★★★★★
Deluxe treatment for one of punk's most rough-and-ready albums... The Damned are a group often praised faintly: sold as having being close to greatness, without ever being great themselves. They were, you understand, the first group to release a punk single. They supported the Sex Pistols at the 100 Club in July 1976, appeared at the 100 Club Punk Festival in September and briefly on the Anarchy Tour, the largely-cancelled series of engagements that the Pistols and Heartbreakers attempted to...
- www.uncut.co.uk
2013-04-02
★★★★★
Though a straight reissue of the 2003 Union Square release filmed at Shepherds Bush Empire on 31 July 2002, it's nonetheless a welcome one. At this stage in the band's chequered (to say the least) career, the line-up was Dave Vanian, as ever, on vocals, Captain Sensible (who'd been absent from 1984 to '96) on guitar, former Bags, Gun Club and Sisters Of Mercy bassist Patricia Morrison, former English Dogs drummer Pinch and wacky keyboardist Monty Oxy Moron...
- recordcollectormag.com
2013-04-02
★★★★★
Whether you were around when this slab of pure punk was first cast into wax, picked up its 30th anniversary reissue just five years ago, or were introduced to it thanks to high profile covers by bands such as Guns N'Roses, it's pretty hard to believe that it's been three-and-a-half decades since The Damned's debut first saw the light of day...
- recordcollectormag.com
2013-04-01
★★★★★
After cutting their musical teeth at Stiff, it was another hip London indie label that helped The Damned break their Top 40 chart duck. The group's arrival at Chiswick in 1979 signalled a slight tweaking of the formula, with hits such as Love Song and Smash It Up playing to what some detractors cynically described as a "pantomime punk" image...
- www.recordcollectormag.com
2011-12-05
★★★★★
There is a theory that Dammed guitarist Brian James invented punk rock. It's an argument that upon examination actually makes a lot of sense. Way back in early 1975 there were two young bands of guitar-slinging hipsters in London. One was the Sex Pistols, but they'd yet to play a gig and were fumbling around for the on switch. The Pistols already had the look ? short hair and fucked up neo-mod togs and an already outrageous-looking singer...
- thequietus.com
2010-11-09
★★★★★
The Damned, yes they are still going over 30 years after forming in London! With this new release of 13 tracks it is obvious to anyone who listens to the album that they are still pioneers of the punk genre of music. The album kicks off with a jaunty keyboard led 'A Nation Fit For Heroes', a catchy light track which stays with you long after the CD has relentlessly charged onto track two...
- hangout.altsounds.com
2010-11-02
★★★★★
The Damned were always a proficient and exciting live band, and they still are. However, their air of danger disappeared with Rat Scabies, and it's disturbing to find a keyboard-playing goon with a perm and a drummer in a gorilla costume compounding Sensible's permissible buffoonery. Latest music and film news on Uncut.co.uk.
- www.uncut.co.uk
2010-06-19
★★★★★
Perhaps if they hadn't been so busy hurling shaving foam and setting each other on fire, the Damned would have been hailed as more than just madcap cartoon punks. Their first album in seven years, and their best in much longer, takes a lead from 1980's superb The Black Album by skipping through genres...
- www.guardian.co.uk
2010-04-02
★★★★★
L.GIFike any album from a band on the wrong side of 30, So, Who's Paranoid? comes with a stigma attached: The success rate on these kinds of middle-aged reunion projects is already low, and factor in a founding role in the '70s punk scene and members named Captain Sensible and Rat Scabies and the odds plunge to a nearly microscopic level. Realistically, the Damned is lucky enough to still be alive...
- www.slantmagazine.com
2009-07-10
Loading...
