Very few people who heard The Donnas’ third album, ‘Get Skintight’, in the late 90s would’ve believed the band would have been snapped up by a major label, but that’s where Allison Robertson, Brett Anderson, Maya Ford and Torry Castellano (formerly Donnas R, A, F, and C) found themselves just three years and two albums later. Every Donnas album up to that point had showcased a stronger band with a bigger sound, but their ‘Spend The Night’ album (Atlantic Records, 2002) was streets ahead of anything they’d recorded before. Not just in terms of all round punch, but also songwriting chops, and it sort of goes without saying that a much bigger budget worked wonders for the girls’ trashy rock sound.

From there, it was onward and upward for a relatively short time, and The Donnas were praised by fans and critics alike, finally earning their place as the true successors to the pioneering Runaways.

As made fairly obvious by its prosaic title, ‘The Atlantic Years: 2002-2005’ brings together the lion’s share of the recordings The Donnas made for the label during their most commercially successful period. Their two major label albums (2002’s brilliant ‘Spend The Night’ and 2004’s Butch Walker produced ‘Gold Medal’) are joined by a wealth of harder to find material, ensuring this three disc set feels like far more than a cheaply licenced repackaging. In fact, there are only a couple of negatives here: some of the acoustic bonus tracks from the different US editions of ‘Gold Medal’ are notably absent (the album pulled the “different bonus tracks from different retailers” scam for all it was worth), and the sleeve notes aren’t from a contemporary source. In a world where it’s almost impossible for new writing talents to break through, the inclusion of a Malcolm Dome essay from 2016 isn’t just lazy, it feels like an insult…

The bulk of the featured music, however, is great. ‘Spend The Night’ has held up brilliantly over the years. From the second the opening number ‘It’s On The Rocks’ kicks in, Allison’s guitar tone sounds huge. Coupled with a hefty cowbell and smashed snares, this marks a major shift away from the band’s earlier Ramones fixations, and drops them squarely into the realms of AC/DC meeting with ‘Shout At The Devil’ era Motley Crue. As a celebration of a hard rock past, it plays forcefully; as a confirmation that The Donnas had majors talent that felt a little untapped on their Lookout! Records releases, it’s perfect. The hard rock influences come even further to the fore on the anthemic ‘Take It Off’, a number that casts The Donnas as a hard edged, sexually charged machine, where elements of Rose Tattoo meet with a celebration of “girl power” lyrical elements. After years of big haired rock bands objectifying women, it’s great to hear a role reversal that’s as subtle as a brick in the head. Brett’s huge sneer comes in full force, and the lyrics take The Runaways earlier blueprint and add an extra layer of credibility. Decades on, this stands as a bona-fide Donnas classic, as does ‘Who Invited You’, an AC/DC pastiche that works the rhythm section incredibly hard and delivers another chorus that’s bound to stick with immediate effect.

The throwaway lyric that sits at the heart of ‘Dirty Denim’ feels like a throwback to earlier Donnas work, but not as much as a shouty backing vocal which – despite the recording budget – sounds much looser. A rawer feel doesn’t mean it doesn’t fit the mood of the rest of the record, however: Allison’s lead guitar work is huge, and her featured solo is a match for any of the other retro rockers of the era. For those who get a thrill from the grubby sentiments behind ‘Take It Off’, ‘Take Me To The Backseat’ adds even more sleaze, openly dismissing a visit to the mall, the movies and other teenage pursuits in favour of getting sweaty in the back of a car. “Do you need a map?”, Brett opines midway, clearly in charge of the saucy scenario once again, whilst Allison unleashes her inner Angus Young, hammering through the two minute banger with gusto.

Without changing musical tack too much, ‘Pass It Around’ applies a few extra loud drums to another grubby rock ‘n’ roll banger, allowing Torry the opportunity to really smash her kit between verses. The big draw here, though, is Brett’s lead vocal. It manages to be a touch more melodic, and a few well placed harmony vocals hint at things to come. Not that it’s pure sophistication, of course: there’s another inebriation-centric lyric, a bridge driven by teenaged shouting – almost with a trashy cheerleader approach – and another ripper of a guitar solo, which elevates the music far beyond anything The Runaways could manage, even at their peak. Even when ‘Spend The Night’ sounds less inspired, as it does on ‘Not The One’ – a by numbers rocker that sounds like a quick rehash of a couple of this album’s better tunes – there’s something at stake that shows the band are still working at full power. In this case, a grubbier tone brings a slightly tougher feel, and Maya’s muscular bass work punches through the jagged guitar riffs with a proper confidence.

With thirteen tracks and precious little in the way of obvious filler, ‘Spend The Night’ is The Donnas’ finest forty minutes, but its successor, ‘Gold Medal’, in many ways, feels a little more sophisticated. With bigger production values, it’s clear that Atlantic really believed in the band, and even if the high points never quite reach the heights of ‘Spend The Night’, it’s a record that shows that Brett and company were still somewhere near the top of their game. The album’s opening track, ‘Don’t Wanna Know (If You Don’t Know Me)’ takes the sounds of ‘Spend The Night’, applies extra handclaps, and twists the hard rock guitar riffs into something slightly more of a garage rock persuasion. Sure, the nods to early AC/DC are very much present, but here, there’s a retro feel that owes as much to a couple of Stiff Records acts, and producer Brett Walker’s own Black Widows. The changes are there, but slight enough to ensure that those who belatedly discovered The Donnas via ‘Spend The Night’ certainly won’t be disappointed.

The strident beats that open ‘Friends Like Mine’ bring the 60s garage rock vibes a little further to the fore, before Brett and the girls revert to type by launching into some hard edged riffs, coupled with a massive chorus that flaunts harmonies and and an easy hook that invites everyone to sing along. The track’s hook would make this strong enough to be a late period Donnas classic, but another corker of a lead guitar break seals the deal. The track doesn’t necessarily break new ground – at least beyond the intro, which is revived for an equally effective middle eight – but it still manages to be one of the record’s standout tracks. There’s a definite shift for the smoother ‘Is That All You’ve Got For Me’ where the guitars take on far more of a jangly approach for a great verse – occasionally sounding more like a distant echo of a Britpop band than The Donnas of old – but a chugging chorus returns to familiar territory, sharing a hard rhythm and an unmistakeably biting vocal style. Proving The Donnas could do something very different if the mood required, the title cut trades in the hard rock for an arrangement that fuses jangle pop with 70s glam, showing off a perfectly played acoustic guitar solo and unexpected piano break en route. The softer arrangement allows for some great vocal interplay too, but despite everything that’s different, some things never change: the application of a very simple chorus hook allows this to click right from first spin.

The record’s other highlights, ‘Have You No Pride’ (a huge stomper that sounds like a shameless Kiss rip off fused into The Donna’s usual schtick) and ‘It’s So Hard’ (a superb track loaded with rock ‘n’ roll swagger, providing the sound The Runaways had always aimed for), both provide a great showcase for Robertson’s guitar work and some great drumming from Castellano, but, likely through producer Brett Walker’s influence, a smoother backing vocal approach in places shows off a slightly more sophisticated Donnas, making the band sound more like an act destined for rock-oriented radio than ever before. Overall, ‘Gold Medal’ will never be quite as perfect a vision of The Donnas retro sounds as its predecessor, but there’s a huge amount to enjoy throughout its well-sequenced thirty five minutes.

The albums remain massively enjoyable, but this collection’s bonus disc, featuring non-album b-sides, acoustic and live tracks, is a treasure trove in itself. The selection of live recordings sourced from a show in Boston on the ‘Spend The Night’ tour really captures The Donnas’ raw power. The sound quality is great, but never perfect. Everything is dominated by a spiky vocal and razor-edged guitar work, which makes some of bassist Maya’s contributions less obvious. That said, it’s exactly what most fans would want from a live recording: there’s a very natural feel to the performance, and the wavering sound of the drums and constantly whooshing cymbal sounds confirm that this is absolutely the real deal without any vanity overdubs. Allison’s guitar sounds like it could peel paint from walls during a frantic ‘Do You Wanna Hit It’; ‘Take It Off’ and ‘Who Invited You’, drenched in distortion, both sound like Brett Anderson is singing over something from AC/DC’s ‘If You Want Blood…’, and every one of the six tracks taken from this gig is absolutely brilliant – almost worth the cost of the box set alone. Recorded without an audience for XFM, a couple of ‘Spend The Night’ era tracks sound calm by comparison, but share a greater energy than their studio counterparts, particularly notable through Castellano’s crashy drum sound, and although the three acoustic tracks are a mixed bag (Robertson throwing out a huge electric guitar riff during ‘Fall Behind Me’ ensures things are never truly acoustic), when the stripped back approach works well, it’s great. This is particularly the case with regards to ‘Don’t Break Me Down’ which shares a great bassline, and the more sedate recording really brings out the number’s 60s influence during the intro.

As for the four non-album b-sides, things don’t always work out as well as they should. A pair of ‘Spend The Night’ era leftovers sound like Donnas by numbers, and at another time, could’ve easily slotted into the original album. ‘Mama’s Boy’, in particular, sounds like ‘Take Me To The Backseat’ in much bigger boots, and ‘Play My Game’ is a close relation to at least three of the parent album’s tracks. Despite being massively predictable in terms of riffs and loveably grubby lyrical content (“it’s a full contact sport, with no riff to tell us to stop!” and “I’ll let you flip my flipper, if you let me unzip your zipper” among the highlights of Brett’s saucy scenario), the latter is the kind of Donnas track that fans will love from the get go. Two more b-sides aren’t actually Atlantic recordings: ‘Teenage Rock N Roll Machine’ and ‘Hyperactive’ appeared on the b-side of the ‘Take It Off’ CD single in 2003 and have been included here, but they’re just the old Lookout Records recordings from the ‘American Teenage Rock N Roll Machine’ and ‘Get Skintight’ albums respectively. This wouldn’t be an issue except that, as previously mentioned, some of the acoustic recordings from the various different “store specific” editions of ‘Gold Medal’ are notably absent, and certainly deserved to be here instead. There’s good news for lovers of a genuine Atlantic era non-album b-side, ‘Backstage’, however; despite not being included on the b-sides disc (where it properly belongs), it’s been appended to the end of disc one, along with ‘Big Rig’, which had been a bonus track on some earlier versions of ‘Spend The Night’. Both numbers still rock hard, but the fat guitar tone throughout ‘Backstage’ makes that the superior of the pair – and that should’ve been included in the original album’s running order in place of ‘Not The One’ to make a great record even greater.

With most of The Donnas’ best tunes present and some very interesting material filling out a great value disc of bonus materials, ‘The Atlantic Years: 2002-2005’ offers something for casual listeners and the band’s bigger fans. Those without a copy of ‘Spend The Night’ should consider this a priority purchase, while everyone else will almost certainly get a kick out of the slightly more rough and ready live material and a chance to dive into a few b-sides in a really convenient way. In terms of well curated box sets, this is a very strong release. The couple of aforementioned sticking points stop this from being a perfect reissue, but settling for what’s offered, this is an excellent overview of The Donnas’ finest works.

Buy the box set here.

April/May 2025