Black is the Night: The Definitive Anthology | ||||
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Compilation album by | ||||
Released | 1 November 2019 | |||
Recorded | 1976–2019 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:35:28 | |||
Language | English | |||
Label | BMG | |||
The Damned chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Black is the Night: The Definitive Anthology is a 2-CD, career-spanning compilation album by the British punk rock band the Damned,[4] released on 1 November 2019.[3][5] It collects tracks from most of the band's studio albums between 1977 and 2018, as well as selected non-album singles and B-sides. It also includes the new track "Black Is the Night". Of the band's eleven studio albums to date, Not of This Earth (1995) and So, Who's Paranoid? (2008) are not represented on the anthology.[6] All tracks were chosen by the band themselves,[7][8] and sequenced thematically instead of chronologically.[3]
Reception
[edit]AllMusic felt that "the track listing does make sense of the often elusive through line of the Damned's history, as Dave Vanian's showman's vocals, Captain Sensible's clever melodies, and their smarter-than-you-think wit unites the music as they travel from punk to garage rock to hard rock to pop to goth to a few pit stops in between." AllMusic noted that the inclusion of some of the band's more recent material "shows they're still in touch with their various muses, and for all their sonic shape-shifting, this is a far more consistent listening experience than one would expect."[3]
With no tracks represented from Not Of This Earth and So, Who's Paranoid?, the Big Takeover wrote that the anthology was "not fully representative" and "omissions from these albums is questionable."[7]
Track listing
[edit]- Disc one
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Place of Origin | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Love Song" | Rat Scabies, Captain Sensible, Dave Vanian, Algy Ward | Machine Gun Etiquette, 1979 | 2:21 |
2. | "Wait for the Blackout" | Scabies, Sensible, Vanian, Paul Gray, Billy Karloff | The Black Album, 1980 | 3:51 |
3. | "Generals" | Scabies, Sensible, Vanian, Gray | Strawberries, 1982 | 3:23 |
4. | "I Just Can't Be Happy Today" | Scabies, Sensible, Vanian, Ward, Giovanni Dadomo | Machine Gun Etiquette | 3:43 |
5. | "Bad Time for Bonzo" | Scabies, Sensible, Vanian, Gray | Strawberries | 3:48 |
6. | "Democracy?" | Sensible | Grave Disorder, 2001 | 3:21 |
7. | "White Rabbit" | Grace Slick | Non-album single, 1980 | 3:17 |
8. | "Anti-Pope" | Scabies, Sensible, Vanian, Ward, Phillip Burns | Machine Gun Etiquette | 3:21 |
9. | "Ignite" | Scabies, Sensible, Vanian, Gray | Strawberries | 4:52 |
10. | "Melody Lee" | Scabies, Sensible, Vanian, Ward | Machine Gun Etiquette | 2:07 |
11. | "Smash It Up Pt 1 & 2" | Scabies, Sensible, Vanian, Ward | Machine Gun Etiquette | 5:13 |
12. | "New Rose" | Brian James | Damned Damned Damned, 1977 | 2:42 |
13. | "Neat Neat Neat" | James | Damned Damned Damned | 2:40 |
14. | "Stretcher Case Baby" | James, Scabies | Non-album single, 1977 | 2:12 |
15. | "Sick of Being Sick" | James | B-side to "Stretcher Case Baby", 1977 | 2:29 |
16. | "Born to Kill" | James | Damned Damned Damned | 2:35 |
17. | "Rabid (Over You)" | Scabies, Sensible, Vanian, Andy Le Vien | B-side to "White Rabbit", 1980 | 3:41 |
18. | "Problem Child" | James, Scabies | Music for Pleasure, 1977 | 2:12 |
19. | "1 of the 2" | James | Damned Damned Damned | 3:06 |
20. | "So Messed Up" | James | Damned Damned Damned | 1:50 |
21. | "Machine Gun Etiquette" | Scabies, Sensible, Vanian, Ward | Machine Gun Etiquette | 1:48 |
22. | "Disco Man" | Scabies, Sensible, Vanian, Gray | Friday 13th EP, 1981 | 3:19 |
23. | "Fan Club" | James | Damned Damned Damned | 2:55 |
24. | "Suicide" | Scabies, Sensible, Vanian, Ward | B-side to "Love Song", 1979 | 3:16 |
Total length: | 1:14:16 |
- Disc two
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Place of Origin | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Eloise" | Paul Ryan | Non-album single, 1986 | 5:08 |
2. | "Plan 9 Channel 7" | Scabies, Sensible, Vanian, Ward | Machine Gun Etiquette | 5:08 |
3. | "Grimly Fiendish" | Vanian, Scabies, Roman Jugg, Bryn Merrick, Clive Jackson | Phantasmagoria, 1985 | 3:49 |
4. | "The Shadow of Love" (10 Inches of Hell Mix) | Vanian, Scabies, Jugg, Merrick | Phantasmagoria | 6:33 |
5. | "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" | Scabies, Sensible, Gray, Vanian, Dadomo | The Black Album | 4:32 |
6. | "Street of Dreams" | Vanian, Scabies, Jugg, Merrick | Phantasmagoria | 5:36 |
7. | "The History of the World (Part 1)" | Scabies, Sensible, Gray, Vanian | The Black Album | 3:49 |
8. | "Curtain Call" | Scabies, Sensible, Gray, Vanian | The Black Album | 17:10 |
9. | "Alone Again Or" | Bryan MacLean | Anything, 1986 | 3:28 |
10. | "Lively Arts" | Scabies, Sensible, Gray, Vanian | The Black Album | 2:55 |
11. | "Standing on the Edge of Tomorrow" | Vanian | Evil Spirits, 2018 | 4:14 |
12. | "Stranger on the Town" | Scabies, Sensible, Gray, Vanian | Strawberries | 5:13 |
13. | "Fun Factory" | Sensible | Non-album single, 1991; recorded 1982 | 4:21 |
14. | "Under the Floor Again" | Scabies, Sensible, Gray, Vanian | Strawberries | 5:21 |
15. | "Black Is the Night" | Vanian | New track | 4:09 |
Total length: | 1:21:37 |
Personnel
[edit]Credits adapted from the liner notes of the original albums and singles, except where noted.[9]
- The Damned
- Dave Vanian – vocals, synthesizer (disc two: 15)[10]
- Captain Sensible – bass, backing vocals (disc one: 12–16, 18–20, 23); guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (disc one: 1–11, 17, 21, 22, 24 / disc two: 2, 5, 7, 8, 10–15)
- Rat Scabies – drums, backing vocals (disc one: 1–5, 7–24 / disc two: 1–10, 12–14)
- Brian James – guitar, backing vocals (disc one: 12–16, 18–20, 23)
- Lu Edmonds – guitar (disc one: 18)
- Algy Ward – bass (disc one: 1, 4, 8, 10, 11, 21, 24 / disc two: 2)
- Paul Gray – bass (disc one: 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 22 / disc two: 5, 7, 8, 10–15)
- Roman Jugg – keyboard solos (disc one: 3, 5, 9 / disc two: 12, 14); guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (disc two: 1, 3, 4, 6, 9)
- Bryn Merrick – bass, backing vocals (disc two: 1, 3, 4, 6, 9)
- Monty Oxymoron – keyboards, backing vocals (disc one: 6 / disc two: 11, 15)
- Patricia Morrison – bass, backing vocals (disc one: 6)
- Pinch – drums, backing vocals (disc one: 6 / disc two: 11, 15)
- Additional musicians
- Simon Lloyd – brass (disc one: 3)
- Anthony More – synthesizer (disc one: 17)
- Gary Barnacle – saxophone, brass (disc two: 3, 6)
- Ray Martinez – trumpet (disc two: 5)
- Luís Jardim – percussion (disc two: 6)
- Hanz Zimmer – synthesizer (disc two: 7, 10[11])
- Kurt Holm – trumpet (disc two: 9)
- Robert Fripp – guitar (disc two: 13)
- Technical
- Nick Lowe – producer (disc one: 12–16, 19, 20, 23)
- Nick Mason – producer (disc one: 18)
- Shel Talmy – producer (disc one: 14, 15)
- The Damned – producer (disc one: 1–5, 7–11, 17, 21 / disc two: 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14)
- Roger Armstrong – producer (disc one: 1, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 21 / disc two: 2)
- Ed Hollis – producer (disc one: 24)
- Hanz Zimmer – producer (disc two: 7)
- Tony Mansfield – producer (disc one: 22)
- Hugh Jones – producer (disc one: 5, 9)
- Jon Kelly – producer (disc two: 1, 4, 6, 9)
- Bob Sargeant – producer (disc two: 3)
- Captain Sensible – producer (disc two: 13)
- David Bianco – producer (disc one: 6)
- Tony Visconti – producer (disc two: 11)
- Tom Dalgety – producer (disc two: 15)[10]
- Phil Smee – cover, artwork
- Ben Thomas – layout
- Eugene Butcher – liner notes
- Neil Brabiner – photography
- Dod Morrison – photography
Charts
[edit]Chart (2019) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Albums (OCC)[12] | 63 |
References
[edit]- ^ a b Deming, Mark. "Artist Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- ^ Peter Buckley (2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. p. 273. ISBN 978-1-84353-105-0.
- ^ a b c d "Black is the Night: The Definitive Anthology". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
- ^ "Album Review: The Damned – Black Is The Night ( The Definitive Anthology)". Original Rock. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
- ^ "The Damned - Black Is The Night". Facebook. 21 October 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- ^ MARowe (26 August 2019). "The Damned To Release 2CD, 4LP Definitive Anthology, Black Is The Night". musictap.com. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- ^ a b Burke, Kevin (30 August 2019). "The Damned - Black Is The Night: The Definitive Anthology (BMG)". The Big Takeover. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
- ^ Yeske Taylor, Katherine (30 October 2019). "Happy Halloween From The Damned". The Aquarian Weekly. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- ^ "The Damned Releases". Discogs. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- ^ a b "Black Is The Night - Credits". Tidal. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- ^ Armstrong, Roger. "The Black Album". Ace Records. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 29 October 2020.