[Review] The Damned: Live Shepperton 1980 (1982)
The Damned smash it up in Shepperton at this exclusive concert for fan club members.
Kronomyth 5.5: Not for only fans.
This is the fan club concert that first appeared on the fourth side of The Black Album, now expanded into a full-length release. The “new” tracks include Melody Lee, Neat Neat Neat, an organasmic cover of M.C.5’s Looking at You and the ass-kickingest version of The Beatles’ Help! that you’ll ever hear (in case you missed it on the flip side to their first single, New Rose). On their last album, I began to sniff a sellout, but I’m happy to report that The Damned we knew and loved are alive and well for the Shepperton show. The material comes from their first and third albums and includes the classics: New Rose, Neat Neat Neat, Love Song, Smash It Up. The band plays them at maximum speed and maximum volume. The sound quality is a bit rough, but these songs were meant to be felt in your skull and not fussed over. In a way, Live Shepperton 80 marks the end of an era for the band, at least for me. I’m sure many Damned fans have less trouble reconciling their punk/goth periods than I do, and I suppose it’s all just shades of black after a point. You may be wondering if you need to pick this disc up, considering that the expanded remasters of The Black Album include most of these performances, and I suppose it’s moot since the compact disc has been dying a slow death for years. Live Shepperton 80 is a shot in the arm when a “Grimly Fiendish” has you feeling that the whole thing might be a black farce. Funny, but I don’t wax as nostalgic for the old music of The Cure or Siouxsie and the Banshees, but those albums never got under my skin the way The Damned did.
Original elpee version
A1. Love Song (Rat Scabies/Captain Sensible/Dave Vanian/Algy Ward)
A2. Second Time Around (Rat Scabies/Captain Sensible/Dave Vanian/Algy Ward)
A3. I Just Can’t Be Happy Today (Rat Scabies/Captain Sensible/Dave Vanian/Algy Ward/Giovanni Dadomo)
A4. Melody Lee (Rat Scabies/Captain Sensible/Dave Vanian/Algy Ward)
A5. Help! (John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
A6. Neat Neat Neat (Brian James)
B1. Looking at You (M.C.5)
B2. Smash It Up Pts I & II (Rat Scabies/Captain Sensible/Dave Vanian/Algy Ward)
B3. New Rose (Brian James)
B4. Plan 9 Channel 7 (Rat Scabies/Captain Sensible/Dave Vanian/Algy Ward)
The Plastic
Released on elpee on November 26, 1982 in the UK (Big Beat, NED 1) and Japan (SMS, SP25-5203).
- Re-issued on compact disc and cassette in the UK and Germany (Big Beat, CDWIK/WIKMC 27).
- Re-issued on compact disc in Japan (Big Beat, TECP 22125).
