Anything is the seventh studio album by the English punk rock band the Damned,released by MCA Records in 1986. On the album's release,it charted in the United Kingdom,peaking at No. 40,and was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry. Four singles were released that all charted in the UK.
It saw the band continue with their gothic rock sound largely present on the band's previous album Phantasmagoria (1985). However,it also saw the band shift towards a mainstream rock sound with glossy production,something which frontman and singer Dave Vanian would later regret.[6][7]
The album began production in June 1986 in Puk Recording Studios in Denmark.[8] The Damned's vocalist,Dave Vanian,later stated that the group were forced into the studio to record the album before they had prepared any new material for it.[7] This pressure stemmed from the big success that their cover of "Eloise",which reached number 3.[9][6]Drummer Rat Scabies mentioned that the group had demoed the song "In Dulce Decorum",but most of the songs were written in the studio.[8]
In July,the group took a break from recording to perform a 10th anniversary performance in London at the Town and Country Club and two in Finsbury Park,where the group performed some songs that would appear on Anything,and were joined by Captain Sensible to perform "Smash It Up". On returning to Denmark,the group recorded a cover of "Alone Again Or" which Scabies originally thought was written by Roman Jugg. The album concluded production in August.[8]
Release and tour
Following the recording sessions,the Damned toured Ireland and Britain in October and concluded the tour in Ireland in November.[8] The group began having issues with technology on the tour (the brass parts of "Psychomania" crept in when the group were performing "In Dulce Decorum") and had to use an emulator to recreate some of their studio sound.[8] Prior to the album's release,a single for "Anything" was released in November.[10]
Anything was released on MCA Records on 1 December 1986 in the United Kingdom.[11] In the UK,the album charted for two weeks,peaking at No. 40.[12] It was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry.[13] After the release of the "Gigolo" single in January 1987,the Damned toured Europe until February.[10] They toured in Australia in March and Japan in April. During a booking hiatus,the group returned to performing shows as the alter ego Naz Nomad and the Nightmares. "In Dulce Decorum" was released as the final single from the album in November 1987.[8]
Following the release of Anything,Vanian said that "the manager got the swimming pool he wanted and then everyone that signed us to MCA left the company and those that were left didn’t know what to do with us."[6] MCA followed the release with a Damned compilation album titled Light at the End of the Tunnel in November 1987.[16] After its lukewarm success,reaching number 87 in the UK and only staying on the chart for a week,[17] MCA and The Damned parted ways the following year.[8]
Contemporary reviews were mainly positive,The Ottawa Citizen gave the album a positive review,describing the album as "varied but not disjointed" and that the Damned had become a "superb pop band" that make a "better pop band of the '80s than it did a punk band of the '70s".[22]
The Vancouver Sun also praised the album,stating that the Damned "have made the switch to mood music quite well,almost rising to the level of the mighty Stranglers". The review compared the album to music by Simple Minds,opining that the album was what they "want to sound like,moody and atmospheric without getting all doomy and gloomy".[23]
Retrospective reception was far more negative,A retrospective review from AllMusic was negative,awarding the album 2 stars and calling it the worst album of the original group's catalogue.[18] The review specifically pointed out "Restless" and "In Dulce Decorum" as meandering,and noted that the tracks "Psychomania" and "Anything" were the only tracks that "generate anything approximating the energy of the Damned's best music".[18]
Trouser Press dismissed the album,observing,"Anything boasts a neat version of Love’s “Alone Again Or,”but otherwise falls well short of achieving anything memorable. Despite the Damned's proven ability to alternately rock gothic and play nice,there's no audible point to the music;it's hard to imagine who would find this LP pleasurable."[24]
In an album ranking list Mörat of Louder put Anything second to worst on the list,praising only the cover of Alone Again Or "and the vaguely hummable Gigolo," saying "the rest is turgid at best,and plain boring at worst. Such was their lack of inspiration that they couldn’t even come up with a proper album title,so for want of a better idea... “Oh,call it anything.”"[25]
When later asked about the Phantasmagoria and Anything albums,Vanian said that "some of the production in retrospect could have been done a little better,but it was the '80's. Some of those songs were just as heartfelt as anything that had gone before despite the frills and ruffles".[7]
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