Thank God! Finally what all of us BiG Beat cd owning fans have been waiting for since the 80's!! I went through 2 of those cds and have 3 copies on vinyl (IRS US, Chiswick UK and Chiswick Italian). I dumped all of my Damned Big Beat vinyl, can't have damned re-releases can we? W/ that said this is THE Ultimate Black Album, compiles all the b-sides that could have made up a 4th album side....back in the days of cassetes I made a compilation a re-sequenced the songs. Now I'll be able to do that again...What a blast from the past....This may be the Damned at their finest. Totally essential.
April 4, 2006 |  | Finally a relevant reissue!!! |  |
This is the 6th time in my life I have purchased this album, but the first time I've been 100 percent satisfied with the overall sound of it. This re-issue even sounds better than the original 2-record gatefold vinyl! Definitely a world of difference from the Big Beat re-issue of the early 90's... which to my knowlege is the only previous CD issue of this album.
The Damned is my all-time favorite band and has been for a very long time... so anytime something of theirs is re-issued I tend to put it under a microscope of scrutiny, especially since so much of their catalog that has been re-issued is just hum-drum run of the mill same-'ol same-'ol. Chiswick has stunned me twice in a row this time around. First with the awesome 25th Anniversary MGE release and then this brilliant follow-up.
What really amazes me here though are the live tracks. I used to always skip the live side of the original release because the mix was so trebly. Then the same live recordings were released as "Live at Shepperton" and they sounded much better, but on this CD they even make "Live at Shepperton" sound thin! Everything sounds evenly great on this re-issue, bonus tracks and all. I guess my only complaint is that unlike the MGE deluxe edition no enhanced video was included here... but believe me it's a small complaint.
If you've never owned this underrated album before, I highly recommend it. Even if you HAVE heard it a million times... you haven't heard it this good!
March 18, 2006| | | i agree with the previous reviewer | |
its about time this forgotten album was released the correct way..the music sounds much better here than on the old one...you can actually listen to it without turning the volume way up to the highest notch...well so far so good..they are on a roll re-mastering damned albums..their debut, music for pleasure, recently along with this one machine gun etiquette and strawberries were issued on super bonus editions..hell, even their half album "im alright jack and the beanstalk" was reissued...now if we can only get "phantasmagoria" and "anything" remastered...their album anything is even selling for 50 bucks or something on here..and its used!..oh well i cannot complain. the guys at chiswick know what their customers want well..im very pleased with this.
January 5, 2006Finally, I can chuck my old, crackly, worn out Big Beat copy(CDWIK 906) of the great Black Album and pop this new reissue in and rock out to The Damned at their psychedelic punk peak. This is The Damned at the top of their game. The bonus disc is indeed a bonus because you get 'side four' of the original 2 LP set, consisting of 6 live tracks from a fan club only show a.k.a. Live At Shepperton, plus all the other 1980 issued recordings, a's & b's(White Rabbit single, History Of The World single, and There Ain't No Sanity Clause single). Ok, the extended White Rabbit alt. mix might be unnecessary, but grab it!
January 3, 2006More reviews at Amazon.com ...
