Get Back into the World | ||||
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Studio album by The Sensible Gray Cells | ||||
Released | 27 November 2020 | |||
Recorded | 2019–2020 | |||
Studio | ||||
Genre | ||||
Label | Damaged Goods | |||
Producer | The Sensible Gray Cells | |||
The Sensible Gray Cells chronology | ||||
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Singles from Get Back into the World | ||||
Get Back into the World is the second studio album by English rock band the Sensible Gray Cells, released 27 November 2020 by Damaged Goods. The band is a side project of guitarist Captain Sensible and bassist Paul Gray of the Damned, and the album is the first to feature drummer Marty Love of punk rock band Johnny Moped. The album was released seven years after their debut A Postcard from Britain . [6] The two singles "So Long" and "Get Back into the World" both reached No. 5 on the Official Vinyl Singles Chart. [7] [8]
In 2019, the Damned, featuring Captain Sensible and Paul Gray, toured with fellow British punk band Johnny Moped. Impressed with the band's drummer Marty Love, Sensible and Gray subsequently asked him to take part in their side project. [9] "It was him that resurrected the Sensible Grey Cells project, having been a fan of A Postcard from Britain ," Captain Sensible explained. "So after nagging us to make a follow up he had to put his money where his mouth was and occupy the drum seat." [1] The band began recording Get Back into the World in 2019 at Panther Studios in Reigate, England [10] with engineer Dick Crippen, former bassist with Tenpole Tudor and King Kurt. [11]
With song ideas coming slowly together in the studio, the band's budget soon ran out and, followed by the COVID-19 lockdowns in early 2020, a home recording strategy became necessary. [1] As with their first album, much of Get Back into the World was recorded at home, with band members sending files to each other. [12] "All the drums were done in a recording studio, and probably four bass lines and some lead vocals, and some backing vocals," Marty Love said. "Most of it was, ultimately, done in our houses." [13] With free time on their hands, because of the lockdowns, the band "messed around" with the songs, extending parts and adding instrumental sections. "It became a bit epic and moody in places too," Sensible said. [1] Some of the album's songs were originally written for and rejected by the Damned, but that should not be seen as "an indication of inferior songwriting," according to Sensible, "more that they're not wearing the right shirt." [14]
Sensible said of his playing on the album that he tried things he had never done before musically, especially in the instrumental passages of certain songs: "I was listening to a lot of Peter Green's guitar playing, he had such a beautiful tone and economy in his playing. Instead of a flurry of notes and twiddle-y diddley I was trying to pedal back and play something more thoughtful." He also used different guitar tunings and Arabic Middle Eastern scales, "rather than your standard rock stuff, just trying to do something interesting," he said [15]
According to ThePunkSite.com, "there is some biting social commentary, with the scathing "What's the Point of Andrew?" being a prime example, as well as indulging a love of campy horror movies and pretty much everything in-between." [16] Classic Rock magazine wrote that the band "take potshots at a variety of cultural targets, from politics, social media and e-commerce to inane DJs ... while having a ball in the process." They also noted more reflective tracks and "lyrical slapstick" in "Sell Her Spark", an ode to Selhurst Park, home of Sensible's favourite football team Crystal Palace F.C. [17]
The title track is about online social interaction and modern consumer culture. [2] "It was about let's actually get back out there and interacting one to one again," Paul Gray explained. [18] "Don't Say I Didn't Warn Ya" deals with the theme of health [15] and "the words of one's parents coming back to haunt us now," Sensible said. Two songs, "Black Spider Memo Man" and "What's the Point of Andrew?", are about the British royal family. The first is about Prince Charles "because he writes these black spider memos to members of parliament, which he shouldn't do," Sensible explained. "The royal family should keep out of politics." The latter sums up Prince Andrew and his sex abuse allegations. [1] [15] "A Little Prick" concerns conspiracy theories surrounding COVID-19 [2] and "I Married a Monster" celebrates the band's love of old Ealing comedies, Carry On films and 1950's horror films like The Blob and I Married a Monster from Outer Space . "This is our musical tongue-in-cheek spoof homage to them," Gray said. [2] [3]
The album cover photograph was taken by a friend of the band on a Mediterranean holiday. "He said it all looked like a Hipgnosis album cover and took the snap we ended up using," Sensible explained. [1] When the band saw the photograph it tied everything together, from the lyrics, recording the album and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. "He came across this scene with all these tables laid out and it looks like the image of the virus," Sensible said, "it was a really great coincidence that it was so perfect." [15]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Classic Pop | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Classic Rock | 7/10 [17] |
IPA Music | 8/10 [2] |
Mojo | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
ThePunkSite.com | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Louder Than War described the music as a "blend of full-on punk attitude and verve with a sense of infectious fun – but in a way that incorporates their sixties garage and fifties rock'n'roll influences in a very apparent way." They felt that the "thoughtfully reserved production" and the use of Hammond organ adds to the album's retro feel, adding, "but this is more than a record which relies solely on the past, dealing with modern issues in its lyricism." [1] Like Louder Than War, most reviewers mentioned the album's garage and psychedelic rock influences, [19] [17] [21] [22] with Mojo writing that it "leans heavily on pop melodies to gild its garage-psych lilies," [20] and Clash describing the album as "a ferocious homage to the lost sounds of '65." [3]
Other reviewers noticed further elements among the album's tracks, as both Classic Pop and the IPA Music website thought that the songwriting on "Get Back Into the World" sounds like Madness, [19] [2] and the We Are Cult website mentioned keyboard drones and Indian scales on "Another World". We Are Cult wrote, "The eastern quality of the track continues throughout and in all, it is a number that could have found a home in any number of counter-culture albums, such as those produced by Jefferson Aeroplane or the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Indeed, had a set of tablas and a sitar appeared it would have come as no surprise." [22]
The Über Röck website called the album an "outstanding release" with "rich, complex layers" where the songwriting and the production create an "overwhelming atmosphere," [23] while IPA Music called it "a Damned fine second album" that was "full of smashing songs." [2] The RPM Online website wrote that it could have been a great Damned album, feeling it was better than the Damned's last effort, 2018's Evil Spirits . [21]
All tracks are written by Captain Sensible, except where noted
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Sell Her Spark" | ||
2. | "Get Back Into the World" | Paul Gray, Anthony Lewis | |
3. | "Don't Say I Didn't Warn Ya" | Gray | |
4. | "Black Spider Memo Man" | ||
5. | "Stupid Dictators" | ||
6. | "So Long" | ||
7. | "A Little Prick" | ||
8. | "DJ With Half a Brain" | ||
9. | "Jam Tomorrow" | Gray | |
10. | "What's the Point of Andrew?" | Gray | |
11. | "Fine Fairweather Friend" | ||
12. | "I Married a Monster" | Gray | |
13. | "You and Me" | ||
14. | "Another World" |
Note
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. [25]
The Damned are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1976 by lead vocalist Dave Vanian, guitarist Brian James, bassist Captain Sensible and drummer Rat Scabies. They were the first punk band from the United Kingdom to release a single, "New Rose" (1976), release a studio album, Damned Damned Damned (1977) and tour the United States. Nine of the band's singles charted on the UK Singles Chart Top 40.
Damned Damned Damned is the debut studio album by English punk rock band the Damned. It was released on 18 February 1977 by Stiff Records. Produced by Nick Lowe, Damned Damned Damned was the first full-length album released by a UK punk group.
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Raymond Ian Burns, known by the stage name Captain Sensible, is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He co-founded the punk rock band the Damned in 1976, originally playing bass before switching to guitar. He is known for his distinctive appearance including a red beret and sunglasses, typically with white frames. Sensible embarked on a solo career during the 1980s, achieving a UK number one hit with his version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Happy Talk" (1982) and further hits with "Wot" (1982) and "Glad It's All Over" (1984). In 2006, Sensible founded the Blah! Party. He continues to perform in the Damned.
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Paul Murray Granville Gray is an English bassist notable for playing with the rock bands Eddie and the Hot Rods, The Damned and UFO.
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Johnny Moped are an English punk rock group formed in South London in the mid-1970s, who once had Chrissie Hynde and Captain Sensible as members.
Evil Spirits is the eleventh studio album from the Damned. Released on 13 April 2018, it was their first album in ten years and was produced by famed producer Tony Visconti who is best known for his work with David Bowie. The album was largely crowdfunded by a successful PledgeMusic campaign.
Black Is the Night: The Definitive Anthology is a 2-CD, career-spanning compilation album by the British punk rock band the Damned, released on 1 November 2019. It collects tracks from most of the band's studio albums between 1977 and 2018, as well as selected non-album singles and B-sides. It also includes the new track "Black Is the Night". Of the band's eleven studio albums to date, Not of This Earth (1995) and So, Who's Paranoid? (2008) are not represented on the anthology. All tracks were chosen by the band themselves, and sequenced thematically instead of chronologically.
The Rockfield Files is a four-track EP by English rock band the Damned, released on 16 October 2020. It was released by London-based label Search and Destroy in a joint venture with Spinefarm Records. The EP marks the last recording with longtime drummer Pinch, who left the band in late 2019. The title is a reference to the 1970s American television series The Rockford Files.
A Postcard from Britain is the first studio album by English rock band the Sensible Gray Cells, released in October 2013 by Easy Action. The band is a side project of guitarist Captain Sensible and bassist Paul Gray of the Damned along with drummer Anthony Thickett. The theme of modern-day Britain runs throughout the album, which the band themselves describe as a concept album.
Darkadelic is the twelfth studio album by the British punk rock band the Damned, released on 28 April 2023 by earMUSIC.
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