The Black Album

This was titled The Black Album since it's a sprawling, stylistically diverse double album in the spirit of The Beatles' The Beatles, known as The White Album. New bassist Paul Gray (formerly of Eddie & The Hot Rods) joins the team, and The Damned's songwriting takes a few more unexpected turns. "Wait for the Blackout" and "Drinking About My Baby" are far more subtle pieces than their titles and the band's punk pedigree would suggest, with jangling guitars and harmonies putting the melodies in place. "Hit or Miss" packs its punch in two and a half minutes. "Sick of This and That" throws the power chords out in less than two minutes. "Curtain Call" takes up 17 minutes (!) and the album's entire third side; it's held together by a church organ and is the band's most bizarre composition. The album's fourth side includes six live cuts from a concert that became the Live at Shepperton 1980 album ("Machine Gun Etiquette" is renamed "Second Time Around"), along with additional songs. This edition of the album adds nine bonus cuts, including the single and extended cover versions of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit."