GIRLSCHOOL – The School Report 1978-2008 [Cherry Red Records 5xCD Box Set remastered] (2023)

Cherry Red / Hear No Evil Records just released the mammoth 5-CD / 103 track Box Set “The School Report 1978-2008“, a comprehensive set that reaches back to GIRLSCHOOL‘s pub rock roots and into the present. A celebration of the 40+ years Girlschool rocked the world, beginning with their independently released 45 disc “Take It All Away” and “It Could Be Better.”

Thi is plenty of very hard to find singles, non-album cuts, outtakes, rare versions, demos, plus the complete ‘The Pre-School Years – Painted Lady Live’, all fully remastered.

Punk Rock was still just about twitching its toes the first time Spin Cycle saw Girlschool play, in early 1978. It may have been at the Brecknock, it may have been the Bridgehouse. Either way, it was a pub gig, and it was an accident. Whoever else was on the bill was the lure, and Girlschool were simply the unintended consequence — a British Heavy Metal band before anyone had dreamed of there being a New Wave of such stuff.
Indeed, as the year went by and the Girlschool gigs piled up, the rest of the NWOBHM pack might as well have stayed in their bedrooms and played Yes riffs.

Forget Girlschool’s gender (‘Sounds’ magazine described them as “the female Blackmore’s Rainbow”). Forget the fact that the star spotters among us would soon be able to catch Lemmy hanging out at their shows. Forget all the fuss (good and bad) that the media threw up around them (“chicks that rock!” How many times in the 1970s did the music press act as though that had never happened before?).
Girlschool had the songs, had the style, had the flash, and even that night when they opened for Sham 69, then at the peak of their skinhead goon stomping glory, the quartet could cut any other band into collops. And all this before they even released their first single, “Take It All Away,” in early 1979.

The only real surprise was that it took about a year before Girlschool stopped being the band you liked that your friends had never heard of, and became the one that everyone saw, as they opened for Motörhead on the Overkill tour. And a year more before they released one of the great Any Wave of Anywhere’s Heavy Metal debuts, ”Demolition”. And off they flew to glory.

Formed at school in the mid-70s, when friends Kim McAuliffe on guitar and bassist Enid Williams joined forces as Painted Lady, Girlschool born in 1978, swept up as part of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal movement that also gave us Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Saxon, recruiting lead guitarist Kelly Johnson and drummer Denise Dufort in April 1978.

Debut LP ‘Demolition’ made it into the UK Top 30 in 1980, and the girls even found time while recording their follow up album ‘Hit And Run’ (1981) with producer Vic Maile, to record the ‘St Valentines Day Massacre’ EP 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).

Their fourth album, ‘Play Dirty’ (1983), was issued in the States on Mercury Records, who also picked up the option to release their fifth, ‘Running Wild’ (1985). The first album to be released without Kelly Johnson, it saw founder members Kim McAulliffe and Denise Dufort joined by Gil Weston, Jackie Bodimead (lead vocals, keyboards) and Cris Bonacci (guitar).

A new deal with GWR saw albums ‘Nightmare At Maple Cross’ (1986) and ‘Take A Bite’ (1988), by which time the bass slot had been filled by former Rock Goddess Tracey Lamb. Their eighth studio album, the self-titled ‘Girlschool’ came out in 1992 and 2002’s ‘21st Anniversary – Not That Innocent’ marked the beginning of a more prolific time for the band, as they would follow it up with ‘Believe’ (2004), ‘Legacy’ (2008).

”The School Report” is exactly the box set that Girlschool deserve… well, apart from the one that compiles absolutely everything they ever recorded and weighs a ton. Across five CDs, it tells the story from their first live recording in early 1978, as the band morphed from its previous identity as Painted Lady, and closes in 2008, following the death of ace guitarist Kelly Johnson.

Three discs are devoted to cherry-picking the albums, with generous selections from every one; another is dedicated to non-album singles and B-sides, of which there was plenty; and a clutch of demos that date from three sessions, one at the dawn of the band’s career, one from 1985 and one from 2002.

This is a terrific box-set, documenting Girlschool impressive career.
I’m sure there will be another box soon – live material (Live At Apeldoorn is vintage ’79 Girlschool), there’s more demos, BBC sessions, etc. There’s room for a whole other box set here, but this should keep you busy for the moment.
Highly Recommended

 

DISC ONE
Demolition Girls (1979-1983)
1 Take It All Away (A-side)
2 It Could Be Better (B-side)
3 Emergency
4 Nothing To Lose
5 Demolition Boys
6 Not For Sale
7 Take It All Away
8 Breakdown
9 Race With The Devil
10 Yeah Right
11 Please Don’t Touch (with Motörhead)
12 Hit And Run
13 The Hunter
14 (I’m Your) Victim
15 Watch Your Step
16 C’mon Let’s Go
17 Tush
18 Don’t Call It Love (Wildlife EP)
19 Screaming Blue Murder
20 It Turns Your Head Around
21 You Got Me
22 Take It From Me
23 1-2-3-4 Rock And Roll

DISC TWO
Playing Dirty (1983-1988)
1 20th Century Boy
2 Play Dirty
3 Running For Cover
4 High & Dry
5 Going Under
6 Burning In The Heat
7 Nowhere To Run
8 Are You Ready?
9 Let Me Go
10 Running Wild
11 Love Is A Lie
12 Nasty Nasty
13 Back For More
14 All Day All Night
15 You’ve Got Me (Under Your Spell)
16 Let’s Go Crazy
17 Play With Fire
18 Head Over Heels
19 Action
20 Love At First Bite
21 Too Hot To Handle

DISC THREE
Still Not That Innocent (1992-2015)
1 My Ambition
2 Can’t Say No
3 Can’t Do That
4 Take Me I’m Yours
5 Innocent
6 Knife
7 Coming Your Way
8 Mad Mad Sister
9 Let’s Get Hard
10 Secret
11 You Say
12 Passion
13 Other Side
14 I Spy (Dio/Iommi Mix)
15 Legend
16 Metropolis

DISC FOUR
I Told You So – Singles, B-Sides (1980-1983)
1 Furniture Fire (B-side)
2 Nothing To Lose (7″ edit)
3 Bomber (St Valentine’s Day)
4 Emergency (St Valentine’s Day)
5 Tonight (B-side)
6 Demolition Boys (Live B-side)
7 Tonight (Live B-side)
8 Wildlife
9 Don’t Stop
10 Tush
11 Don’t Call It Love
12 1-2-3-4 Rock And Roll (ext ver)
13 Like It Like That (B-side)
Demos (1978-2002)
14 Let’s Spend The Night Together
15 Just Don’t Care
16 Nothing To Lose
17 Baby Doll
18 Not For Sale
19 Running Wild
20 Love Is A Lie
21 I Told You So
22 Have A Nice Day
23 London

DISC FIVE
The Pre-School Years – Painted Lady Live (1978)
1 I Wanted To Boogie
2 Be My Lover
3 Smoke On The Water
4 King of The Blues
5 Sometime World
6 Rub It In
7 I Saw You Standing There
8 All Along The Watchtower
9 Paper Plane
10 Johnny B. Goode
11 Shoot Shoot
12 How Can I Tell You
13 Can’t Get Enough
14 All Right Now
15 Knocking On Heaven’s Door
16 Gimme Some Loving
17 Honky Tonk Women
18 Change’s Coming
19 Hey Joe
20 You Keep Me Hanging On

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