| Music for Pleasure | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 18 November 1977 | |||
| Recorded | August 1977 | |||
| Studio | Britannia Row Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Punk rock [1] | |||
| Length | 33:50 | |||
| Label | Stiff | |||
| Producer | Nick Mason | |||
| The Damned chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Music for Pleasure | ||||
| ||||
Music for Pleasure is the second studio album by English punk rock band the Damned. It was released on 18 November 1977 by Stiff Records.
Music for Pleasure was produced by Nick Mason of Pink Floyd. [2] The Damned originally sought out former Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett, but were unsuccessful due to his reclusive lifestyle. In a brief interview for the documentary The Damned: Don't You Wish That We Were Dead (2015), Mason reported the band were accustomed to a much faster recording schedule than he was familiar with from Pink Floyd. The Damned hoped to record several songs on their first day in studio, when Nick Mason would still be fine-tuning the microphone set-up and tuning the drums.
The album featured new member Lu Edmonds on guitar alongside original guitarist Brian James, as well as guest saxophonist Lol Coxhill.
The album was the last album-length studio release to feature James, who would rejoin the band in the late 1980s and early 1990s for a live album and studio single. It was also the group's final album release on Stiff. On this album, the band moved into more complex song structures, while maintaining the punk sound of their debut album.
The sleeve was designed by Barney Bubbles (including the cover painting).
Released on 18 November 1977, Music for Pleasure failed to make the UK Top 100 album chart.[ citation needed ]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [1] |
| Record Mirror | [3] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [4] |
| Sounds | [5] |
At the time of its release, Music for Pleasure was dismissed by critics as a poor misstep. [1] In a contemporary review, Sounds writer Peter Silverton compared the album to the second albums by the Jam and the Stranglers, where the formula was to "repeat the first album with a few minor modifications, more considered production but almost inevitably with less freshness of impact." [5] He also noted that "mostly they have really extended on the four-piece Wall of Sound style of their first album. And it's not just that they've added a sax player on one track and a second guitarist in the form of the monosyllabic Lu". [5] Silverton responded to negative reception of the album, noting that "they've already been written off by many who should know better but like Mr. Vanian shouts on 'Don't Cry Wolf': 'Don't cry wolf, don't be a fool'". [5]
Trouser Press opined: "With added guitarist Lu Edmonds and no audible stylistic plan, the attack sounds blunted, and there aren't as many great songs as on the first LP. [...] Music for Pleasure doesn't live up to the title." [6] AllMusic's retrospective review was more enthusiastic, deeming the album "a respectable punk artifact", though also "more a historical document than a great LP". [1]
All tracks are written by Brian James, except as noted
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Problem Child" | James, Rat Scabies | 2:13 |
| 2. | "Don't Cry Wolf" | 3:15 | |
| 3. | "One Way Love" | 3:44 | |
| 4. | "Politics" | 2:26 | |
| 5. | "Stretcher Case" | James, Scabies | 1:52 |
| 6. | "Idiot Box" | Captain Sensible, Scabies | 5:00 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "You Take My Money" | 2:04 | |
| 2. | "Alone" | 3:37 | |
| 3. | "Your Eyes" | James, Dave Vanian | 2:53 |
| 4. | "Creep (You Can't Fool Me)" | 2:12 | |
| 5. | "You Know" | 5:05 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12. | "Help" (Beatles cover) | John Lennon, Paul McCartney | 1:43 |
| 13. | "Sick of Being Sick" | 2:30 | |
| 14. | "Singalong a Scabies" (instrumental version of "Stab Yor Back") | Scabies | 1:01 |
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.
George Lowen Coxhill known professionally as Lol Coxhill, was an English free improvising saxophonist. He played soprano and sopranino saxophone.
Animals is the tenth studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 21 January 1977 through Harvest Records and Columbia Records. It was self-produced at Pink Floyd's Britannia Row Studios in London throughout 1976. The album continued the long-form compositions that made up such previous works as Meddle (1971) and Wish You Were Here (1975).
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.
Strawberries is the fifth studio album by English punk rock band the Damned. It was released in October 1982 by record label Bronze.
Relics is a 1971 compilation album by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd. The album was released in the UK on 14 May 1971 and in the United States on the following day. Initially released by Starline, the compilation was reissued by Music for Pleasure in the United Kingdom, while Harvest and Capitol distributed the album in the United States. A remastered CD was released in 1996 with a different album cover, picturing a three-dimensional model based on the sketch drawn by drummer Nick Mason for the album's initial release.
Brian James is an English punk rock guitarist, who is best known for being a founding member of The Damned as well as of The Lords of the New Church.
Machine Gun Etiquette is the third studio album by English punk rock band the Damned, released on 2 November 1979 by Chiswick Records.
Robert David "Lu" Edmonds is an English rock and folk musician. He is currently, as of 2018, a vocalist and saz and cümbüş player in the Mekons and the guitarist for Public Image Ltd. Edmonds reportedly plays electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, bouzouki, saz, cümbüs, oud, and drums, among other instruments.
"New Rose" by The Damned was the first single by a British punk rock group, released on 22 October 1976 on Stiff Records, and in 1977 in the Netherlands, Germany and France.
The Black Album is the fourth studio album by English punk rock band the Damned, and the first to feature Paul Gray on bass guitar. It was released on 3 November 1980 by Chiswick as a double album, with "Curtain Call" filling the whole of side 3, and a selection of live tracks recorded at Shepperton Studios at a special concert for Damned fan club members on side 4. The song "13th Floor Vendetta" paid tribute to the film The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), opening with the lyrics "...the organ plays to midnight on Maldine Square tonight".
"Neat Neat Neat" is the second single by English punk rock band the Damned, released on 18 February 1977 by Stiff Records, simultaneously with their debut studio album Damned Damned Damned.
"Problem Child" is a single by English punk rock band the Damned, released on 28 September 1977 by Stiff Records as a preview for the band's second studio album, Music for Pleasure. The tracks were produced by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, and were the first to be released featuring new member Lu Edmunds. The single again failed to chart in the official UK Top 75, though it did reach No. 27 on the NME chart, which used a different sample of record shops.
The Light at the End of the Tunnel is a double compilation album by the Damned, released by MCA in 1987 as a retrospective collection. The same name was also given to a concurrently released video cassette and an approved band biography by Carol Clerk.
"It Would Be So Nice" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, written by the keyboard player/singer Richard Wright. It was the fourth single released by the group and the first to feature new guitarist David Gilmour, following the departure of founding member Syd Barrett.
Green is the fourth studio album by British progressive rock musician Steve Hillage. Written in spring 1977 at the same time as his previous album, the funk-inflected Motivation Radio (1977), Green was originally going to be released as The Green Album as a companion to The Red Album. However, this plan was dropped and after a US tour in late 1977, Green was recorded alone, primarily in Dorking, Surrey, and in London.
So, Who's Paranoid is the tenth studio album by English punk rock band the Damned. Released in November 2008, it was their first album in seven years. It was funded by the band themselves and released on their English Channel label. Musically, the album largely draws from the band's 1980s gothic rock sound.
Smash It Up: The Anthology 1976–1987 is a compilation album by the English punk and gothic rock band the Damned, released on 22 October 2002. It collects tracks spanning the first eleven years of the band's career, beginning with their debut single "New Rose" (1976) and continuing through their first seven studio albums—Damned Damned Damned (1977), Music for Pleasure (1977), Machine Gun Etiquette (1979), The Black Album (1980), Strawberries (1982), Phantasmagoria (1985), and Anything (1986)—along with the non-album singles "Stretcher Case Baby" (1977), "Lovely Money" (1982), and "Eloise" (1986).
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.
