Customer Reviews

Strawberries

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album is one of the greatest of all times. In my opinion The Damned are one of the greatest bands of all time due to their originality, diversity and talent. While they may of started off as a punk band and most known for their first album (the punk classic Damned Damned Damned) their later stuff in my opinion is much more amazing. With Machine Gun Ettiquette we saw the other members that stayed with The Damned taking the band over and really changing the band around. Machine Gun offered the punk found on their first two albums but also offered many experimentations. Their next album, The Black Album, furthered these experimenations and then out of nowhere came this album, almost completely unlike anything they had done before. Does this in anyway mean it is a bad album. NO! This album is amazing. We are instantly bombared by the amazing, catchy as hell Ignite. Great guitars by The Captain (my favorite guitarist) and of course extordinary Jim Morrison style vocals by the one and only David Vanian and great drum rolls by the Rat. All three of these stay with the whole album as with their previous three. The bass on the album, while not too great (the Damned have never had great bassists until Patricia Morrison's addition) is a lot better then many other bands... while a lot of bands like to cover up their bass players so basically the bass is unnoticeable The Damned never did that and throughout their career have written some of the catchiest bass lines (most notably Billy Bad Breaks). This album is probably darker then any of their previous efforts and a lot more alternative rockish but was quite ahead of its time as most of their work and is an essential record in any serious music lover's collection. Gun Fury and Generals are easily the weakest tracks on here and yet they are still both really really good, just not up to standards with the rest of the album. In the song "The Dog" (about an Anne Rice character who became a vampire at an early age which was a concept that fascinated ol David) we catch a glimpse of what was to come on The Damneds next effort "Phantasmagoria" (another amazing record). My only problem with the album is that it's too short and the last song, Don't Bother Me, is way to short and would be so much greater if it was extended, also I like the original title of the album, "Strawberries for Pigs" (explaining the Pig picture) much more. Oh yeah, my favorite guitar solo of all time is on Under The Floor Again. And if your ever feeling depressed just turn on Life Goes On, a song that has reportedly helped many. Basically this album is a must have and one of The Damned's three masterpieces *Machine Gun Ettiquette and The Black Album being the other two, although i highly reccomend everything theyve ever done (yes even Not Of This Earth and Music For Pleasure)* And if you ever get a chance to catch these guys on tour DO IT you will not be dissapointed... so many years and still going strong as hell...

This record is sheer proof that punk rock doesn't have to have limitations. I place this high above as probably one of the Damned's greatest efforts.In my opinion, this is on the same level as London Calling. While not the three-chord thrash of their seminal first album, Strawberries is more experimental. There is much more keyboard than guitar, in general, and many dark overtones that clearly foreshadow their follow-up album, Phantasmagoria-whilst not as overall great as Strawberries, still a classic to be cherished. This is simply great stuff. Punk rock for a mature audience, if not in generic format, then in attitude and execution. A reminder that Minor Threat and the Ramones aren't the be-all, end-all of punk rock music. Thankfully, the Damned are still with us today, alive and kicking-and still as relevant as ever. Some highlights-Ignite(of course!), Generals(not many people are big on this one...sad.)The Dog(utter gothic masterpiece! The piano track will send you into a state of musical euphoria.), the Pleasure and the pain(another classic punky little track-brilliant) Life goes on(a nice little mellowed out track), Under the floor again(a closing masterpiece to a perfect record-although it isn't the final track of the album, it's strong enough to close.)There rest of the songs are still great, but in my opinion, these are the gems.
Do yourself a favor-open yourself up to the darker end of the punk rock spectrum.

If you like the Damned, you need this album. A great work that falls between the goth pop of Phantasmagoria and the cultivated punk of The Black Album. All the songs on this CD are outstanding, my favorites are "Under the floor again" and "Stranger on the Town". "The Pleasure and The Pain" is also great...'it tears my heart out through the side, to think of the times I spent inside...ooo the pleasure and the pain, it tells me that I'm in love again.'

The Clash liked to mix punk with funk, reggae, and rockabilly. On their 1982 masterwork, Strawberries, the Damned mixed punk with 60's pop and psychedelia, their main influences being bands like early Pink Floyd, The Electric Prunes, Captain Beefheart, and Love. Dave Vanian was obsessed with classic horror movies and there is a dark undercurrent to the album that is both humorous and foreboding.

Throughout the record the band deftly mixes in experimental touches like a baroque-flavored harpsichord instrumental, which heightens the atmosphere without ever feeling self-indulgent. Ambitious chord changes and modulations dominate the album, most notably on "Generals", "Stranger on the Town" and "Life Goes On", the last of which may have inspired Nirvana's "Come As You Are".

Without a doubt however, the greatest track on the album is "Under the Floor Again" a moody piece which tells the story of a wanted felon who lived in three feet of crawlspace for seven years. Fun, accessible, intelligent, bohemian, inventive and arty... who says you can't have it all? This ranks RIGHT UP AT THE TOP OF MY COLLECTION!

Stand out tracks: "Under the Floor Again", "Bad Time for Bonzo", "Dozen Girls", "Generals"

I love this album. The highlights are among the best Damned songs. Ignite, Stanger on the Town and Under The Floor are the 3 peaks I think. This album really showed what a great guitarist Captain Sensible is. Listen to the guitar work on Ignite or the solo on Under The Floor Again, breathtaking. Vanian's voice is majestic throughout, Paul Gray's bass is spot on an Rat proves yet again what a great drummer he is.

This is, for me, the most consistant sounding Damned album - and one of the best ever made. Treat yourself.

I love this album, Generals, Ignite, Gun Fury, The Pleasure and the Pain, solid Damned songs. The progression on from the equally excellent "Black Album" is obvious (though you couldn't predict the blandness that what would happened next with Phantasmagoria). I bought this album shortly after it came out, 14 years later as my second copy became unplayable I finally bought the CD. I expect to have buy several more copies (formats) before I shuffle off the planet.

After the experimental "Black Album", the Damned move into pop rock territory with Strawberries. The first four tracks "Ignite", "Generals(probably the Damned's most underrated song)", "Stanger on The Town", "Dozen Girls" are all excellent. Unfortunately, those four tracks are the best the album has to offer. That's not to say the rest is a wash. "Under The Floor", "The Pleasure and the Pain(the Damned's best "slow" song)" and "Gun Fury" are also good. But after its excellent opening the rest of the album never reaches that peak again. Its still a worth while purchase for Damned fans but not the first album that I would buy from them.

SOUNDS LIKE THEY GOT A HALFWAY inteligent poducer or enginer, for a change got rid of their stupidity droped any of their insane PUNK ASSPIRATIONS TO DISCOVER THEYRE JUST PUB ROCK , good players with out a shred or ounce of genuine POSTURIN ART ROCK,ingenuinity, this is the album they discovered they could just play and write simple,DECEPTABLE BRILLIANT songs,brilliant in being themselves,MUCH LIKE THE GUESS who, AMERICAN in THIER MUCH MORE BRILLIANT IMAGINATIONS, AFTER AMERICAN WOMEN,and just went about bein themselves, STRAWBERIES IS AN ARTIFACT IN genuine GOOD, SONGS THAT REWARD REPEATED LISTENINGS, songs that never grow stale.