Bad cover, bad music
Band: THE DAMNED
Album: MUSIC FOR PLEASURE
Released: November 1977
Why bad artwork: because it’s just totally arty farty.
It’s 1977, folks, the year punk exploded, the same year
the cover of the band’s debut ‘Damned Damned Damned‘
(released 9 months earlier) was smashing fun. So why try
to look stupidly smart suddenly is beyond my understanding…
Great cover, great music
Creatively, the band was struggling to come up with strong new material, plus their plan to have Pink Floyd’s acid casualty leader Syd Barrett produce had fallen through leaving them having to settle for Floyd drummer, Nick Mason. A far as the artwork is concerned, the cover was by 70’s genius Barney Bubbles, a man with an unshakable track record. Best known for his incredible covers for Hawkwind, Bubbles was now Stiff Records graphic designer producing album art for Elvis Costello, Ian Dury and the Blockheads and many others. He is probably referencing an earlier art movement here as usual with a great sense of style and fun. I’d say it was more of a send up than trying to be clever.
Thx for the info! Actually nothing wrong with the art work but not fitting for The Damned – in my opinion – at that precise moment. Greetz