Ah, Girlschool. What a band from the good old original New Wave of British Heavy Metal days – and still active today some forty years later.
Must admit that they’d slipped my mind somewhat and it wasn’t until I found some of their old singles (a la Emergency etc.) at the back of a shelf that I remembered how good they were back then.
And how over the years I’d lost and/or misplaced my old vinyl copies of their early albums. And it was time to put that right.
Went to the big A. Early albums hard/impossible to bag though hang on – a nice box set of their first four albums for a reasonable price. Yes please. Hit the buy button and the set arrived the very next day.
So good to hear that early Girlschool stuff again after many a year. Saw then many times “back in the day” and used to wind up the girl I was with at the time by pretending I had a bit of a thing for the ban’s bass player Enid Williams. May be I did – but that’s another story.
The girls’ sound fresh and powerful with all the swagger and attitude to the fore. In The Bronze Years box set we have Demolition, Hit and Run, Screaming Blue Murder and Play Dirty. Three stone-cold NWOBHM era classics and one misfire.
Demolition (debut album) being the first classic. Full of short, to the point, hard-hitting rockers with power behind them. And the snarling guitar of Kelly Johnson. All straight in yer face with a bit of a spiky punky edge in places. Check out in particular Demolition Boys, Take it All Away and the phenomenal Emergency. All delivered apace in breath-taking style. And a frantic cover of Race With the Devil.
Next up came Hit and Run. More of the same. C’Mon Let’s Go an irresistible opener. The title track also and another ridiculously catchy monster in Yeah, Right. And a snarling cover of ZZ Tops’ Tush. Marvellous. Oh: and the bonus tracks to Hit and Run include the legendary Headgirl EP with Motorhead. Brilliant.
Here a video of Hit and Run. Good innit?
After that we have Screaming Blue Murder. The winning formula continues however there were signs creeping in that Girlschool were starting to explore a more melodic route in some of their delivery. Still a strong performer though.
And there we have the three classics. The fourth album – Play Dirty – for my money is a weak affair. Perhaps it was a deliberate ploy to stray further in to melodic territory may be to go more “mainstream” to pay the bills. Who knows?
The overly slick production job by Slade’s Noddy Holder and Jimmy Lea doesn’t help matters. It’s a tame effort overall. One gets the feeling that the songs are there and the old power is wanting to get out – but just can’t. It’s not until the closer – Breakout – that Girlschool start sounding like Girlschool.
The Bronze Years packs in those first four albums and it’s great to hear again (with the exception of Play Dirty) what a band they were back then in the early NWOBHM days. They rocked has hard as anyone and more than most. An excellent box set indeed. Don’t think about it, just buy it……!