It has to be said: what a dodgy title for an album. We appreciate that Girlschool are celebrating a landmark anniversary, having formed in 1978 (although purists might point out their Painted Lady beginnings three years previous), but surely they could have come up with a better title for their first full-length record in nigh-on 10 years? Stars On 45, perhaps? Or maybe Forty-Five Hundred Times (Not By A Long Shot), to borrow a Status Quo song title?
Still, to have survived for so long, and with two original members – Kim McAuliffe and Denise Dufortyfive – still staggering is quite an achievement. (Just imagine the number of GCSE retakes and hours spent in detention along the way.)
Thankfully, WTF? doesn’t suffer from the same lackadaisical malaise as WFH. But TBH, although there are many moments of classic Girlschool shoutalong brilliance here, the album does dip in places. Case in point: the cack-handed Invisible Killer is plainly a hangover from the covid era, when what we demand from Girlschool is a hangover induced by consuming a quart of Lambrini and a fistful of prawn crackers. Oh, and does anyone really need a song called It Is What It Is, surely the most annoying mantra of recent times?
But the pros massively outweigh the cons, the best songs being the ones that pay homage to the band’s Lewisleathered, lager-lathered heyday. The steamin’ – complete with the words: ‘We will resonate with Girlschool fans of the late 70s/early 80s. Let(from the rollickin’ are the antithesis of modern-day jiggery-wokery.
