Leeds post-punk band
Girls at Our Best! were active from 1979 until 1982, going through a series of personnel changes and a name change and leaving behind a handful of EPs, singles, and their sole long-player, 1981's
Pleasure. While the group touched on the churning punk-funk of bands like
the Bush Tetras and
Delta 5, the arty dissonance of
the Raincoats and
Siouxsie and the Banshees, and the swaggering grooves of
the Slits, they had a pop core that often put them more into the new wave bracket than their punk contemporaries. The abrasive guitars, caffeinated tempo, and jerky movements of "Getting Nowhere Fast," their breakout 1980 single and one of their best songs, all speak to the punk side of the band, but there's still a marriage of melody and energy. It's important to note that "Getting Nowhere Fast" wasn't included on the original 1981 issue of
Pleasure, but made it onto most subsequent reissues. Beyond that brilliant standout,
GaOB! explored dirge-like disco on "Heaven," sing-song synth pop on "Politics!" (
Thomas Dolby assists with synthesizer parts on
Pleasure), and even a weird and wandering take on metallic anarcho-punk with "Warm Girls." Even the harshest moments of
Pleasure hold a sense of carefree joy and curiosity that were absent from most of the dreary post-punk happening in the early '80s. The band even brings in a clarinet for the jangly, happy-go-lucky "Fun-City Teenagers."
Pleasure doesn't fit neatly into any single category, but instead twists various disparate styles and ideas to fit its vision.
Girls at Our Best! used the album as an outlet for unfettered discovery and creation, and the end result is one of the more joyful and exciting documents to come out of the U.K. punk scene of their time. ~ Fred Thomas
