[kj] Damned Damned Damned

gingoblin at easynet.co.uk gingoblin at easynet.co.uk
Sun Mar 4 10:26:46 EST 2007


Oh I can't have this!! The Damned were still great in 1983, if unable to
get new stuff together cos of (mainly) Sensible being busy with his solo
stuff. Paul Gray had also left, but his replacement Bryn Merrick was more
than capable of playing the parts. I have lots of live tapes from '83 and
there ain't a bad one amongst 'em.

1982's Strawberries is an out and out Damned classic. Perhaps too
poppy-psych for some folks, but the likes of Stranger On The Town, Ignite,
Generals, Under The Floor Again are great! And I mention the Friday 13th
EP again 'cos it's the stepping stone between The Black Album and
Strawberries and thus is simply splendid stuff!

Opinions eh? What can't we all just THINK THE SAME? ;-)

However, I have a hard time accepting the fact that Damned Damned Damned,
Machine Gun Etiquette, The Black Album and Strawberries are anything less
than essentials.

I don't know if 2002 was a particularly bad year for the band either...
they'd got a decent drummer back (after the aptly-named Gary Dreadful),
they were doing new stuff... still had Patricia Morrison though, who
couldn't play Damned-bass to save her life!

But we're in agreement about Vanian sometimes over-embellishing the songs
these days!

Dave




At 23:51 02/03/2007 -0600, you wrote:

>1983 and 2002 were NOT good years for The Damned. Don't judge'em on those

>dates. Like Killing Joke, the quality varies dramatically over the aeons

>and countless lineup changes.

>

>Just as I really dislike Killing Joke from 1986-1989, between Night Time

>and Extremities, so I do not like anything The Damned made 1980. Pre-1980

>The Damned is the shit. The Black Album from 1980 has its moments but that

>was the beginning of the end, sorry to say, as far as I am concerned.

>Nothing they've released after it has really impressed me. Okay, except

>MAYBE the Friday the13th EP which someone mentioned. But it's mostly 1979

>and backwards where The Damned are the good band I think of.

>

>They have made a lot of bad image, music, and career choices since then.

>Vanian is now going the aging Roy Orbison route, a self-trained crooner

>who I think embellishes songs way too much now, singing a completely

>different style than he did on the 1st LP. So when the new Damned try to

>play their old songs, it doesn't sound the same at all. Also, 1983 was the

>year Strawberries came out, not an album I like except like 2 songs.

>

>-Oliver

>

>

>GREG SLAWSON wrote:

>>

>>Oh yeah, and please don't come my house an d knife me, but most overrated

>>punk band:

>>

>>The Dammed! I don't really know there music apart from the "hits", but

>>have seen them twice--around 83 and around 2002--and could never figure

>>out what the fuss was about. Sound like a 2nd or 3rd rate pub/pop/punk

>>band w/o lots of good songs. They were tight and put on a good show (more

>>interesting than the Buzzcocks, for example, who have much much better

>>material but aren't anything special live..) but I don't put them in the

>>same league as the Clash, Ramones. Buzzcocks,

>>Stiff Little Fingers, etc.

>

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