While
the Sex Pistols will always have a prominent place in the story of U.K.
punk,
the Damned did nearly everything first, including the first single, the smoking
"New Rose," and the first album, namely this stone classic of
rock & roll fire. At just half an hour long,
Damned Damned Damned is a permanent testimony to original guitarist
Brian James' songwriting (ten of the 12 tracks are his) and the band's take-no-prisoners aesthetic. Starting with
Captain Sensible's sharp bassline for
"Neat Neat Neat," which rapidly explodes into a full band thrash,
the Damned left rhetoric for the theoreticians and political posing for
the Clash. All the foursome wanted to do was rock, and that they do here.
Dave Vanian already has his spooky-voiced theatrics down cold;
"Feel the Pain" indulges his
Alice Cooper fascination while the band creates some creepy fun behind him. Most of the time, he's yelping with the best of them, but with considerably more control than most of the era's shouters.
Scabies' considerable reputation as a drummer starts here; comparisons flew thick and fast to
Keith Moon, and not just for on-stage antics (of which there were plenty). His sense of stop-start rhythm and fills is simply astounding, whether on
"So Messed Up" or in his own one-minute goof,
"Stab Yer Back." Though
the Captain doesn't get his full chance to shine on bass, he's more than adequate, while
James just cranks the amps and lets fly. Concluding with a version of
the Stooges'
"I Feel Alright" that sounds hollower than the original but no less energetic,
Damned Damned Damned is and remains
rock at its messy, wonderful best. ~ Ned Raggett
