Courtney Love has been on our radar for years, as we watched in sick fascination her peaks and valleys of turmoil and drama only to see her come out a decade into the new millennia with a newly found sobriety and apparent reflection on the past 15 years of excess. While not quite the spectacle we have collectively shook our heads in dismay at, I suspect Ms. Love still can fight dirty if need be. Nobody's declawed this feral alley cat.

Nobody's Daughter, the 4th Hole album, is all Courtney and all extraordinarily personal. With the help of another 90's music icon, Billy Corrigan, Love taps her bad girl past, the death of husband Kurt Cobain, public opinion… all drawled out with her signature raspy growl, now even rougher -- it seems like years of screaming, sleepless nights and infinite numbers of cigarettes have taken their toll. However, having said that, she still sounds like a scorpion's sting, and isn't that what we all want from her?

An amalgam of everyone's favorite bleach-blonde train-wreck's personalities, the songs range from country-tinged ballads to punk anthems to big electric guitar riffs straight out of the '90s, and the instrumentation is lovely, with guitars showcased -- but never overshadowing the vocals (as if they could... this is Courtney Love we are talking about, after all). There are examples of pitchiness but really, if we wanted perfect production, we'd not be listening to Hole, right? And we should be listening to Hole, if only to hear what Love has to say while coherent. Its jagged beauty might surprise you.

Listen to:

"Skinny Little Bitch" -- Mean and catty, this is the Courtney Love I want to see in concert. I can just picture her sneering at the hipster pretty-girls in the crowd.

"Pacific Coast Highway" -- Singing about the aftermath of Kurt's suicide, this is very personal and poignant.

"For Once in Your Life" - Dare I say I hear a radio hit? A pseudo-country tune that sticks with you and is filled with lyric hooks.

-- Amber Barni