The Damned: Punk Oddities and Rare Tracks: 1977-1982

The Damned: Punk Oddities and Rare Tracks: 1977-1982

2014

Cleopatra Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Love Song (Demo)  2. I Just Can't Be Happy Today (Demo)  3. Thanks For The Night  4. Nasty  5. Do The Blitz  6. Stab Your Back (Live)  7. You Know (Live)  8. Idiot Box (Live)  9. Stranger On The Town (Live)  10. Happy Talk (Live)  11. No Fun (Live)


Manoman, Cleopatra Records...If you were anything like me in the 90's, haunting discount tape bins, you were very familiar with the label...You were almost always guaranteed to get misled in some manner with a Cleopatra Records (for example; albums that appeared to be Greatest Hits albums , but were actually mish-mashes of live tracks and re-recordings)...Every once in awhile you'd run across one that was legit ...The thing is though, the bands featured were usually great so even the rip-offs managed to be entertaining...

I saw this record around and as someone who is always interested in the Damned, I was intrigued, but wasn't willing to pay much for it cos I knew it wasn't going to be anything too rare or good...Then one day at Eastside Records I saw a copy in their discount/unloved bin and nothing else was jumping out at me that day, so I went for it...

And yea, it's pretty much what I thought it would be...A mish-mash of demos, legit stuff, and dodgy live recordings...Entertaining cos the band is entertaining...  The two demo tracks aren't going to replace the regular versions at your Friday Night Record Party anytime soon; "Love Song" sounds pretty much exactly like the original but the drums are quieter and "I Just Can't Be Happy Today' is pretty shambling, whenever a new element comes in, the other elements drop out, wild volume changes, etc...The extended jam at the end is interesting if you enjoy listening to the Damned fall apart...

There's three studio tracks which are technically rare, being the entirety of the fucking awesome UK "Thanks for the Night" 12-inch single...

I have two of them already on "The Light at the End of the Tunnel" comp, only "Do the Blitz" was new to me...But hey, a classic Damned song I'd never heard...It reminds me of a new wave mash-up of Eddie Cochran's "C'Mon Everybody" and the Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz"...Good stuff...

The live stuff, for the most part is rough, rough, rough...Only "You Know" and "Idiot Box" are decent recordings...The "You Know" is particularly rocking and possibly essential...The rest of it is either too a.) bassy, b.) tinny,  c.) distant or d.) all of the above... It is great to have a live version of "Happy Talk" though...Oh yea, a bit of a warning...When I first saw this, the live version of "Curtain Call" listed on the back cover jumped out at me...I couldn't help but wondering how they manged to cram it on a single album, let alone on a side with five other tracks...However, it's not actually on the album...It just jumps from "Happy Talk" to an especially rackety and staticy version of "No Fun"...Oh, well...Cleopatra Records...Sigh...

This is a fun listen but only if you already own at least 10 other Damned albums...This is definitely not for newbies, as I'm sure all this would just sound like a piles of noisy hiss if you're unfamiliar with the songs...

Here's "Thanks For The Night" by the Damned...