The Donnas-Bitchin
August 24th 2008 07:56
The Donnas-Bitchin
Record Label: Purple Feather
Year: 2007
Track Listing:
01. Bitchin
02. Don’t Wait Up For Me
03. Wasted
04. What Do I Have To Do
05. Save Me
06. Like An Animal
07. Here For The Party
08. Better Off Dancing
09. Love You Til It Hurts
10. Smoke You Out
11. Girl Talk
12. Give Me What I Want
13. Tonight’s Alright
14. When The Show Is Over
Bitchin is The Donnas seventh studio album, and
their first album since they parted ways with Atlantic and, formed their own record label Purple Feather Records.
The Donnas are hard to define. Their self titled debut, The Donnas, saw them compared to The Ramones and labelled as punk rock, although they made it clear they were more into Kiss, and AC/DC and weren’t inclined to the punk movement.
Their later albums saw them compared to The Runaways, and Lita Ford, as they seemed to settle uneasily in between the hard rock and metal genre.
Bitchin’ leaves you wonder if they’re making fun of the likes of previous Metal Queens, including the aforementioned Lita Ford, or whether they’re actually serious. Unfortunately they’re the latter.
While The Donnas still rely on stadium rock, it’s almost as if they are going through the motions. Instead of fresh ideas, and the sassiness of past, there’s bad innuendos and the feeling that most the songs have been rehashed from 70’s hits.
The hand claps, and hey’s chanting doesn’t work for the band, especially on 'Girl-Talk'. The chanting might be fine for teen girls, but these are women in their late twenties singing this tune, and supposed to be a respectable rock band not teeny-boppers. It’s not something that suits their style, and sees the band attempting to be more accessible and radio-friendly.
Having said that, there is still no doubt that The Donnas are a very good band. They know their core strengths lie in the power drumming of Torry Castellano, Allison Robertson’s blistering guitar licks, bassist Maya Ford’s rhythm section and the vocal strength of Brett Anderson.
There are a couple of songs that really do save the album from becoming a coffee coaster. ‘When The Show Is Over’ sees the band jaded and world-weary in a song that captures the right vibe without resorting to bad clichés while ‘Save Me’ sees them work 80’s rock to their own advantage.
There’s no doubt that this album was meant to be punchy, and in some parts it is. The talent is definitely there, but the fact the band performed on auto-pilot and in attempting to emulate Lita Ford and even Joan Jett, lost themselves.
I give it 1/5
Buy Bitchin
official site
Record Label: Purple Feather
Year: 2007
Track Listing:
01. Bitchin
02. Don’t Wait Up For Me
03. Wasted
04. What Do I Have To Do
05. Save Me
06. Like An Animal
07. Here For The Party
08. Better Off Dancing
09. Love You Til It Hurts
10. Smoke You Out
11. Girl Talk
12. Give Me What I Want
13. Tonight’s Alright
14. When The Show Is Over
Bitchin is The Donnas seventh studio album, and
The Donnas are hard to define. Their self titled debut, The Donnas, saw them compared to The Ramones and labelled as punk rock, although they made it clear they were more into Kiss, and AC/DC and weren’t inclined to the punk movement.
Their later albums saw them compared to The Runaways, and Lita Ford, as they seemed to settle uneasily in between the hard rock and metal genre.
Bitchin’ leaves you wonder if they’re making fun of the likes of previous Metal Queens, including the aforementioned Lita Ford, or whether they’re actually serious. Unfortunately they’re the latter.
While The Donnas still rely on stadium rock, it’s almost as if they are going through the motions. Instead of fresh ideas, and the sassiness of past, there’s bad innuendos and the feeling that most the songs have been rehashed from 70’s hits.
The hand claps, and hey’s chanting doesn’t work for the band, especially on 'Girl-Talk'. The chanting might be fine for teen girls, but these are women in their late twenties singing this tune, and supposed to be a respectable rock band not teeny-boppers. It’s not something that suits their style, and sees the band attempting to be more accessible and radio-friendly.
Having said that, there is still no doubt that The Donnas are a very good band. They know their core strengths lie in the power drumming of Torry Castellano, Allison Robertson’s blistering guitar licks, bassist Maya Ford’s rhythm section and the vocal strength of Brett Anderson.
There are a couple of songs that really do save the album from becoming a coffee coaster. ‘When The Show Is Over’ sees the band jaded and world-weary in a song that captures the right vibe without resorting to bad clichés while ‘Save Me’ sees them work 80’s rock to their own advantage.
There’s no doubt that this album was meant to be punchy, and in some parts it is. The talent is definitely there, but the fact the band performed on auto-pilot and in attempting to emulate Lita Ford and even Joan Jett, lost themselves.
I give it 1/5
Buy Bitchin
official site
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