Cherry Red ‎| UK | DLX RM CD | 2009 | CDMRED346

Girls At Our Best!: Pleasure UK CD [2009]

1. Getting Nowhere Fast
2. Warm Girls
3. Politics!
4. It’s Fashion
5. Go For The Gold
6. Pleasure
7. Too Big For Your Boots
8. I’m Beautiful Now
9. Waterbed Babies
10. Fun City Teenagers
11. £600,000
12. Heaven
13. China Blue
14. Fast Boyfriends
15. She Flipped
16. Goodbye To That Jazz
17. This Train
18. Fast Boyfriends [BBC]
19. £600,000 [BBC]
20. I’m Beautiful Now [BBC]
21. Pleasure [BBC]
22. Boys At their Best! [demo]

I first encountered Girls At Our Best some time in [was it] 1982 if not 1983. As ever, I kept an eye on the import cutout bins at Record City and I saw this album there. I may have seen a reference to the group in Trouser Press a little earlier, but by the time I bought their only album, it was a cutout import; probably $3.99 and complete with a “pleasure bag” inside stuffed with stickers, postcards and stencils to lure purchase. I also remember suggesting to my friend Tom that he might buy a copy, and I believe that he did. We both immediately enjoyed the album and that was it for nearly 30 years.

Wuxtry Athens that fateful day in 2010 when I bought the CD of this album

<fast forward 27 years…>

I was once again shopping in a store with Tom [and our wives… my how things had changed] in 2010 and I came across the Cherry Red DLX RM of the “Pleasure” album and immediately grabbed it for purchase. I once again exhorted Tom to buy this album, now on CD, but can’t remember if he did or not. At the time, I had no idea that Vinyl Japan had reissued the album the first time on CD waaaaay back in [gasp] 1994! Of course it fits since at that time I was moving and buying my first [top of the line] Macintosh so I did not buy a lot of CDs released during that period. Of course, this CD had an additional five tracks, making it the one to get. Besides, it came with the original Sino Propaganda cover art, instead of the 1994 variation seen above.

The CD began with bonus tracks from singles that predated the album of 1981. The first single, “Getting Nowhere Fast” b/w “Warm Girls,” was still sporting a whiff of punk with vocalist Judy Evans’s vocals being the equivalent of one chord punk rock in their Post-Punk leanings than the mature GAOB sound allowed for. “Getting Nowhere Fast” was a fairly typical pre-New Pop Post-Punk with a cold ending to end all cold endings as the tune stopped dead with no warning at around 1:45. “Warm Girls” showed off the “choirboy” approach that Evans would soon adopt for the band’s remaining output; albeit with a warbling pitch control of great charm as her secret vocal weapon.

Single number two was “Politics!” b/w “It’s Fashion” and was a big step up in production caliber due to the presence of Laurence Diana, who would also helm their album. The A-side was a refinement of their early sound with Evans’ vocals more winning than ever. It was on the single’s B-side, that the band first discovered what would become a major component of their sound. “It’s Fashion” sported a singsong, chanted vocal delivery that recalled cheerleader cheers more than anything to do with rock music. Meanwhile, the members of the band seemed nonplussed by the stylistic shifts inherent in this “shakedown cruise” phase.

Their third single’s A-side was next in the flow. “Go For Gold” was more sophisticated with a downbeat verse structure followed by a major key chorus. The tune almost skirts a sort of Gang Of 4 disco sound with harsh guitar ganks rubbing shoulders with a disco rhythm section. The B-side was included on the album, so it was to follow later. As we are out of time today, thoughts on the album proper shall follow tomorrow…

Next: …But what about The Album?