Girl: Wasted Youth

It’s Wednesday, and time for another Girl review. Today, a look at the 1982 Jet Records release Wasted Youth.

Wasted Youth picks up where Sheer Greed left off but features a slicker, more heavily produced feel. The track listing looks like this:

Thru the Twilight
Old Dogs
Ice In The Blood
Wasted Youth
Standard Romance
Nice N’ Nasty
McKitty’s Back
19
Overnight Angels
Sweet Kids

Just like Sheer Greed, Wasted Youth has some killer songs. Here, Girl pulls from their 70s rock influences, but also come into their own a bit more. Tracks like “Nice N’ Nasty,” “McKitty’s Back” and “Old Dogs” are highlights. This album again features Phil Lewis on vocals, plus Phil Collen and Gerry Laffy on guitars and Simon Laffy on bass. New drummer Pete Barnacle rounds out the rhythm section.

“McKitty’s Back” features a unique tempo change, good dual guitar stylings and Phil’s signature rasp. Not to be outdone, “Old Dogs” has interesting lyrics and punched-up production. For much of the song, Lewis’ voice is front and center until the chorus comes into play. Then, the song is a hybrid of early Hollywood Rose and the Doobie Brothers. Seriously.

My favorite song on Wasted Youth is “19.” The track is Montrose-meets Led Zeppelin-meets modern sleaze. Perfect. I love that Phil Lewis just about screams all the lyrics and the timing is off ever so slightly. Sometimes the pure charm of an album is lost in post-production. Here, a (very) few mistakes remain, and it really adds to overall listening experience. Plus, I love the line “19, I feel like 92.” No truer words were spoken.

To me, the most obvious Aerosmith-like song on Wasted Youth is “Overnight Angels.” The track is a solid little rocker about, well, rock.  Sometimes it’s best not to try and reinvent the wheel. Wasted Youth is a very strong effort from a band that should have been huge.

Here's the video for "Sweet Kids."