Dunno how many like (or even know) GIRLSCHOOL; fact is this British band paved the way for all-female Hard/Heavy acts to spread their wings. 2008 marks the 30th anniversary of the London-based femmes, GIRSCHOOL sees 75% of the original lineup intact and - as far as I'm concerned - Legacy does not predict any sign we won't hear again from these cats in the near future. Yes, GIRLSCHOOL is (in a way) a legend.
Believe - 2004 - was a nice British Heavy/Hard/Rock album, the first studio one with Jackie Chambers on board. I believe - listening to Legacy again and again - that the new album is even better. It's louder, more energetic, more well-assembled, more diverse in its own limits. Apart from this - we'll get back to the music itself later - this new CD features the kind participation of eight no-less-than respected musicians, paying their own tribute to this perilous clan.
OK, Lemmy's appearance would be judged as nothing less than predictable, haha; the man plays bass and sings in Don't Talk To Me, while fellow comrade Fast Eddie Clark does the guitar solo in the rendition of Metropolis. TWISTED SISTER's J.J. French provides leads and licks in Spend Spend Spend and Eddie ojeda appears in Don't Mess Around, the living legend of Hard/Heavy bass Neil Murray appears in Whole New World and Legend (both alongside MOTORHEAD's current axeman Phil Campbell) and - last but definitely not least - the sacred Iommi/Dio duo delivers the goods in thei relative version of I Spy.
What's special with Legacy, now: it's a dangerously 'fresh' album, even if 'retro' in (almost) its entirety. Meaning: the production unveils a band with strong knowledge if its inspiration/influence but also willing to cut its teeth in the 'now' season. This dogma supplies the needed weapons to dress up the familiar British Metal-with-Rock-attitude-and-Punk-notion GIRLSCHOOL recipe. The voice of Kim McAuliffe is familiar, of course, but does care to make you feel comfort; she's dangerous. The guitars are striking, both in riffs and leads, do not remember I heard such loudness in Believe. As for the bass/drums operational status, the girls are pounding be it mid-pace rockers or just rock 'n' Roll or the metallum of Britain.
No weak song, although some of them may leave you kinda uninterested, is present here: of special reference - of course - is the one named I Spy. In the CD's sequence the listener should find himself moving along to the Metal groove, while the vocals denote some vogue atmosphere in relation to the in-your-face GIRSCHOOL standards. Then, later on, the Dio/Iommi version bursts out and you can understand why this song (possibly) thrilled you the most in the first place.
OK, GIRSCHOOL's heyday was the early 80s, with monumental albums like Demolition (1980) and Hit & Run (1981) acting like equivalent weapons to MOTORHEAD's Ace Of Spades or Iron Fist or whatever. Still, not only the good die young, since GIRLSCHOOL seems ready for the taking in an era I don't know how many people will take the chance to get interested in. In any way, what matters is that the quartet is ready to deliver this chance; if you care, grab it. It's legacy, after all.
P.S.: Kelly Johnson's paying can be heard in Everything's The Same. RIP...