This came out in 2001 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
I wish my vacations lasted this long. Some 17 years after their last album — and 20 after the classic Beauty & the Beat — L.A.’s pixie-stick punkettes The Go-Go’s regrouped, returned and recorded a new album. And God Bless The Go-Go’s sounds like … well, pretty much every other Go-Go’s album. Or a reasonable facsimilie thereof.
They’ve still got the beat — not to mention the snappy new-wave rhythms, the sugar-coated guitars, the cotton candy harmonies and the perky pop vocals of Belinda Carlisle (though her voice is a bit darker and huskier than back in the day). What they don’t have as much of this time around is inspiration. Even the best of these 13 tracks — the L.A.-centric La La Land and Stuck In My Car, the Veruca Salty Superslide and the hard-pop anti-model swipe Throw Me A Curve — can’t compare to their classic cuts. Still, who wouldn’t be rusty after nearly two decades on holiday? Welcome back, ladies. Now get to work.
