I’ve been asked by Wavey Dave Howarth to participate in a 20 day music challenge about LPs that influenced my musical tastes enduringly.
One album per day for 20 days – and I’m behind already, of course, so let’s catch up…
Day 6 – The Damned – Phantasmagoria
Once again the Damned album I have the deepest connection with isn’t their best record at all (Damned Damned Damned or Machine Gun Etiquette for my taste). It’s not even the first Damned album I bought – that was The Black Album, but that one is far trippier and whilst I always liked it, it took longer for me to fully get into.
Phantasmagoria was ground breaking in that most of the original band had left – including Captain Sensible – and Dave Vanian took the band in a VERY different direction, basically inventing goth rock along the way. Style wise he dumped the gravedigger look, bought shares in Aquanet, dyed a skunk stripe in his hair and invested in some pirate shirts, which somehow he made work!
Highlight on the album for me is Grimly Fiendish, a weird harpsichord-led romp based on an obscure kid’s cartoon. I still love it. Street Of Dreams is great as well, Shadow Of Love, Sanctum Sanctorum, and the ultra catchy Is it A Dream. Great stuff.
