Released in October 1984 "Girls With Guns" was the debut solo album by Styx guitarist & vocalist Tommy Shaw, a 10-track album that spawned three singles "Girls With Guns", "Lonely School" & "Free To Love You"
Tommy Shaw left Styx in 1984 after claiming dissatisfaction with the direction of the band into more pop and soft
rock compared to a harder rock edge Shaw preferred. Shaw wrote/co-wrote all the songs on Girls With Guns
while playing guitar and providing vocals. He brought along a number of
musicians to help including drummer Steve Holley who played in Paul’s McCartney’s
band Wings and keyboardist Peter Wood who worked with Pink Floyd as a
touring and session member, so practically he requested the help of nice and experienced musicians, the most important single was definitely the title track that was a top 10 hit on rock radio, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and reaching a high of #33 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Girls with Guns" was featured in the first season of the Miami Vice episode "Glades" and this definitely boosted the single.
The other singles, the ballad "Lonely School", was released in late
1984 and peaked at No. 60 on the Hot 100 in January 1985, and also and less-known single "Free To Love You". To promote the album, the label released videos for
the first two singles who received premiere status and strong rotation on MTV, and the network aired a concert special featuring Shaw.
The album opened with the famous "Girl With Guns" a short great song full of awesome eighties vibes and great to rock in, "Come In and Explain" was a harder, edgier song that came in heavy after the quick paced melody of “Girls With Guns.” you can hear the Styx influence here
but this works as a Tommy Shaw tune, "Lonely School" sounds more like a ballad from the
80's., sounds like it played on the closing credits of some sitcom or movie when a
teen gets heartbroken but wins the girl in the end, "Heads Up" starts off a little goofy but gets right into the melody like an usual soft rock tune.
Arriving at the half of the record "Kiss Me Hello" this could be a Styx song, theatrical, lots of elements incorporated with piano, synth, some
varying drum work and bit of an odd chorus. It sounds at times like a
musical score then it and loses direction halfway through, "Fading Away" is just a filler, Little Girl World" a nice song with Shaw at its best, "Outside in the Rain" is just another filler, "Free to Love You", straight forward adult contemporary with an easy melody and lots of synth, and closing with "The Race Is On" this
song starts out with a saxophone, not a
bad song, Shaw gets a good grooving rhythm going on this one.
The album was like a grand departure from Styx that's why rock and Styx fans found this album so excitin, basically a soft rock,
adult contemporary album, opens with a classic pop rock song full of energy and great melody then
it immediately hits some lower musical sound by the 1980s standars this workout nice, with fantastic single that made into pop tv culture, byt definitely if you want something more realiable, stick with Shaw's work with Styx.
Girls With Guns Track List:
1. Girls With Guns
2. Come In And Explain
3. Lonely School
4. Heads Up
5. Kiss Me Hello
6. Fading Away
7. Little Girl World
8. Outside In The Rain
9. Free To Love You
10. The Race Is On
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