GIRLSCHOOL
GIRLSCHOOL– “WTFortyfive?”
By Colonel Angus
In the early eighties, Kerrang! magazine was my source of music information on a new exciting hard rock scene emerging called the NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal). I ended the seventies as a prog rock fan that mainly listened to RUSH, YES, JETHRO TULL. I had already grown tired of KISS when this new energetic metal was coming out and one of the first bands that really struck me was MOTORHEAD. Now, the reason I mention them is because they were the band that introduced me to GIRLSCHOOL via the “St. Valentine's Day Massacre” E.P.. I thought to myself that any band that can collaborate with Lemmy and company was worth checking out. So I purchased the E.P. and subsequently got “Hit and Run”, both of them at import prices which goes to show you how serious I was about music collecting at an early age. I liked their no-holds barred brand of rock/metal and felt that they were the new queens of noise (RUNAWAYS reference). I also enjoyed their follow-up “Screaming Blue Murder” but was really disappointed with “Play Dirty” and “Running Wild”. The latter was basically VIXEN before VIXEN came out on the scene - maybe timing is everything. Needless to say, I basically lost interest at that point and didn’t revisit any of their releases until their self-titled album in 1992 which to my ears was a return to form.
All of this brings us to “WTFortyfive?” which is their latest record marking forty-five years as a band. I had to look to see when the last one was released and it has been eight years since “Guilty As Sin”. If I’m correct, “WTFortyfive?” is GIRLSCHOOL’s fourteenth studio album and it is exactly what the headmaster didn’t ordered; the girls dishing up another dozen tracks that still have that sneering punk attitude. In many ways, this is one of their heaviest albums yet they still retain that classic sound from their earlier days.
The disk starts off with a bit of a bass intro but then slams you right in the face with “It Is What It Is” which is a newer term but the song sounds like something from the early eighties. It has that same energy of the scene that started it all and that is the charm of “WTFortyfive?”. Most of the tunes on this album harken back to the good ‘ol days when metal was fun and exciting. Sure there are the more fun songs like “Bump in the Night”, “Up to No Good”, and “Party” but there are some tunes that deal with more serious topics like “Invisible Killer” with its Covid references. “Cold Dark Heart” also has a more ominous tone that helps create a more well-rounded record.
Truth be told though, I like their party-hardy and raise some hell type of tunes so those were the ones that I seem to gravitate towards but that not to say that I didn’t listen to whole disk from start to finish multiple times. As I write this review, I am pleasantly surprised that the band have been able to craft an album of this quality after spending so much time in the business. The enthusiasm towards this new material almost jumps out of the speakers at you. Grab a listen to “Are You Ready” and tell me that the band doesn’t sound like they’re newly energized. Even the cover of MOTORHEAD’s “Born To Raise Hell” (which has Biff Byford, Phil Campbell, and Duff McKagan contributing) doesn’t sound contrived and feels more like just a jam session that got recorded.
Still rocking after all these years are the Lars and James of GIRLSCHOOL, Kim McAuliffe and Denise Dufort, who started the band back in 1978. Coming back onboard, Tracey Lamb has been a fixture of the Girlschool line-up for many years as well. The newest member, but still raking in over two decades with the band is Jackie Chambers. Even though there is a consistency with regard to the members, the music on “WTFortyfive?” doesn’t sound stale in the least bit. After forty-five years, GIRLSCHOOL still sounds like the punky, trouble making girls that showed the boys that they were just as good.