Smash It Up revisits the decade-long career of the Damned, who famously hitched a ride on the early Sex Pistols bandwagon and then beat them to releasing the first UK punk single, a crazed little beat ditty called "New Rose", in November 1976. Based visually around Dave Vanian's (aka Dave Letts) proto-goth vampire trappings and Captain Sensible's (aka Ray Burns) tutu-wearing wackiness, and musically around Rat Scabies's (aka Chris Miller) Keith Moon-like drum mania and Brian James's (aka Brian Robertson) high-speed thrash guitar, they followed up with the even better "Neat Neat Neat", a punk high point. Artistically, it was also The Damned's, as James left, Sensible moved to guitar, and they embarked upon a career of pub-metal anthems and cabaret punk nostalgia. The critics ignored them, but the hits kept on coming, including "Love Song", "Smash It Up" and their biggest, a ludicrous cover of the Paul and Barry Ryan's 1960s MOR hit "Eloise", which reached No. 3 in January 1986. They spilt the following year, leaving behind a legacy of making a little go a long, long way, the salient parts of which are all included on this two-CD, 35-track set. --Garry Mulholland