• In-depth box set, delving right back to the band’s pub rock roots right up until the present.
• A celebration of Girlschool’s 40 plus years of rocking the globe, kicking off with their independently released 45 ‘Take It All Away’ b/w ‘It Could Be Better’.

Formed at school in the mid-70s,  Kim McAuliffe and bassist Enid Williams joined forces as Painted Lady. It wasn’t until 78 that Girlschool formed. Guitarist Kelly Johnson and drummer Denise Dufort in April of ’78.

With their Debut album ‘Demolition’ breaking into the UK Top 30 a couple of years later, it was their follow-up ‘Hit And Run’ (1981) where I got interested. As a teenager, I couldn’t get enough of their EP ‘Valentines Day Massacre’ recorded with label mates Motörhead as HeadGirl. 1982’s ‘Wildlife’ EP would be Enid’s last outing with Girlschool for a while, as she was replaced on bass by Gil Weston for ‘Screaming Blue Murder’ (1982). Listening back to the two albums and EP many years later they were really onto something with their punky attitude mixed with the hard-rocking delivery they were playing by their own rules in a very difficult market with only The Runaways on the other side of the pond offering all-female line ups a fighting chance and they certainly had the chops to stand shoulder to shoulder with their peers.

There is a lot of music to get through and with a steady swirl of players through the ever-revolving door saw a dip in the quality of the music with the real high points being those first two albums by what has to be the classic lineup. There is however a whole load of interest in Disc 4 in this set featuring many rare B-Sides and non-album songs, as well as demos dating way back in 1978 right up to 2002, as well as Disc 5, being a really rare live outing from pre-Girlschool Painted Lady that is a must own for any fans of the band and hearing what they sounded like pre ‘Demolition’. To round off this excellent deep dive you also get sleeve notes from NWOBHM expert John Tucker, as well as plenty of rare photos from the band’s archive.

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Author: Dom Daley