The Donnas
In my opinion this is much better that American Teenage Rock n' Roll Machine. The songs are raw and don't suffer from overproduction. The songwriting is awesome and they just seem to have more spirit on this one. This is one of my favorite albums ever: every song is great. Some of them could have been recorded better, but this is the catchiest stuff they've done (although I haven't bought the new one yet). Many of these songs (i.e., Lana and Stevie, I Don't Wanna Rock N' Roll Tonight, High School Yum Yum ...) are classics in the girl punk pop genre. Very worth buying.
Not The Best Place To Start your "Donnas" Collection....
If you are considering this album for your introduction to the ... female rock band "The Donnas", enter the words "Donnas", "Rock", "Roll", & "Machine" in the search box and hit go. Forget this one for now. The album's sound is very raw. The production and the musicianship is extremely poor (not that the Ramones, Joan Jett or Clash are/were virtuosos, but this very is weak). The Donnas are obviously influenced by the previously mentioned bands, along with a little Ace Frehley/Kiss thrown in. This release, however, does not really reflect those influences very well. The songs really do sound the same (my mommy said that about Judas Priest & Black Sabbath). Some of the songs at times are even unlistenable. I doubt anyone but an ... fan would play this disc more than once; and only then because they're too lazy to get up & click off the repeat button. My advice it to start with "American Teenage Rock 'n' Roll Machine" and just get every Donnas album after that in one swift "super-saver" purchase. The bands progress from this album to "R 'N' R Machine" is tremendous...
best of their albums
i don't understand the lack of respect for this album. i get the hunch that the other reviewers are a bit more into pop music than punk rock. this album is the most raw and purely punk than the others. this definitely has a ramones feel as well as some of the better lofi garage bands out there. the donnas seem to have gotten away from this sound which is a shame because this album is a gem and i was hoping the following stuff would be more of the same.
3.5 Stars.... Donnas' First Album is Low-Fi But Fun
The Donnas self-released their debut album in 1997 (it was re-released a year later by Lookout! Records). It's amazing to see how in a matter of 5 years the Donnas have musically matured from this to the 2002 album "Spend the Night"."The Donnas" (23 tracks, 41 min.--and that's not a typo!) is in essence one long track, as all the songs pretty much feature the same three chord riff. For that reason it's difficult to point out highlights, although the 2 covers (the Beach Boys' "Drive-In" and Phil Spector's "Da Doo Run Run") are hilarious. The sound is definitely low-fi, and in a strange way it's quite fitting with the overall feel of the album.
In all, this is a fun, but certainly not an essential album for anyone who, like me, thought that "Spend the Night" was a great album. The Donnas show us how the Ramones live on!
Reel and Raw
People who are criticizing this for being raw, simplistic and poorly written do not understand what punk rock is and have been raised on the shopping mall version. This is real and cool, much like The Ramones in their early days but from a bratty teen punk chick perspective. It's high school punk at it's best and the tracks that are recorded the worst(reminds me of The Germs first 45, maybe recorded worse!!)are actually the most interesting.
