording and releasing music. In fact, last year, Jett released a new record of autistic songs from her career titled “Changeup.” If you want to read the review on that, click here.

“Mindset” contains six songs and lasts just shy of the 20-minute mark. It clocks in at 19 minutes to be exact.

The first song off the EP, “If You’re Blue,” was the very first song released off the record as it was the EP’s lone single.

“If You’re Blue” is my favorite song off the entire record. Right off the bat, the signature Joan Jett vocals kick in. Jett’s vocals have really stood up for a while and she’s one of the lucky ones whose voice is still in really good shape. There are a lot of singers that really have trouble singing and it’s a shame. Jett on the other hand, still has that voice that takes listeners all the way back to the “I Love Rocks ‘N Roll” record from 1981.

The second song on the record, “Whiskey Goes Good” starts off with the sounds of a restaurant somewhere at the start of the record. At the very beginning, over the clinking of glassware and silverware, you can faintly hear someone say “from New York State” maybe as a little head nod to the state where she has lived since the late ‘70’s. 

“Whiskey Goes Good” is a fun little song with a Western feel to it. The song, essentially is a tune saying that whiskey goes well with anything and any mood that you’re in. It’s certainly a catchy tune and fits well with Jett’s rock and roll style.

The third track, “Shooting Into Space” is rooted in Punk rock. This song has a blaring and loud guitar riff that doesn’t let up for the entire three minutes of the song as Jett belts out the lyrics over the rest of the band.

The next three songs at the end of the record, “Rear View Mirror,” “Before the Dawn,” and the anthem style “(Make the Music Go) Boom” cap off the record and are straightforward, Blackhearts style of rock and roll that brought them to their popularity during the 1980’s after Jett left The Runaways.

Since this is an EP, there will be no Singer’s Thoughts on this record so I will end this review by saying that this was a pretty solid EP. There weren’t any songs out of left field and no curveballs. This was as classic of a rock EP as they come and there wasn’t a “horrible” song found on it.

Overall Grade: 3/5