The Rosalyns
Outta Reach

And with the cry of «The garage is mine and I'll manage it myself» the Rosalyns have finally arrived at their debut album, after waiting over six years.

It took Amy, Lory, Anja, Lety, and Lori that long to put their lipstick-red vinyl garage punk firmly anchored in the years 1964/1966 on a chic record, inevitably out of fashion, music even more «Back From the Grave» than «Nuggets».

It took so long because the Rosalyns are more than a group; they are an enjoyable pastime chosen by these five girls to banish boredom whenever they find themselves together, on a break from work. It’s true that the work is always singing and playing – some in the Gore Gore Girls, some in the Loons, some in the Schizophonics – but it's one thing to do it for work, another to do it solely and purely for passion and fun.

Perhaps the Schizophonics, the Loons, and the Gore Gore Girls don't think of performing concerts or making albums to shout to the world what extraordinary music was playing in the Sixties and how many sparkling nuggets were buried in the garage punk mine.

For this reason, Amy, Lory, Anja, Lety, and Lori invented the Rosalyns and give free rein to their manic and fetishistic musical passions: Schizophonics, Loons, and Gore Gore Girls play their music, more or less faithful to the tenets of garage punk; the Rosalyns play and shout to the four winds the stories of Shandells and Little Anthony and others, whether they are delirious and horrific, exciting and wild, or sugary and inconclusive.

The result is, by mid-November, «Outta Reach», the most sensational record put out by an all-female garage band since the lamented Pandoras.

Take the female vocal groups of the Sixties, sprinkle them with a generous dose of fuzz and farfisa and the job is done: «Outta Reach» is a worthy continuation of the «Girls in the Garage» series.

And it's fine that there aren't any original tracks inside, but it had been a long time since I had so much fun listening to an album: from the anthems to the extreme silliness of «Go Go Gorilla» and «Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko Bop» to the party vibes of «Give Him a Great Big Kiss» and «Gonna Have a Good Time», not to mention the broken and disillusioned hearts of «Putty in Your Hands».

But let no one dare dismiss the Rosalyns as a joke, because in the end, they deliver two explosive versions of «(S)He Cracked» and «Search & Destroy» that turn up the heat to a thousand and showcase the considerable caliber of the quintet.

In short, an almost perfect party album, but so much more, too.

With the hope of hearing them again, if and when they feel like it, and that they don't lose a shred of their freshness.