the ryPod

The Donnas ruled my world. They were at Paly when I was a freshman, and the only all-girl band I'd ever seen. We were never friends - they were (sort of) cute senior girls in a punkrock band, and I was a freshman hippie boy with a hemp necklace and an afro. But somehow they never slipped under my radar. Maté and I went to shows at Palo Alto's teen center, The House, and they were playing. Dean gave me his tape-cassette label's comp, and they had a song. Deven and I climbed on his roof every weekend to watch Torry (Donna C.) sunbathe in her backyard, directly across the street. Finally I discovered The Ramones, and these girls suddenly made sense. By this time The Donnas were going to college, and I was putting "Get Rid Of That Girl" on every mixtape I made.

The first two albums (The Donnas and American Teenage Rock'n'roll Machine) are still the best. 1999's Get Skintight has a few good tracks, but nothing special. Personally, I think they fell off with 2001's Turn 21, an uninspired repeat of their previous efforts, sans talent. I had completely written them off after their disappointing 2002 major-label debut, Spend The Night. Then Matt came home from work last year with a copy of Gold Medal, and my faith was renewed. Everything about Gold Medal is fab, from the gorgeous James Jean cover art to the rockabilly-tinged title track. The Donnas have completely reinvented themselves with this album, adding lush instrumentation, inspired songwriting and dynamics (dynamics!?) to their previously flat formula. If you'd given up hope like me, you need to hear this record.






Rock'n'roll Machine | Get Rid Of That Girl | Hook It Up
Crush On Me | Too Bad About Your Girl | Gold Medal

right-click, save target as | buy from Amazon

This entry was posted on 10.10.2005 at 2:11 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.