Girlschool: Hit And Run Revisited

Girlschool’s second album now re-recorded for the 21st century.

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With the exception of Lemmy not many folk in the business have given Girlschool their righteous kudos for being one of the, er, ballsiest propositions to come of the debacle that became known as the NWOBHM and one of few all-female bands from that era that managed to avoid the clutches of some predatory Kim Fowley-like mentor/dictator.

Kim McAuliffe (guitar/vox), Enid Williams (bass/vox), Denise Dufort (drums/vox) and Kelly Johnson (guitar/vox) had been together barely a year when they originally released Hit And Run in 1981.

Johnson died in 2007 after a long struggle with cancer and her replacement, Jackie Chambers, fills her patent stiletto boots on this re-record. The original (produced by R&B doyen Vic Maile) was widely regarded as Girlschool’s most popular and influential album. There, the songs had a much more clipped, jagged amphetamine edge that endeared them to both the punk and metal fraternity.

The new production has a louder, prouder, compressed sound, transforming well-loved club standards like C’mon Let’s Go, Back To Start, the title track and a thunderous version of Tush into fully fledged stadium rockers.

Peter Makowski
Peter Makowski

Pete Makowski joined Sounds music weekly aged 15 as a messenger boy, and was soon reviewing albums. When no-one at the paper wanted to review Deep Purple's Made In Japan in December 1972, Makowski did the honours. The following week the phone rang in the Sounds office. It was Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. "Thanks for the review," said Blackmore. "How would you like to come on tour with us in Europe?" He also wrote for Street Life, New Music News, Kerrang!, Soundcheck, Metal Hammer and This Is Rock, and was a press officer for Black Sabbath, Hawkwind, Motörhead, the New York Dolls and more. Sounds Editor Geoff Barton introduced Makowski to photographer Ross Halfin with the words, “You’ll be bad for each other,” creating a partnership that spanned three decades. Halfin and Makowski worked on dozens of articles for Classic Rock in the 00-10s, bringing back stories that crackled with humour and insight. Pete died in November 2021.