If it wasn’t for the M�torhead connection, would Girlschool have got the attention they did? This two-CD set with it’s 37 tracks (A-sides, B-sides and live, plus two fabulous early demos) is proof positive that Girlschool were a damn fine rock’n’roll band in their own right, irrespective of their sex and their connections.
Disc One is faultless, from the bright-eyed pub-rock of their 1979 City Records debut, Take It All Away, through the Bronze-era jukebox metal of Emergency, Race With The Devil, Yeah, Right and C’mon Let’s Go, to the belting Top 5 M�torhead collaboration as HeadGirl, Please Don’t Touch. This is solid, biker-pub heaven: unpretentious, accessible, jeans’n’T-shirt metal. The late Vic Mailes’ production was perfect (as with his work with M�torhead and The Godfathers), whereas Noddy Holder’s later efforts were drumheavy, soon-to-be-retro glam.
Their management seemed desperate for a hit following rival Joan Jett’s I Love Rock’n’Roll, and a rollicking cover of 20th Century Boy was fun and frothy, but the original 1-2-3-4 Rock’n’Roll saw them at their lowest point. The boogie-rock of ZZ Top’s Tush, tucked away on a B-side, was closer to how they wanted to sound: accidental feminists and ass-kicking, heads-down rockers.
