Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 324 - The Light At The End Of The Tunnel - The Damned

The Light At The End Of The Tunnel - The Damned

MCA Records

Released 30th November 1987

UK Chart #87

CD Version

Disc One:

 01-I Feel Alright (Alexander, Asheton, Pop)
02-Anything (Jugg, Scabies, Vanian, Merrick)
03-Lovely Money (Sensible, Scabies, Vanian, Gray)
04-Thanks For The Night (Rat Mix) (Sensible)
05-Plan 9 Channel 7 (Sensible, Scabies, Vanian, Ward)
06-Grimly Fiendish (Bad Trip Mix) (Jugg, Scabies, Vanian, Merrick)
07-Stranger on the Town (Scabies, Vanian, Gray)
08-Neat Neat Neat (James)
09-Alone Again Or (Maclean)
10-Is It A Dream? (Wild West End Mix) (Jugg, Scabies, Vanian, Merrick)
11-Smash It Up Parts I & II (Sensible, Scabies, Vanian, Ward)
12-Psychomania (Jugg, Scabies, Vanian, Merrick)
13-Curtain Call (Sensible, Scabies, Vanian, Gray)*

* Not on the original vinyl album

Disc Two:
01-Ignite (Sensible, Scabies, Vanian, Gray)
02-Help! (Lennon, McCartney)
03-Rabid (Over You) (CD Mix) (Sensible, Scabies, Vanian, LeVien)
04-I Just Can't Be Happy Today (Sensible, Scabies, Vanian, Ward)
05-Problem Child (James)
06-Nasty (Sensible, Scabies, Vanian, Jugg, Merrick)
07-Disco Man (Sensible, Scabies, Vanian, Gray)
08-New Rose (James) – 2:39
09-Love Song (Sensible, Scabies, Vanian, Ward)
10-Feel the Pain (James)
11-The History of the World Part 1 (Sensible, Scabies, Vanian, Gray)
12-In Dulce Decorum (Jugg, Scabies, Vanian, Merrick)
13-Trojans (Jugg, Scabies, Vanian, Merrick)
14-Eloise (Ryan)
15-The Shadow Of Love (Ten Inches of Hell Mix) – (Jugg, Scabies, Vanian, Merrick)

Album Notes:

 Click on the links to hear more music from The Damned.

 
"New Rose" was the band’s first single, released in 1976, with the cover of The Beatles’ "Help!" as the B-side.

"Neat Neat Neat" (their second single), "I Feel Alright" and "Feel the Pain" were taken from the band’s 1977 album Damned, Damned, Damned.

"Problem Child" was the first single released from the group’s second album, Music for Pleasure, also released in 1977.

"Love Song", "Smash It Up Parts I & II", "I Just Can’t Be Happy Today" and "Plan 9 Channel 7" were all from the 1979 album Machine Gun Etiquette.

"Rabid (Over You)" was a remix of a track previously issued as a B-side to the "White Rabbit" single, also originally released in 1980.

"The History of the World Part One" and "Curtain Call" come from the 1980 album The Black Album.

"Disco Man" was the lead track from the Friday 13th EP.

"Ignite" and "Stranger on the Town" were from the Strawberries album.

"Nasty" was the B-side to the "Thanks For The Night" single.

The remixes of "Grimly Fiendish" and "The Shadow of Love" were taken from the maxi-single releases of each song.

"Trojans" and "Is It A Dream?" were taken from the 1985 album Phantasmagoria.

"Eloise" was released as a single in 1986.

"Anything", "Alone Again Or", "Psychomania" and "In Dulce Decorum" were all released on the Anything album in 1986.

The remix of "Thanks for the Night" was originally released on the maxi-single release of "Anything".

Single released from The Light At The End Of The Tunnel

In Dulce Decorum / Psychomania

16th November 1987

UK Chart #72

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The Light At The End Of The Tunnel was the first Compilation from The Damned to include music spanning their career between 1976-1987.

Whilst the music on the album is great there was a real hint of MCA cashing in on the band who they had recently dropped from the label following the commercial failure of the Anything album - it only reached #40 in the UK Album Chart and the singles from the album had "failed" to reach the Top 20.

The sequencing of the album is one of the biggest problems though as it doesn't run with a chronological order at all but rather is quite scattered starting with their magnificent 1977 cover of The Stooges' "I Feel Alright" and following it with the single "Anything" from 1986 for example. This presents the band in such a way that they come off as sounding as if they were confused as to their identity. If it was sequenced in chronological order then that sense of confusion vanishes entirely.

The Smash It Up Anthology released in 2002 deals with the same time frame as The Light At The End Of The Tunnel but  manages to get it right by placing the track order in chronological order.

Up until the Smash It Up Anthology we just had to make do with The Light At The End Of The Tunnel album as a decent career spanning Compilation, either that or go and dig out the original albums and play them loud!

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!