The Damned: Phantasmagoria
1985
MCA Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl
Track Listing: 1. Street of Dreams 2. Shadow of Love 3. There'll Come a Day 4. Sanctum Sanctorum 5. Is It a Dream 6. Grimly Fiendish 7. Edward the Bear 8. The Eighth Day 9. Trojans
The first Damned album without Captain Sensible marks the exact moment where the Damned drops the punk and turn into a straight-up goth-rock band (just look at that goth-as-fuck girl on the cover!!!), albeit the most listenable goth-rock band I can think of...It doesn't have the greatness that "Machine Gun Etiquette," "The Black Album" or even "Strawberries" had, but it is a damn fine little atmospheric 80's pop album...
I think my enjoyment of this album stems from the feeling that the Damned aren't taking themselves deadly serious like most goth bands do...It's all very light, very fun and melodic...There are definitely moments on the album where you can't shake the feeling that these guys are still nothin' but a bunch of goofball punks underneath the poofy hair and ruffly shirts...
It helps alleviate that icky feeling you get when you listen to most goth albums...That "I can't believe I'm not hanging out at a cemetery under an umbrella, wearing a corset and updating my diary" feeling...
Although a corset might reverse the ravages of 20-years of beer-drinking...Well, reverse the cosmetic effects anyway...I don't think they've invented a liver-corset yet...Still, I should look into a corset...Flatten this beergut...
The goofiest tracks are therefore the most listenable to me..."Grimly Fiendish" is a sort of psychedelic cabaret that totally rips off "Our Love Was" by the Who, but I'll forgive it for being such catchy, comic-booky fun...
Come to think of it, these guys have a pretty extensive history of song-stealing (I believe I've pointed out this tendency before in some of my earlier posts)...It turns out the other best song on here, "Edward the Bear," is ripped off from some guy they toured with, and after listening to the two side by side, I'd say there's some merit to the claim...
Here you can judge for yourself, here's "Edward the Bear" by the Damned...
But, there's at least one monster, boffo track on here that is 100% original and does rely on any previously existing song for its killer hooks...And that's the pop swoon "Is it a Dream"...Absolutely on my short list for favorite Damned track...
The only time they bore me is on "Sanctum Sanctorum" where the Phantom of the Opera Broadway vibe never fails to make me lift the needle and jump ahead to "Is It a Dream"...I also can't stand "Trojans"...I'm sorry...It still sounds like adult-contemporary light jazz to me...Giving me terrifying flashbacks to Kenny G jizzin' away on his jizz-pipe...
Again, I think I should stress that the Damned are merely good at this point and no longer great, unless yer not hot on punk and prefer soft, shadowy pop...But as a soft, shadowy pop album it's all aces...And this is the best stuff they would ever do in the goth category...The album after this, "Anything," continues this direction but ends up being a wash...So if you're interested in the Damned as a purely gothic rock band, this is probably where you'd want to start and stop...
No comments:
Post a Comment