the donnas – gold medal
last time i heard stuff from the donnas they were sporting a skinny black leather vibe. coming over all like a spiced up version of the ramones with short sharp garage rock-n-roll tracks with blasts of one dimensional excellence called ‘hyperactive’.
several albums later and how have things changed?
well the rest of the world has cottoned onto their style and conquered the media, whereas the girls have had a complete makeover image wise and carefully revised their groove, though don’t expect any type of funk-punk revisionism, or the introduction of dance beats. instead they have cracked up the amps and riffs whilst recalling several classic aor rock clichés.
now signed to a major you would be forgiven for thinking that they have mellowed out in their “old age” (5 albums and they still don’t look old enough to drink alcohol in most states of the us), in order to get the recognition they obviously desire. instead the girls – all original members fact fans – have refined their talents, sharpened their lyrical prowess and created a 35 minutes blast of fun, attitude, hard edged rock and roll that will keep fans of older stuff happy as well as pulling in scores of new fans.
sound wise they have drafted in a massive state of the art production, but somehow managed to keep the guitars all roughed up and avoided any syrupy extras, there isn’t even a big orchestral ballad – and you just know that the record label will have been pushing the girls to become a nu-generation version of the bangles don’t you? so, fair play to them for standing firm and updating their appeal yet still managing to maintain well established integrity. not an easy game to play i suspect.
stand out tracks come thick and fast ‘don’t break me down’ with its hard assed fuzzed up bass, ‘friends like mine’ with its handclaps, ‘fall behind me’ aka the cult vs joan jett on steroids. songs showing that these girls bite, and they bite hard, none more so on the double headers of classic 70’s rockers ‘it takes one to know one’ and the follow on ‘revolver’, where it becomes obvious the hard years gigging have provided the gang with a list of grievances to settle (sometimes personal), as the words in several places throughout indicate that they have some scores to settle, adding a subtle element of vitriol, anger and sarcastic humour amongst the catchy radio friendly songs.
if ever there was a true successor to the mantra of girl power then this excellent album of high school rock-n-roll anthems would surely qualify.