Damned
 

Most of us are pretty big These Days fans. It is the sole reason I came to love this band, learned to play guitar, and appreciate music as I do today. Because of those 12 songs. However, and I know I will get some disagreement from others, but I always thought (if there is a weak link) the 2 weakest links are Damned and Diamond Ring. I never cared for either of them.

That was until I saw Damned live. Not a professional video or bootleg. The real deal. I have seen videos of Damned before but it has never captured the intensity. Man, that song was the highlight of the night... over Dry County. Live, it has every bit as much intensity as Keep the Faith. Great guitar! But it is mainly Tico's song. I can't remember if he was doing anything different or not but he was rocking. The only weak part was Jon's vocals in the If Loving You Is Wrong intro. The rest was solid... like they'd been playing every show. We all want more These Days, but for a song that was near the bottom of my list (of these days songs) to see live, I was VERY pleasantly surprised. I am still not a big fan of Diamond Ring live or otherwise. Agree? Disagree?

Aloha !

I've never considered it a bad track but one of the best songs they recorded in the nineties. It has a bit of similarity to Keep The Faith, but it's not as bad as to call it a clone. I always expected it to be a highlight of the show and both times I saw it live it really was. I also think Jon likes the song as he's actually preferring to play an album cut as opposed to a big hit of the These Days record.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Yes I think it´s one of those songs Jon really enjoys to perform. It was great to hear it last year in London and it was great back in 96 when I heard it live for the first time. Definitely an underrated BJ song.

I didn't mean to suggest it was a bad track... even then I'd pick it over 90% of the 1980's and 95% of 2000's material. Just my least favorite on my favorite album. I just never expected it to be near as good as it is live.

Now if I can just witness As My Guitar Lies Bleeding I will be a happy camper.

I think it's a brilliant song Live ...Always a MAJOR treat to get to hear it at a concert

How is it similar? Other than the presence of the maracas, I really don't hear anything similar. It definitely is a great tracks, and I agree about Diamond Ring. It bores me to tears.

Aloha !

You can sing the chorus of Keep The Faith (from "Faith!, You know... 'till...Lord we gotta keep the faith") perfectly over the chorus of Damned.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

The bashing of 'Diamond Ring' upsets me. Love that song.

Damned is one of the highlights of These Days.

The solo sounds like a helicopter ****ing a wilder beast from outer space. Visceral sounds indeed :)

It's Richie and Tico's song. I've never seen Richie pull the solo off live, but it's still great. Tico gets to explore the kit a bit and let his wild jazz / rock heritage shine. Jon's little mid song ramblings were quite good too.

Love this version -

Aloha !

I didn't know they used a teleprompter during the 1996 tour. It makes me wonder why they gave up on it for such a long time after it.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan