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Unsung Forum » Damned - worthwhile albums? |
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Sowiesoso 122 posts |
Edited Jan 26, 2013, 00:58
Jan 26, 2013, 00:54
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So I picked up the last Mojo magazine and read the article on the early & Damned Of course I was too young to remember them in their prime and only recall the Eloise hit from the 80s. Anyway so I decided to pick up the 3rd album "Machine Gun Etiquette" which definitely lights a fire under my tree as they say. I guess the next step is "Damned Damned Damned" but is the rest of their back catalog worth a punt or is is it kinda of questionable goth stuff that I shouldn't bother with?
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Brik 589 posts |
Jan 26, 2013, 02:39
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I've had all their stuff at one time or another, so I might actually be of some use here! Damned Damned Damned is all two-minute punk-punk-punk stuff but is well worth a listen and iconic if nothing else. Music For Pleasure's pub-rocky and sounds a bit like Eddie and The Hot Rods - not really essential material but it's got it's flashes. The Black Album's incredible material and works like a more mature MGE, it veers plenty to the darker (and more psychedelic) side though. Strawberries follows The Black Album nicely, big big career highlight and usually a lot of people's favourite - a bit more psychedelia and plenty of emphasis on the songs themselves - only one or two gothic moments. Phantasmagoria's where Captain Sensible left and it all goes big-hair. I liked it, but this is the Eloise pounding drums and organs period. Anything's much of the same. Having a whirl of the Light at the End of the Tunnel compilation can give you a reasonable image of what to expect from these albums. Likesay I liked it but I know not everybody warms to it. Not of This Earth (standard album) / Jack Beanstalk (includes a radio session) is a bit more bland and not really essential. One of those withering band / withering album stories. Still some fair moments though. Grave Disorder's a good un and Captain's back! Kind of embraces all their styles under one banner, plenty of goth and plenty of punk, sounds pretty with-it too. So Who's Paranoid was completely absorbing and endearing, really a hard one to deny. They've still got it! I reckon you'd be safest with Damned Damned Damned, Strawberries and probably The Black Album if Machine Gun Etiquette pleased you.
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aswyth 78 posts |
Jan 26, 2013, 09:06
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Brik's sunopsis is really spot-on, at least up until Strawberries, I never heard anything I liked enough to analyse after that. I wanted to add that there are a number of compilations and versions of some of the early albums. For my money, the second album works fine all by themselves, but there are multiple versions of Damned Damned Damned, of which you should get the one with 3 CDs and no DVD, plus make sure you get the newest versions of MGE, The Black Album and Strawberries. There's a new compilation called the Chiswick Singles . . . And Another Thing, which adds a few sides not already on the expanded versions of MGE and The Black Album, which is my favorite period. But for me, that's about all you need.
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Kid Calamity 9048 posts |
Jan 26, 2013, 09:14
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'Strawberries' was a brilliant piece of work. I saw them on that tour - and haven't seen them since. I had, until them bought everything and seen them... blimey, must be approaching twenty times. I must go back. 'Who's Paranoid?' does look interesting.
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Fitter Stoke 2614 posts |
Jan 26, 2013, 11:01
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As Heavy Jelly once memorably sung, I keep singing the same old song...but for my money 'Music For Pleasure' is far and away The Damned's finest album - and one of THE most underrated and wrongly slagged albums in my collection. The two guitar line up of Brian Jones and Lu Edmonds works wonders and some of the riffs they turn out are simply magnificent - check out 'You Know', 'Idiot Box' and 'Your Eyes' for evidence, then groove to the totally manic 'Politics' with its mad time signature. Shit, I gotta play it now.
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Hunter T Wolfe 1710 posts |
Jan 26, 2013, 11:27
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As far as I'm concerned everything up to and including 'Anything' is great, and 'Who's Paranoid?' also ranks among their best; the Captain and Monty at the helm, blending melodic punk and psychedelia wonderfully. I haven't heard Grave Disorder, and I hadn't even heard of the other two albums Brik mentions! Also still wonderful live.
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Jasonaparkes 876 posts |
Jan 26, 2013, 12:28
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I thought 'Strawberries' was excellent, though it's a bit psychedelic and not a million miles from records of the era by the Arch Drude and XTC. The Naz Nomad LP is great too if you like nuggets/garage rock stuff... I quite like Phantasmagoria as well, but possibly as it brings back good memories as a late friend put that on a tape for me with Ziggy Stardust on the other side around 1989... Some good later tracks - the song 'Anything' rocks, even if the LP it comes from is patchy. 'The Light at the End of the Tunnel'-compilation has always served me well and I think some Peel Sessions box set has just come out...
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Kid Calamity 9048 posts |
Jan 26, 2013, 14:17
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I used to have a Peel session on cassette that either me or my brother taped off the radio, featuring a sublime version of 'Melody Lee'. Also recall a take of 'Just Can't Be Happy Today' with a different spoken middle bit.
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keith a 9574 posts |
Jan 26, 2013, 18:20
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Brik wrote: Music For Pleasure's pub-rocky and sounds a bit like Eddie and The Hot Rods Oh no it doesn't!
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Sin Agog 2253 posts |
Jan 26, 2013, 18:24
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Didn't they do that mock '60s Garage Psyche band thing a couple of years before XTC? To the Googlemobile... Naz Nomad and the Nightmares with Give Daddy the Knife Cindy. Anyone know what that's like?
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