Formed at school in the mid-70s, when friends Kim McAuliffe on guitar and bassist Enid Williams joined forces as Painted Lady, Girlschool formed in 1978, swept up as part of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal movement that also gave us Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Saxon, recruiting lead guitarist Kelly Johnson and drummer Denise Dufort in April 1978.

Debut LP ‘Demolition’ made it into the UK Top 30 in 1980, and the girls even found time while recording their follow up album ‘Hit And Run’ (1981) with producer Vic Maile, to record the ‘St Valentines Day Massacre’ EP with label mates Motörhead as HeadGirl.1982’s ‘Wildlife’ EP would be Enid’s last outing with Girlschool for a while, as she was replaced on bass by Gil Weston for ‘Screaming Blue Murder’ (1982).

Their fourth album, ‘Play Dirty’ (1983), was issued in the States on Mercury Records, who also picked up the option to release their fifth, ‘Running Wild’ (1985). The first album to be released without Kelly Johnson, it saw founder members Kim McAulliffe and Denise Dufort joined by Gil Weston, Jackie Bodimead (lead vocals, keyboards) and Cris Bonacci (guitar).

A new deal with GWR saw albums ‘Nightmare At Maple Cross’ (1986) and ‘Take A Bite’ (1988), by which time the bass slot had been filled by former Rock Goddess Tracey Lamb. Their eighth studio album, the self-titled ‘Girlschool’ came out in 1992 and 2002’s ‘21st Anniversary - Not That Innocent’ marked the beginning of a more prolific time for the band, as they would follow it up with ‘Believe’ (2004), ‘Legacy’ (2008).

CD 4 features many rare B-Sides and non-album cuts, as well as demos dating from 1978 up to 2002 and CD5 boasts an ultra rare live recording from the pre-Girlschool Painted Lady.

This five disc set comes with an extended essay from NWOBHM expert John Tucker, and features plenty of pages of rare photos and sought after memorabilia.