Review: Permission To Land… Again (Original Album & Demos)

Warner Music (October 6^th, 2023)

Reviewer: Grant Foster

The Darkness. A real marmite rock band. I know people who love them and people who hate them with equal measure. Mainly, it has to be said because of Justin Hawkins’ vocals. His helium filled falsetto isn’t to everyone’s liking!

But, this is the band who when unsigned, were selling out the Astoria Theatre in London. It persuaded Atlantic to sign them and ‘Permission To Land‘ was originally released on 7 July 2003. It is still, arguably, their best album to date. So much so, that 20 years in its anniversary is celebrated by this humongous box set, starting with ‘Permission To Land… Again (Original Album & Demos)‘

The ‘Permission To Land‘ album is still a thing of sheer beauty, power and finesse. It spent four weeks at Number 1 in the U.K. charts and was expertly produced, mixed and engineered by Pedro Ferreira, who was the band’s live sound engineer. It really doesn’t need me to review it any further. ‘Black Shuck‘ in demo form is nowhere near the song it would become. Starting with an almost pagan intro and slower, it also has an interesting mid section part. Likewise the demo for ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love‘. Slightly slower and with subtle gospel backing vocals. The guitars dip out on the second verse and the bass has a different configuration.

Now for a couple of tracks that didn’t make the album. ‘Out Of My Hands (Demo)‘. To be honest, it’s just not very good. It meanders along without much to recommend it and Justin’s vocals are almost buried. ‘Live ‘Til I Die (Demo)‘, has an opening riff that has been ripped straight from AC/DC’s ‘Get It Hot’, but no bad thing in my opinion! Again, you can see why it wasn’t included. It’s ok, nothing more. The demo for ‘Love On The Rocks‘ is a real departure! A lot slower, but it swings, almost jazzy in delivery would you believe! But, there’s something about it that almost puts it on a par with the finished version. ‘Nothin’s Gonna Stop Us (Demo)‘ brings things to a close. The guitars rage nicely………and that’s about it, but it is a demo version after all!

And that’s the problem with demos, they aren’t the finished product and you really wonder why bands would want them out in the public domain?

Tracklist:

01 Black Shuck

02 Get Your Hands Off My Woman

03 Growing On Me

04 I Believe In A Thing Called Love

05 Love Is Only A Feeling

06 Givin’ Up

07 Stuck In A Rut

08 Friday Night

09 Love On The Rocks With No Ice

10 Holding My Own

11 Black Shuck (Demo)

12 I Believe In A Thing Called Love (Demo)

13 Out Of My Hands (Demo)

14 Live ‘Til I Die (Demo)

15 Love On The Rocks With No Ice (Demo)

16 Nothin’s Gonna Stop Us (Demo)