The Damned - Phantasmagoria

The Damned – Phantasmagoria

 Rating = (4.5 out of 5 stars)

The Damned have gone through many phases in their disorderly career. They started out as one of the first British punk bands, along with the Sex Pistols, The Clash, Generation X and countless others. The Damned would (unlike the Clash) take a decidedly non-righteous, fiercely undisciplined rock and roll attitude toward their craft. The original lineup featured Rat Scabies literally setting things on fire in the background, Captain Sensible and Brian James flailing about and screaming in the audience’s face while flanking either side of the stage and Dave Vanian stalking the front while howling and crooning in inimitable vampiric fashion.

But by the time “Phantasmagoria” hit the shelves, those days were long behind them. The lineup had been shaken up about a half dozen times, Captain and Brian James had both left the band to pursue other interests and the band’s sound had matured to an almost unrecognizable degree. Gone were the speed-punk thrashers, replaced with brooding Goth ballads and poppy sing-along choruses. The wild, off-the-hinge punk years seemed long behind and only the experimental aspect remained from the music of the band’s early years. Looking back over the band’s musical output, one could see a clear progression into the late 80’s MCA era sound that dominated the album. From the early, unpolished Garage Punk of “Damned Damned Damned” and “Music For Pleasure” into the slightly more refined work on “Machine Gun Etiquette” and straight into the Psychedelic buzz of “Strawberries” and “The Black Album” which carried only a hint of the original punk sound. The natural evolution of the band clearly pointed to the gloomy Goth pop on “Phantasmagoria” and it’s follow up album “Anything”.

As horrible as it may sound to some of you, the metamorphosis from a straight forward punk rock band to a poppy British Goth band allowed The Damned to create some of their most staggering music. This entire album is like the soundtrack to a dream. Not a pleasant, fluffy love dream either… “Phantasmagoria” sounds like a surreal, feverish nightmare. Like some sort of drug-induced hallucination on a hot summer night.

The album opens on “Street of Dreams” with a questionable solo saxophone… like something out of a black and white film noir, but suddenly the song explodes into a crashing B-minor chord with heavy Goth organs and a rumbling bass line. You immediately know you are listening to The Damned when Dave Vanian’s voice descends into the mix… “If you can’t sleep tonight, and if a fever grips you tight, there’s a place we must explore – Open wide the door”. The song continues with haunting sing-along choruses and does not relent until fading into the next track – “The Shadow of Love”. Track two starts with a low growl from some sort of unholy beast and a simple, but effective guitar riff by Roman Jugg (who is tragically underrated as a guitarist in my opinion). Scabies picks up the swing-shuffle beat shortly thereafter and the bass trots along while Dave croons one of the best vocal tracks of his recorded career.

The third track, “There’ll Come a Day” begins in a similar, glorious fashion focusing on Roman’s effortless guitar work and Dave’s melodious vocals, but with added fragments of harpsichord piano in the background to add to the surreal overtone. The next track “Grimly Fiendish” is a strange bit of psych-out weirdo pop that only a band like The Damned could create. The bizarre, child-like choruses of “Bad lad, bad boy” sound like something off an elementary school playground.

Tracks seven and eight are both airy pop songs, “Edward the Bear” featuring Roman Jugg on vocals while “The Eighth Day” returns the microphone to Master Vanian. The next track “Trojans” is a boring instrumental track, and the only track on the album that I almost always skip, which brings the vinyl version of “Phantasmagoria” to an unexciting close. But I have both the vinyl version and the CD version, so I am treated to two bonus remixes - “Grimly Fiendish” and “Shadow of Love”. The remix of “Grimly” differs only slightly from the original adding a few extra choruses and breakdowns and a sample of a cash register slamming closed at the end of the track (I’m almost sure the cash register sample was an intended joke by the band. They had to know that die-hard fans would still pick up the remixed version of the song, even though it was essentially the same track, which equals more money for them, with only minimal effort necessary). And finally the best track on the entire album – The “Ten Inches of Hell” version of “Shadow of Love”. This time, Scabies does not fuck around with the drums. He hits them hard and solid as soon as the track begins. Once the beat is laid down, a heavy synth rhythm track is thrown in with the country swing bassline and the heavily echoed vocals. The track extends to over five minutes with added refrains, choruses and a guitar solo or two. The album comes to a suitably spooky close with the sound of a desperate, panting female and a werewolf howl. 

“Phantasmagoria” has been out of print in the US for over ten years, but I’ve recently spotted brand-new reissues of this album in record stores. I advise you all to track one of the little bastards down and add it to your record collection. It’s completely fucking essential. 

Tracklist:

1. Street of Dreams
2. Shadow of Love
3. There'll Come a Day
4. Sanctum Sanctorum
5. Is It A Dream
6. Grimly Fiendish
7. Edward The Bear
8. The Eighth Day
9. Trojans
10. Grimly Fiendish [The Bad Trip Mix] (CD only)
11. The Shadow Of Love [10 Inches Of Hell      Mix] (CD only)

Similar sounds:

Sisters of Mercy – Floodland
The Cure – Disintegration