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the Donnas once rocked as if they were tanked to the gills but they now sound like they're playing with ferocious hangovers they just can't shake--and it's hard to have a good party if the threat of the morning after hangs over the whole affair.
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While superbly recorded and at times a hoot to crank (largely for the shameless rips of Kiss, Joan Jett and Def Leppard), Bitchin' is too light on hooks.
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Bitchin' offers little you haven't heard before--even if you haven't heard a Donnas record--but it should go well with a beer or six.
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SpinThe Donnas have never seemed less enthused; none of the 14 tracks contains a melody as catchy or a beat as pumping as those on "Spend the Night" or "Gold Medal." [Oct 2007, p.99]
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Only real problem is that the foursome tend to write the same songs over and over again, this time thinly veiled in arena- and hair-metal swagger, but still too similar structurally to sound like they've challenged themselves.
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The music is the same. As immediate and worthy as some of these songs are, the chugging guitars and oar-bank handclaps and background HEY!s don't sound like the work of a band that really likes this music and wishes it'd been around to make it at the time and probably deserved to be, the way the Donnas' old jailbait anthems could; they sound like bad one-liners.
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At times it's hilarious, especially the song openings, which evoke poodle-rock heroes in mock affection, but the tracks then go somewhere inconceivably cool, twisting, shimmering and generally rocking in drool-worthy style.
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The Donnas get the ball into the red zone from time to time on Bitchin', but they never really score.
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Alternative PressWhat keeps Bitchin' from being more fun than Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson's sex tape is Jay Ruston's production job. [Nov 2007, p.170]
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The entire album sounds like a half-hearted compromise between what the group was and what the group wants to become.
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Go on, drink whiskey from the bottle, see if I care. But when you’re done, don’t jump around like gracelessly ageing Bratz dolls playing late-era Kiss and think you’re a blistering she-Crue.
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Q MagazineEspecially on the Thin Lizzy-esque 'What Do I Have To Do?' and the irresistible 'Wasted,' they sparkle. At other times, though--the unloveable 'Here For The Party' and childish 'Girl Talk'--these four 28-year-olds still think they're in high school. [Nov 2007, p.137]
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UncutIt's business as usual. [Nov 2007, p.98]
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Like so many ‘80s rockers of old, from Y&T to Lita Ford, the Donnas’ attempt at an accessible sound has come at the expense of what made them so appealing in the first place.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 12 out of 16
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Mixed: 3 out of 16
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Negative: 1 out of 16
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Jul 5, 2021
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RossN.Oct 24, 2007
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MikeDOct 22, 2007