On the Shelf 195: The Damned
May. 11th, 2018 07:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedsitter23The Damned have their first new album in 10 years and I am excited, especially as it is being well buzzed about in punk circles.
I am a huge fan of the band, but I have to admit they never put out great albums. You could include the debut Damned Damned Damned and the third album Machine Gun Etiquette with little argument, but both of those were released in the 70s.
I personally count 1985's Phantasmogoria as a great album as the band shifted to more goth influences, but I feel that may be a minority opinion. Some other records like 1982's Strawberries occasionally come up in discussion as well, though I feel it has a lot of filler.
Still, The Damned always had great tunes. The double disc Light at the End of the Tunnel from 1987 collects all the important stuff is basically all great.
Although it is quite easy for me to say now, I always thought they had life in them. I saw them twice in the 90s and they were an amazing live band. This was a line up that featured Dave Vanian, Rat Scabies and Patricia Morrison, who had been in Sisters of Mercy, and the Bags before that. If you couldn't see them live, you could hear it on their Final Damnation live album which was fantastic.
The last I heard from them was a reunion album called Not of this Earth (also called I'm Alright/Jack in the Beanstalk), which was terrible. Although the lineup sounded promising, Kris Dollimore from the Godfathers, Moose from New Model Army, Vanian and Scabies as well as a track from the original four members. It is a terrible, terrible album. Wiki fills in the holes that I didn't know which is the Damned's story is that they didn't really intend to release it and retroactively disown it. In any case, it shut down my promises of a great late day Damned record.
Also of note, for many years, Vanian was supposed to do a rockabilly band that was supposed to be a big deal. He eventually did, the Phantom Chords, though it was unreleased for years, and the stuff that was eventually put out got no attention. The songs sound fantastic though, if you seek them out.
Anyway, we are in 2018, and things sound promising. The Damned lineup passes the quick sniff test- Vanian, Captain Sensible (because it's generally either Sensible or Scabies), Paul Gray (who played on the Black Album and Strawberries) and a couple of characters named Pinch and Monty Oxmoron, who both have been with the band now for 20 years. Pinch was in English Dogs, so he's got the punk drummer thing down. All of that is helmed at the producer's table by the great Tony Visconti (he of the great Bowie, T Rex, Thin Lizzy, The Idiot, Boomtown Rats and many other great records).
As a fan, it's hard not to love Evil Spirits. It sounds fantastic. "Standing on the Edge of Tomorrow" opens up with the sonic scope of Phantasmogoria, and the rest of the album follows suit, sounding like this is the followup to 86's Anything. Some songs goofy (Procrastination falls right along the gimmicky catchy but clunky list of songs the Damned have released over the years), but it all sounds great thanks to Visconti and the interesting melodies of Sensible and commanding vocal presence of Vanian.
It's hard not to be excited about it, though, repeated listening, there really isn't a lot behind the sonic sheen and the energy that boosts this. The proverbial not much 'there' there. Still, it's not like I am not going to be blasting this all summer. Long live the Damned!
I am a huge fan of the band, but I have to admit they never put out great albums. You could include the debut Damned Damned Damned and the third album Machine Gun Etiquette with little argument, but both of those were released in the 70s.
I personally count 1985's Phantasmogoria as a great album as the band shifted to more goth influences, but I feel that may be a minority opinion. Some other records like 1982's Strawberries occasionally come up in discussion as well, though I feel it has a lot of filler.
Still, The Damned always had great tunes. The double disc Light at the End of the Tunnel from 1987 collects all the important stuff is basically all great.
Although it is quite easy for me to say now, I always thought they had life in them. I saw them twice in the 90s and they were an amazing live band. This was a line up that featured Dave Vanian, Rat Scabies and Patricia Morrison, who had been in Sisters of Mercy, and the Bags before that. If you couldn't see them live, you could hear it on their Final Damnation live album which was fantastic.
The last I heard from them was a reunion album called Not of this Earth (also called I'm Alright/Jack in the Beanstalk), which was terrible. Although the lineup sounded promising, Kris Dollimore from the Godfathers, Moose from New Model Army, Vanian and Scabies as well as a track from the original four members. It is a terrible, terrible album. Wiki fills in the holes that I didn't know which is the Damned's story is that they didn't really intend to release it and retroactively disown it. In any case, it shut down my promises of a great late day Damned record.
Also of note, for many years, Vanian was supposed to do a rockabilly band that was supposed to be a big deal. He eventually did, the Phantom Chords, though it was unreleased for years, and the stuff that was eventually put out got no attention. The songs sound fantastic though, if you seek them out.
Anyway, we are in 2018, and things sound promising. The Damned lineup passes the quick sniff test- Vanian, Captain Sensible (because it's generally either Sensible or Scabies), Paul Gray (who played on the Black Album and Strawberries) and a couple of characters named Pinch and Monty Oxmoron, who both have been with the band now for 20 years. Pinch was in English Dogs, so he's got the punk drummer thing down. All of that is helmed at the producer's table by the great Tony Visconti (he of the great Bowie, T Rex, Thin Lizzy, The Idiot, Boomtown Rats and many other great records).
As a fan, it's hard not to love Evil Spirits. It sounds fantastic. "Standing on the Edge of Tomorrow" opens up with the sonic scope of Phantasmogoria, and the rest of the album follows suit, sounding like this is the followup to 86's Anything. Some songs goofy (Procrastination falls right along the gimmicky catchy but clunky list of songs the Damned have released over the years), but it all sounds great thanks to Visconti and the interesting melodies of Sensible and commanding vocal presence of Vanian.
It's hard not to be excited about it, though, repeated listening, there really isn't a lot behind the sonic sheen and the energy that boosts this. The proverbial not much 'there' there. Still, it's not like I am not going to be blasting this all summer. Long live the Damned!
