Emerging from the Leeds punk scene in 1979 were frankly
responsible for some of the finest post punk pop of the era; featuring, oddly
enough, a pre-fame Thomas Dolby here and
there on keyboards. Girls At Our Best's sole
album, Pleasure, is an underrated delight,
tempering the sometimes harsh edge of the earliest singles to an equally
passionate and entertaining approach not afraid to be calm here and there. The
quartet touched on everything from the Banshees' arty edge to Gang of Four aggro-funk and full-on power
pop catchiness, and did so brilliantly. Jo Evans' voice was at its considerable
best at many points; sometimes so light that it was hard to catch what was
being sung, but often able to deliver her sometimes wry, sometimes sunny, but
always smart sentiments just right. Excellent as it was, Pleasure doesn't have the band's defining
moment, the absolutely brilliant debut single "Getting Nowhere Fast,"
which sounds equally as fresh now as it did back then; that opening harsh
nagging riff, the descending looping bass giving way to swirling guitars that
hints at early Banshees – this is short, spikey pop complete with Jo Evans ever
so imperfect vocal delivery about trading your life for a replacement. Sharp,
short, and perfectly catchy down to its sudden edit ending two minutes in, it's
one of the highlights of turn of the '80s Brit rock.
The group initially consisted of vocalist Judy "Jo" Evans, guitarist James "Jez" Alan, bassist Gerard "Terry" Swift, and
drummer Chris Oldroyd. The band took its name from a line in their track
"Warm Girls", which first appeared on their 1980 debut single "Getting Nowhere Fast" on
their own Record Records, and was followed up by their second single,
"Politics" c/w "It's Fashion!”. Oldroyd departed to join Music for Pleasure, and was replaced by
Darren Carl Harper before the next single, "Go for Gold" c/w
"I'm Beautiful Now" on Happy Birthday Records, which was their
biggest indie chart hit. The group released their album, Pleasure, the first to
be released on the Happy Birthday label, and reached No. 2 on the indie
chart and No. 60 on the UK Album Chart. The
band's fourth and final single, "Fast Boyfriends" c/w "This
Train", was released later that same year.
Debate still rumbles on as to whether Jo could actually
sing, certainly in the accepted sugar coated manufactured pop environment they
preceded, her voice and the band weren’t perfect, but aren’t the imperfections
the things that make great pop music?