- B - The Brain Surgeons

The result of catching up on the Blue Oyster Cult back catalogue uncovered the wonderful and very strange Brain Surgeons. Producing albums between 1994 and 2006 they had a  changing lineup led by Blue Oyster Cult's Albert Bouchard and Flaming Youth's Deborah Frost.

With so many styles and influences, selecting individual releases is difficult, hopefully after taking the plunge with one release you will do as I am, collecting all of their albums. For want of a place to start, 1994's Eponymous [US Import] isn't a bad place, it includes a very strange cover of Love Potion #9 and the catchy (666) Devil got your mother.

Trepanation includes Ramblin Rose (imagine Patti Smith on lead vocals for Led Zeppelin) and closes with Night of 1,000 guitars. Malpractise includes Blue Oyster Cult's Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll but in sung in Italian and renamed Cludades Y Navidades and Baby Ice Dog. There are also two Hawkwind covers - Needle Gun and Hassan I Sahba.

With the addition of ex Dictators Ross The Boss Black Hearts of Soul includes more Blue Oyster Cult classics Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll and The Revenge of Vera Gemini.

For fans of Blue Oyster Cult, The Dictators, Manowar and Flaming Youth check out The Brain Surgeons. I'm struggling to compare this band with any other and their music doesn't just change from album to album but from track to track.

- G - Girlschool

Whoever said girls can't rock? Unplug your ears and C'Mon Let's Go. Their first two albums; 1980's Demolition and 1981's Hit and Run are the essential purchases, also worth checking out their 2011 revisited version Hit And Run - Revisited. Stand out classics from the debut are Emergency and Demolition Boys. Title track Hit and Run, a cover of Tush and Yeah Right also more than stand the test of time. The remastered version of Hit and Run adds another nine bonus tracks including the classic Motorhead Bomber and Please Don't Touch (from the Motorhead/Girlschool Valentine's Day Massacre ep.

While Girlschool are excellent in the studio, their live performances are always a must see, they've been captured well on King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents in Concert.

Castle Music released an excellent package of Nightmare at Maple Cross/Take a Bite combining the two albums on one disc, kicking off with another powerful cover, this time Sweet's Fox on The Run, whilst Take a Bite resurrects the Mud classic Tiger Feet.

- G - Georgia Satellites, Ginger

Back to the 80's and Atlanta based Georgia Satellites. Their self titled debut Georgia Satellites contains the essential tracks Keep Your Hands to Yourself and Battleship Chains. The compilation Let It Rock: the Best of Georgia Satellites contains both of these tracks plus an excellent selection of rocking tracks.

Probably the best career move  by David Wallis better known as Ginger was getting sacked by the Quireboys only to bounce back with his Wildhearts band. I'll list a few essential Wildhearts releases when I get to W. For now I'll pick a few of Ginger's best releases.

Certainly not an easy person to keep up with as Ginger has many solo and side projects; Silver Ginger 5, Supershit 666, Clam Abuse, Brides of Destruction, Howling Willie Cunt. There was even a brief outing with Michael Monroe producing the acclaimed Sensory Overdrive album.

So, solo Ginger, well you're already too late to pick up the triple version of Ginger's new album 555% which despite not being released yet (it's out during April 2012) has already been deleated after reaching it's pledge/pre order limit. The project was funded via the Pledgemusic website and reached it's pledge target within a staggering six hours. If you haven't pre-ordered then you'll have to settle for the single disc version.

Ginger has released some excellent live sets; Great White Monkey is a double disc acoustic set recorded in 2003, the between song banter is as expected and always entertaining. There's a spirited cover of Hocus Pocus, a tribute (ish) The Daftness and a Bowie cover of Space Oddity plus a selection of Wildhearts standards.

More live and acoustic with 1998's set Grievous Acoustic Behaviour: Live At 12 Bar again inter track banter and a Kiss cover of Hard Luck Woman the double disc set ends with one of my favourite Wildhearts tracks Caffeine Bomb. Another good starting point is the compilation 10 .

If you have yet to sample Ginger's extensive back catalogue I'd recommend starting with the Wildhearts, you will soon be seeking out the excellent solo and side projects.