Pretty much anyone with an opinion on the matter has engaged themselves in some form of debate as to 1)Who was the best punk band ever? 2)What was the best punk album ever? and 3)What does punk rock stand for? Valid queries all, to be sure, but the exhumed bones of contention surrounding question #3 dig up the most confusion concerning the zeitgest of the '77 punk era.

In most circles, it's a foregone conclusion that The Ramones began punk rock as we know it. That being said, it was their first tour of England that set into play the British scene which would give it a face, a variety of conflicting facets somehow forming a whole, as diverse and expansive as the term "rock music" has ever been. While each of the major groups sported versions of the same look, their music was by no means uniform.

Where The Ramones sported the spartan 4/4 wall of guitar and melody, the English bands laid back on more the more immediate pub-rock influences, speeding them up and changing the lyrics from the hereditary "guy digs chick..." or "guy digs car..." blah blah blah to the shocking (for the time) "I wanna be a-nar-chy" and "Oh bondage up yours". Even the basic look was borrowed from the style of reigning hot-shot guitar star Chris Spedding, hairstyle, shades and all. You can see the direct line from Brinsley Schwarz to Eddie and the Hot Rods, to The Ramones and every band for the next two years.

So while the scene had it's variety of band-character types--The Clash's heavy political stance, The 'Pistols' more personal-issue politics, The Buzzcocks' emotional angle on relationships and desires--The Damned stemmed more from the direct lineage mentioned before, i.e.-chicks and rock 'n roll.

The first Damned album is as important and as ass-kicking as Never Mind The Bollocks..., or the first Clash albums. While it doesn't overtly emphasize the more presented images of the other bands, it portrays one of the key aspects of what punk should be: fun, sped-up guitar rock, with a minimum of bullshit, tough-guy posturing.

Damned Damned Damned, the very first British punk album (predating ...Bollocks... by six weeks, or months, or whatever), displays all the things that made The Damned great. Brian James' stripped-down, turned-up guitar, Rat Scabies' (Chris Millar) kickin', yet haphazard drumming (accurately labeling him "the punk Keith Moon"), the self-effacing silliness of bass-player Captain Sensible (still one of the best punk names ever; much better than Ray Burns), mixed with the inexplicable Vampira-convention-look, and basic Elvis-tinged, though undeveloped voice of the young Dave Vanian.

The songs are the requisite 2-to-3 minute rockers; their signature anthems "Neat Neat Neat" and "New Rose", to the sheer punk-for-punk's sake "Stab Yor Back", to their updating of the Stooges' "1970" (here titled "I Feel Alright"), all played in the bash-'em-out style that gave off the image of four guys whom didn't give a shit if they sounded proficient or not, talented or not. Aiding to this idea is the rougher-than-lo-fi production of a pre-"Cruel To Be Kind" Nick Lowe. The album sounds a lot like if he was having a very tough time trying to squeeze the lashing-about wildness of their live set onto thin recording tape slapped on a crappy deck. The result is a quiet overall mix of a normally loud and searing performance. Whereas the first Sex Pistols and Clash albums sound like aptly-produced individual songs, Damned Damned Damned comes off as more of a start-to-finish "document" of an exciting live set. Fittingly, the back cover contains the suggestion "To be played loud at a low volume."

On this Frontier re-issue, any complaints about the lack of fidelity are exorcised by an excellent remix. Without sacrificing the raw nerve of the original, the sound is punched up considerably.

Their second album, the summarily slagged Music For Pleasure, is given a minor, but necessary face-lift. For some reason The Damned opted to have Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason in the booth for the follow-up to their epic debut. According to Sensible, Mason essentially nodded on the sound board as the tapes turned and the time expired. Inexplicably, they also added future-journeyman guitarist Lu Edmonds to the band. Since his inclusion is pert' near superfluous, his contribution to the album is negligible at best.

Though the songs show a definite lack of originality (the drop-off suggests the inter-band turmoil for which they became famous), the biggest problem is that the album seems premature; the songs half-baked at best. With this version, one's given a pretty clear perspective on the album as a whole, and on the historical tip, it's a lot better record than what was once thought. Place it next to the hundreds of punk albums that began appearing after 1977 and it sounds like a fucking masterpiece

The production is thick. Thick enough to make you wish the tunes were better. Big unrestrained guitar rules the mix, and Vanian is allowed to sing, yell, and stretch out a bit„as opposed to the first lp, where "Please don't wake the old guy next door..." seemed like the direct order. If you don't have the vinyl, you absolutely must pick this disc up; it's better than the original, and it also contains the period b-sides "Sick Of Being Sick," their version of "Help," and the "Stab Yor Back" dub-mix--"Singalonga Scabies."

If you're a Damned fan from way back, or a neophyte punk looking for guidance apart from the ska-punk revolution, these two cds are a very good starting point. Play them loud at a high volume. Play them at your sister.

A mighty big "Thank You" to Lisa at Frontier Records for providing the two discs in this article.

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