The Light at the End of the Tunnel

by

The Damned

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This is probably all of the Damned that you will ever need. And what you'll find is that they were a surprisingly versatile group of lads, ranging from the genre-defining snarl of "New Rose" thorugh the goth-meets-art-rock of "Curtain Call" (in all its 16-minute glory) sideways through their pure pop interpretation of 60's psychadelic master Love's "Alone Again Or" (and a FINE cover it is, with some inspiring guitar riffing by Mr. Roman Jugg). The sequencing is all out of whack, which some purists may scoff at (they would rather program their own) but it provides surprises and bounty galore, and makes it easy to listen to, from goth-pop to pure punk ferociousness. There are a few interesting remixes and rarities, which will probably be lost on you if you are not a fan. Some critics have said the MCA years were over-represented here; probably about an 3/4 of one disc, split over the two CDs offered here , contains tracks from _Phantasmagoria_ and _Anything_ - it *is* an MCA release, after all; but I enjoy the later Damned, probably a bit more than the earlier stuff. Its charming and although slick is no less interesting than anything ex-Sex-Pistol Johnny Rotten was doing with PiL at the time. Taken as a whole, its a surprisingly entertaining and well-put-together box set, with some great liner notes. I have a bunch of box sets and this is certainly the one that gets the most play. Avoid the Cleopatra box sets, and numerous live albums, which are mostly tripe anyways, and nab this, you won't be sorry.

For the most part Damned fans come in two flavors. We have your "punk" and "gothic" fans, both with great love for the group. This Cd tries to fuse both into a greatest hit package, but for the most part fails.

The actual compilation isn't bad, but the songs are scattered leaving no good transition in between songs. Having a classic like "Neat Neat Neat" followed by their most sophisticated (in my opinion) song in "Alone Again Or" is just plain weird. A personal beef I have are the new "mix" versions, they ruin the original sound I grew to appreciate. What should have been done was to split the compiliation into their early punk and goth era's. Disc One would cover the early work, while the second disc will feature their later more polished sound. The CD and it's songs earn a 4.5, but the actual compilation's arrangement erases a star or two.