July

[Sweder]

The Slade influence on that album - Play Dirty - is the subject of much ire amongst the Girlschool faithful. Ironically the boys engineered the rock n roll heart out of much of the material, embellishing tracks with flowery keyboards and fancy percussion, leading some followers to denounce the production as their 'least favorite'.

The band had been spoiled prior to that, having the excellent Vic Maile (via Gerry Bron at Bronze Records) produce their first two albums. Vic was a genius - his work on Hit n Run (and especially on C'mon Let's Go) was some of his best stuff. IMHO Not That Innocent (21st Anniversary) and Believe - the most recent releases - are head and shoulders above all that has gone before, both technically in the production (as you might expect) but also in terms of the writing and basic execution. I believe there's a lot more to come provided the current crop manage to avoid killing each other. There's a truism in the rock world; every band thinks Spinal Tap is not only spot-on, but that it was written about them.

Hello? Anyone still awake out there? (Taps glass, listens to the silence)