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February 15, 2009 - Sunday 15:20
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Current mood:  accomplished Category: Writing and Poetry
 GIRLSCHOOL – Legacy (Wacken / SPV)
The year 2008 will be long remembered by many veteran “metalheads” - as the
year of amazing 'come back' albums! Well over a dozen
'old school' metal acts instantly spring to mind, all having released their best products in years!
The list is impressive to say the least, it's virtually a who's who
of Metal – names like: Whitesnake, Dokken, Motorhead, Def Leppard,
Testament, Motley Crue, Judas Priest, Journey, Metal Church, Buckcherry, Metallica and recently, AC/DC!
Well, now you can add British all female metal 'legends' GIRLSCHOOL – to the list, with a very decent
return album that celebrates their
30 years of ass kicking!
GIRLSCHOOL - for those of you under 30 years old, are the longest
surviving all girl band ever! Forget those try-hard bands like,
The Bangles, L7, Vixen, etc. GIRLSCHOOL is what an all woman rock band, should sound like!
The band first came to prominence via a tour supporting, MOTORHEAD
on their 'Overkill' tour in 1979 and over the coarse of the next 3 years,
GIRLSCHOOL released, three very good consistent albums - “Demolition” (1980), “Hit N Run” (1981) and “Screaming Blue Murder (1982).
If memory serves me correct, MOTORHEAD's producer of the time, even
produced their albums?!. I fondly remember seeing GIRLSCHOOL - belting
out numerous film clips at the time, back in the day!
Sorry, flash-back - all three records showcased the toughest, young
female rock band to ever emerge, only the mid 70's Los Angeles based
all female act, THE RUNAWAYS – came close, albeit a far distant second.
Anyway, here we have GIRLSCHOOL's new album, “Legacy” - and to be perfectly honest – it's the best recording by the band since the above mentioned, 'hey days'!
Now middle aged women, who still kick serious freckle live,
GIRLSCHOOL are a little older, a little wiser and definitely still
kicking ass in a major way. The production is good, crisp, heavy and
thankfully not over produced. The songs are strong and in most cases
deliver what you want from this powerhouse quartet.
Original members, Kim McAuliffe Enid Williams and Denise Dufort
are joined by Jackie Chambers – who replaces original guitarist, the
late Kelly Johnson R.I.P. - who
sadly passed away in July 2007.
Musically speaking, there's more than enough meat here to satisfy
any long-time fans as well as introduce themselves to a whole new
generation. Song wise, it's a tough, it's tenacious and definietly
great to hear women kicking serious butt. In over 30 years, not one all
female band I've heard comes close to these gals!
If opening song, Everything's The Same – a crunching hard rocker of
the highest calibre, doesn't convince you then you're still probably
listening to your PINK albums – shame on you! Well it's time to make
amends and give that rubbish to your younger siblings. From The Other
Side – is a medium paced cracker, that'll have you dancing around your
lounge room, trust me or I Spy – which has a tough, slow grind topped
off with some great gang vocals, a very tasty tlittle tune.
We lift the bar ever so slighly to one of the albums' high points,
a personal favorite, Spend Spend Spend – has it all, killer riff, great
groove and well I'm a sucker for a song that has it all, and this one
most definitely does! We get a rather infectious, quirky riff for,
Whole New World – topped off with a strong anthem chorus, another good
song. GIRLSCHOOL show why they're the best female band on the planet
through another 'highlight' track from this impressive album, Just
Another Day – a belter of a song, again featuring a crunching riff,
great melody and above all else – a geniune kick ass attitude!
Medium paced rocker, Legend – has a interresting groove and strong
chorus, while Still Waters – features a little light 'n shade feel but
still cranks hard and mean when it needs too! The bands' long
association with MOTORHEAD, bascially the bands' main infuence is
exemplified by a cover of the 'legends' tune, Metropolis - and I've
got to say – it's a very good version, featuring ex-Motorhead
guitarist, Eddie Clarke on solo duties.
It's back to relentless driven rock via, Don't Mess Around –
rollercoasting out of the speakers complete with double kick drum ending
– excellent stuff! The almost epic sounding, Zeltgeist – has a almost
power metal groove, stampeding across the plains, being a bruising
workout. Just when you thought the girls can't get any heavier, well
you'de be wrong as, Don't Talk To Me – is an thundering monster with an
almost punk attiutude, steamrolling and crushing everything in it's
path – simply marvelous! Oh I forgot to tell you, Lemmy makes a guest
appearance which only adds the cherry to the icing!
A bonus version of, I Spy – featuring Ronnie James Dio and Tony
Iommi – sounds cool while the feel of, London – zips along at a frantic
pace, possessing that 'American Pie' mentality and it works very well!
As stated above, there are a number of 'special guests' herein
including, JJ French and Eddie Ojeda (Twisted Sister), Neil Murray and
Phil Cambell also drops in to help out.
Closing off this very good product is a 'classic' written by girls,
'back in the day' – originally featured on their debut album, "Demolition".
Re-recorded and still sounding as heavy as ever, Emergency – sounds
just as good as it did yesterday! It's slighly different but only an
old dog like me, notices these little things - a driving anthem that
would make any band proud!
We've all heard the expression: the difference is like 'shit and diamomds' right? Well, I can tell you the new GIRLSCHOOL "LEGACY" is the diamonds and well, wait until
you hear the new GNR album .... you'll hear what I mean!
It easily rubs shoulders with the recent returns by Metallica and AC/DC –
not to mention probably, another 20 consistent albums released this
year! I'm sure Kelly is looking down from that great gig in the sky,
proud as punch! For newcomers, this is a great place to discover the
best all female band on the planet, you f**kin' better believe it!
- 9/10
www.killawatts.net
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