Live At the Milky Way

The Damned's bassist has had a solo career of his own going since 1983. Understandably, a lot of his repertory is rooted in the Damned's early songs, and this album, recorded in Amsterdam on the final gig of a European tour, includes hard grinding, deep crunching, yet richly recorded versions of "Jet Boy Jet Girl," "Neat Neat Neat," "Smash It Up," "Love Song," and "New Rose," as well as solo hits such as "Wot" and "Glad It's All Over." The sound is both raw and lush — just when the guitar is twaring and slashing away at full volume on "Back to School," along comes a cool little piano cadenza, or the synthesizer swirls up on "Come On Geoffrey Brown," (which, incidentally, sounds like the work of the original Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd reconceived as a punk band). And some of the between-song chatter is as good as the music, including a bit about Macbeth and some digs at other musicians ("I was just sayin' to Elton John the other day, get your f—kin' wallet out you bald bastard"). Fans of the Damned will have to own Live at the Milky Way, and others wouldn't do badly for themselves having this disc on their shelves.