Dude, Courtney Love is back. After years of countless delays, she’s finally releasing her album, Nobody’s Daughter. I still can’t believe it.

Some would argue that Love never actually left, that between posting nonsensical ramblings on her Twitter and the public battles with her daughter, she has remained in the public’s consciousness.  And while that may be true for the tabloid-reading set, she has lost all relevance with fans of her music AKA me.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m obsessed with the crazy, foot-in-mouth, in-dire-need-of-rehab Courtney. But I definitely favor the Courtney that gets shit done, the Courtney that sometimes wears couture gowns, stars in awesome movies and actually releases records in a timely fashion. Because when she does release music, it’s usually pretty fucking good. Live Through This was a life-altering piece of work. And although people resisted the glossy-pop sheen of Celebrity Skin, it was an undeniably solid record. Even her largely-ignored  solo album, America’s Sweetheart, had some gems on it.

As fate would have it , Miss Love played a show in my hometown a few years ago in which she appeared to be about twenty pounds heavier–a serious indication of having just been to rehab.  She was also speaking with a lucidness  that can only be attributed to sobriety and I quickly realized that insane drugged-out Courtney didn’t RSVP to the show. In her place, was a bloated doppelganger going through serious Oxy withdrawals. To make matters worse, the medium-sized venue was half-empty and it totally pissed her off. She began to insult my little beach town saying,”Poor Ventura. You always get the shaft”, and after playing a few songs, she stormed off stage. She returned a few minutes later,  presumably to fulfill her contractual obligation to the venue, and lazily strummed her way through a couple more songs. Afterwards, she hurried into her cracked-out Escalade or whatever the fuck she drives and high-tailed it back to L.A.

But that was then and this is now. I’m pretty sure Love is back on drugs and going on tour which will make for a more entertaining combo. But all I want to know is if the new album is actually good.  The first single, “Skinny Little Bitch” has already been released and I’m unimpressed. Her voice sounds distorted and the chorus never really takes off. But I’m keeping the faith. What the world needs right now is a stellar Courtney Love– oops I mean Hole– record. And if Courtney can pry herself away from her Twitter/dealer’s house in Silverlake long enough, she just might be able to give it to us.