Search - Damned :: Smash It Up: The Anthology 1976-1987

A good collection, but not great...

äöäöä | 03/11/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I always liked their punk stuff better than the weird goth-psychedelia that later grabbed hold of their music, but nonetheless, this is a very enjoyable collection for those who don`t want to invest on all of their albums (although Damned Damned Damned should be in everybodys possession anyways).



The first CD is spectacular, fantastic for those who prefer their loud, fast and punkish sound. Such gems like New Rose, Neat Neat Neat, See Her Tonight, I Feel Alright (awesome cover of the Stooges` song "1970"), Smash It Up, Machine Gun Etiquette and Melody Lee are found on the first CD. This is the CD of the two on this anthology that I constantly keep on listening to. I`ve never bothered to sit trough the second, because most of it is, in my humble opinion, pretty crappy as The Damned evolved themselves into a goth-pop band. It`s weird, because much of the greatness of the early Damned was because of their hilarious, reckless, don`t-care -attitude. The second CD is unfortunately loaded with eerie, slow and plain boring songs that lack the explosive energy of their early work. Two songs, however, are highly enjoyable on this particular CD, Waiting For The Blackout and Drinking About My Baby. Those two are closer to the original sound of the Damned. Rest of the second CD doesn`t really matter to me really.



Anyways, I recommend this to any punk fan, and even the Damned fans who already own Damned Damned Damned and/or Machine Gun Etiquette might want to check this out, as it has couple of good songs not included on those two albums (and it has all of their best stuff collected into one great CD)."