Limited edition box set of The Damned’s early years on Stiff Records
The Damned don’t really need an introduction, but I’m going to anyway. The Damned occupy a unique place in rock history. They were the first of what we now consider ‘punk’ bands to release a single, ‘New Rose’, back in October 1976. They matched that by being the first to release an album, ‘Damned Damned Damned’ in 1977. After a handful of singles and two studio albums they split in 1978.
In 1979 they reformed, but without Guitarist Brian James. Bassist Captain Sensible took over on guitar. They kicked off 1979 with the single ‘Love Song’ and the album ‘Machine Gun Etiquette’. Forty six years later, they are still here. Over the years they have had a few line up changes, although nowhere near as many changes as most bands that have been around almost five decades. As I type, the current line up includes three of the four original members.
The thing that really makes The Damned special is that they are still knocking out great new music and putting on amazing live shows. Over the years they have dabbled in Goth and Psychedelia, and not stuck to Punk by numbers. There are a handful of other bands from that era still around, but most of them really should have called it a day a long time ago. The Damned are as interesting today as they ever were.
This box set collected most of the material from that original line up, the two albums, the singles, a few John Peel Sessions, live recordings and demos.
The formation of the band is well documented, with them being one of several bands that were born out of the ashes of the band that never was, London SS.
Drummer Rat Scabies: I just wanted to play fast music, I didn’t want to play anything slow. Then I met Brian James, and thought, hello, a like minded soul.
Most of those early songs were written by Brian James. Whilst many punk bands pride themselves on their lack of musicianship, bragging about being one chord wonders, The Damned clearly knew what they were doing.
The first album, ‘Damned Damned Damned’ was ‘produced’ by Nick Lowe, although Captain claims he didn’t really do much other than bring beers into the studio. The result is a gloriously raw, energetic and intense album that stands out as a classic almost fifty years on. At the time Pete Townshend commented that he thought it was musically superior to anything put out by other bands on the nascent Punk Rock scene.
Early editions of the album were put out with a photo of Eddie and the Hotrods on the back. It was claimed to be a mistake, but apparently was a deliberate move by the label to manufacture a rareity for the early copies. Ironically, Hotrods’ bassist Paul Gray went on to play with the band and is a member of the current line up.
The Second Album, ‘Music For Pleasure’ was a slightly more rushed affair, at least writing wise. Damned Damned Damned was a collection of tunes James had written over three years. Music For Pleasure was rushed together to to keep the record company happy but still contains some killer tunes.
In an early sign of the band being interested in Psychedelia, they wanted Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett to produce the album. They ended up with Floyd drummer Nick Mason. Whilst under the stewardship of Lowe, the first album was recorded in ten days, Mason was more of a perfectionist. He spent the whole of the first day setting up the microphones. As a result the album does not quite have the raw energy of the first album.
The box set also comes with a recording of the Damned live at the legendary Mont-de-marsan Festival in France in August 1976, a Pete Frame family tree of the Damned and a brilliant booklet.
Whilst many box sets come with booklet the size of a CD that you need a magnifying glass to read, this box set is packaged in a seven inch single sized box, so the booklet is actually a sensible size.
The booklet contains, as you would expect, profiles of the band members and a short history of the Damned. There’s a month by month account of the short life of the original band. But there’s also stuff about the origins of punk, the 100 club, the CBGBs scene in New York, The Stooges, The MC5, The often-forgotten Saints in Australia and, of course, the Ramones. There’s an introduction by John Peel.
Despite being one of the most iconic and important bands of their generation they never quite got the recognition they deserved. I recall an interview with Brian James on the radio a few years ago. He reflected on the fact that New Rose was recorded by Guns n Roses for the album ‘The Spaghetti Incident’. It was one of their worst selling albums, but James still got more money for the sales of that album than he did from all his work with The Damned.
Whilst they might not be selling out stadiums, they are undoubtedly one of the most important and influential bands of the late twentieth century. Their legacy is as much the bands they influenced and inspired as the music they recorded themselves.
All in all, if you want to hear the sound of music being changed forever, you won’t go far wrong with getting your mitts on this little beauty. it is a ‘limited edition’ collectors item, although a quick internet search tells me it is still quite easy to get hold of at reasonable prices.
I was too young to see that original 76/77 line up. At least in 76/77. I did get to see them when they reformed for two gigs in London in 1988. They reformed again last year for a string of dates with the original line up but I didn’t go. It now looks like there will never be another chance. As I type this, I am digesting the news that Brian James died last night.
After leaving The Damned, James made a career with a number of other bands, including The James Gang, Lords of the New Church, Tanz Der Youth, and Dripping Lips.
After the shock of James splitting the original band The Damned went on to create some groundbreaking and lasting albums, such as The Black Album, Phantasmagoria and Strawberries. They are still knocking out credible and interesting albums today. They have been a major part of the soundtrack to my life and I’ve lost count of the number of times I have seen them live.
But as great as their back catalogue is, if asked what my favourite album by them is, without hesitation that would be Damned Damned Damned. And that, in no small part is down to Brian James. He’s not really been a significant part of my life, in terms of time spent listening to him. But that doesn’t stop me being genuinely sad about the death of a celebrity I’ve never met. Which is quite rare. For just over a year he wrote and recorded a small body of music that sent ripples through the music scene that are still having an impact now. And changed this writer’s life.