It’s 50 years since The Damned released ‘New Rose’, the first ever UK punk single. Cleopatra Records are marking the anniversary with a collector’s item that makes even the band’s rarest releases look common.
‘Love Song (Dodgy Demo)’ is pressed on just 255 copies of 12-inch vinyl: 85 each in red, purple and white, all with a custom etching on the B-side and individually hand numbered. For comparison, the legendary 1977 freebie ‘Stretcher Case Baby’ had a run of 5,000.
The 1978 demo is joined by a January 1984 recording of ‘Nasty’, and by live versions of ‘Waiting For The Blackout’ (1985) and the Hawaii Five-O theme (1995). It ends with ‘Wheel’s On Fire’, a super scarce 1980 single by The Rat (Rat Scabies) And The Whale (Vivian Mason).
Half a century on from ‘New Rose’, The Damned are still out on the road, touring the US through October and into November. With only 255 copies, this one will not hang around.
