GIRLSCHOOL: Legacy

Released: October 27, 2008

One of the bands I used to party pretty hard with during the 90s was Nitocris, whose album Screaming Dolorous I reviewed earlier in the year. Consciously or not, Girlschool was a major influence on that band's sound if not their attitude (which was more inspired by the riot grrrl movement), and therefore it was little surprise that the first track on this album brought back memories of slamming along to Sydney's own female musical demolition team. The irony of this is that I was always a bigger fan of Nitocris than I was of Girlschool, even though if you put the first two songs from Legacy onto ...Dolorous they'd be a perfect fit right down to the riffing and the vocal harmonies. There was probably many reasons for this, but in the end, it all comes down to consistency.

The Legacy of the title is most clearly both a tribute to Girlschool's fallen guitarist Kelly Johnson, who succumbed to spinal cancer on July 17 last year, and a reminder that this band has been kicking around for 30 years now. "Everything's the Same" is a nice solidly rocking opener followed closely by the looser, punkish "From the Other Side" while "I Spy" is a heavier, darker tune with an almost plodding riff. There are actually two versions of this song on the album, the second of which features Ronnie James Dio and Tony Iommi as guests, and with these two giants adding their touches, "I Spy" sounds truly menacing. Elsewhere, Lemmy adds his inimitable gifts (including playing the triangle!) to the thoroughly rambunctious "Don't Talk to Me" that revisits the Headgirl "St. Valentine's Massacre" EP and there's also a reworking of their ridiculously infectious 1979 single "Emergency". All of this type of stuff is what Girlschool did and still does well. Unfortunately, they still also want to be a pop band, which is something they didn't do well as anyone who's ever heard their horrendous teaming with Gary Glitter will attest.

Only a few tracks in and Legacy goes off the rails. "Spend Spend Spend" is completely pointless and "Just Another Day" is also nothing more than disposable pop-punk that even a solo from Phil Campbell can't save. Indeed, the entire middle of the album just seems to consist of filler that only exists for guests like JJ French from Twisted Sister and NWOBHM bandwhore Neil Murray to play on. With "Metropolis", Girlschool gets back on track and the dark rocker "Zeitgeist" (another one Nitocris could have written) is a good build-up to the one-two punch of "Don't Talk to Me" and the Dio/Iommi version of "I Spy". With guest appearances on no less than eight of Legacy's fifteen songs, one could be forgiven for thinking that jamming with some of their friends was indeed Girlschool's sole intention here, and the fact that Johnson's ashes are credited with providing percussion on the opening song adds a ghoulish touch some would likely find disturbing.

Legacy proves that there's still some life in the Girlschool beast yet, but would be so much better if they'd put "Metropolis" after "I Spy" and left out the songs in between.

1. Everything's the Same
2. From the Other Side
3. I Spy (Girlschool mix)
4. Spend Spend Spend
5. Whole New World
6. Just Another Day
7. Legend
8. Still Waters
9. Metropolis
10. Don't Mess Around
11. Zeitgeist
12. Don't Talk to Me
13. I Spy (Dio/Iommi mix)
14. Emergency
15. London

Rating: 67%