THE DARKNESS – Permission To Land… Again (2023 Box Set)

Once (and perhaps still) considered one of the biggest jokes in rock*, The Darkness have proven ’em wrong, for it was 20 years ago they dropped this bomb on the world called Permission to Land.  Regardless of the ups and downs, the band continues on today with a documentary film in the works.  Of course, the obligatory box set was also necessary.  Permission to Land… Again collects nearly everything from the era and packs it up for you in a 5 disc set perfect for home consumption.  And it’s affordable, too.

CD 1 commences with the original 2003 album, a monolith of Queen and AC/DC’s bastard children, brought to life in spandex and bandanas.  The album itself spawned four singles:

1. “Get Your Hands Off My Woman”, the expletive-laden favourite that still delights today as a fast head banger.
2. “Growing On Me”, perfectly in the pocket, a melodic hard right classic with just enough bite.
3. “I Believe In A Thing Called Love”, iridescent and unforgettable as ever, a classic in every sense.
4. “Love In Only A Feeling”, bombastic and beautiful guitar chords crashing on this prototype for the trademark Darkness ballad.  Steve Tyler wishes he could write ’em like this today.

That leaves six killer album tracks, none of which are filler.  Opener “Black Shuck” is a monster (literally), rocking heavy and beating the doors down despite your best efforts.  “Givin’ Up” should have been a single, but the language, tisk tisk!  Foreshadowing Justin Hawkin’s drug issues, this song is literally about “stickin’ that fuckin’ shit” up his nose.  Yes it’s surprisingly delightful, and perhaps the most immediately catchy one on the album.  “Stuck In A Rut” is different, blasting fast and loud, with Justin singing at max voice.  Back to lighter, catchy territory, “Friday Night” is a certain fan-favourite.  It easily could have been another single, as Justin literally reads off his weekly schedule.  “Monday, cycling, Tuesday, gymnastics, dancing on a Friday night.”  Bopping piano accents will keep feet moving.  Moving on to “Love On the Rocks With No Ice” (great title), the slow heavy grind smacks you in the head and reminds you this is a rock and roll band.   Despite that, the album closes on a lovely ballad “Holding My Own” which also really could have been a single.

The album on its own earned a 4/5 star rating here previously, though it’s probably at least a 4.5/5.  As time has gone by, these songs have proven their mettle.  They still stand.

CD 1 is beefed out with six extra songs, all demos, of tracks that didn’t make the album and tracks that did.  Speaking of which, they are rough but so similar to the final versions.  Some have bits that were later trimmed out or de-emphasized, like keyboard overdubs and intros.  “Black Shuck”, though without the hard-hitting production, might be better in some ways than the album version, with more twists and vocals.   There is also a demo of “Out of My Hands”, a fine album B-side.

The best inclusions on this disc, however, are the surprises:  demos that didn’t make Permission to Land!  “Live ‘Til I Die” went unreleased until 2019’s Easter Is Cancelled, but this version has Eddie Graham on drums.  This version is very, very different.  Much more AC/DC and dare I say, much catchier and better.   There’a also an early demo of “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us”, which was finally released on 2012’s reunion album Hot Cakes.  This one is much more similar to the glossier final product.

CD 2 is a treasure trove of goodies!  Every studio B-side from the album, some non-album singles, some “clean” versions that we wouldn’t purposely seek out to buy; they are all here.  (The live B-sides are included with their respective shows, but we’ll get to those.)  This is comprehensive as heck.

The three tracks from the very rare 2002 EP I Believe In A Thing Called Love are included:  the title track, “Love on the Rocks With No Ice” and “Love Is Only A Feeling”.  The recordings themselves are the same as the final album versions, but the mixes are not.  These earlier mixes have slight, but audible differences and can be characterised as a bit less finished.  The bass may be more pronounced on some places, and backing vocals in another.

Like some British bands before them, such as Oasis, The Darkness seemed to put just as much effort into their B-sides, often making them album (or single) worthy on their own.  The complete studio B-sides here are:

• “The Best Of Me”, a crankin’ rocker with a southern vibe.
• The aforementioned “Out of My Hands”, a lighter song with a Def Leppard vibe on the guitars.  Could have been a hit in its own right.  Brilliant chorus.
• Concert favourite “Makin’ Out”, which has more of that AC/DC vibe that the Darkness really mined in their early days.  A fan favourite for a reason.
• “Physical Sex”, another riffy number with an outrageously high chorus.
• The ballad “How Dare You Call This Love?” which also could have been on the album, had it been longer.  The actual album had two already.  A fun song though, with some lovely Lizzy-ish guitar harmonies.
• “The best instrumental that AC/DC never recorded”, according to Tim Durling, is “Bareback”, one of the Darkness’ best B-sides ever…if not their best.  Thankfully, this song was not just relegated to the dusky corners of the “Growing On Me” single, but received some live workouts too.  More on that later.
• A song about building a house, “Planning Permission”, is a bit goofy lyrically (mixing cement!), but it gets goofier still as you’ll see.  Fortunately it’s a catchy, upbeat Darkness number that has all their trademark guitar and vocal accoutrements.
• “Curse of the Tolland Man” is the goofiest of them all, a ghost story, and a song that gets trashed in the liner notes as awful muck, but is defended by Justin and Dan Hawkins as a favourite.  The jury remains out, but they are all correct about it.
• “I Love You 5 Times” is another ballad, but by this time we’re technically heading outside album territory.  Forgettable, but for the strings and Justin’s silly “m-m-m-meees” stuttery vocals.  It was actually the B-side to a standalone Christmas single, “Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End)”, an excellent song in its own right.

This box set is so comprehensive that it even includes the two singles that were not from it.

• “Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End)“…don’t Google what “bell end” means in British slang.  Let’s just say Justin had his tongue in cheek!  Great rocker, very Lizzy, and an absolutely Darkness classic.  Produced by Bob Ezrin!  This track was included on some European editions of the album as a bonus.
• Then we have the rarest of them all, and finally available physically for us to buy:  2004’s “Get Your Hands Off My Woman…Again“.  Though it does have Frankie Poullain on bass, this song is more a part of the story for the second album, One Way Ticket.  The band were experimenting with producer Roy Thomas Baker and this remake was sold digitally.  It is here in both “clean” and “explicit” versions.  A cleaner, sharper incarnation of the song, for better or worse!  The liner notes finally explain the mystery of the added piano part:  It was inspired by Ben Folds’ cover of the song, which they thought was an improvement!

CDs 3 and 4 contain three live gigs, and the balance of the B-sides from this era.  “Gimme a D!  Gimme an Arkness!”

The 2003 set at Knebworth is brilliant.  Opening with “Growing On Me”, the band has a bizarre and comedic stage presence, but the song kicks!  They are a tight band, and a beat is not missed.  They play two B-sides, a manic “The Best of Me” (for dancing, says Justin) and the classic “Makin’ Out”.  “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” from the Knebworth concert was previously issued on a German version of the Christmas single.  I like when Justin asks the audience which version of “Get Your Hands Off My Woman” they’d like to hear, clean or dirty?

On the same disc is a set from the Astoria in 2003.  Opening with a raging “Bareback”, this set is even better than the Knebworth one.  What a start!  Instrumentals can make a pretty killer opener!  From there it’s “Black Shuck”, and a live version of “Get Your Hands Off My Woman” that was previously issued as a B-side to a rare DVD single for “Love Is Only A Feeling”.  It’s notable for the strange “me-me-me” singalong thing Justin does at the end.  Another thing they do in this set is something called “Buffet”, a pretty cool riff, from a part in the show that is explained in the booklet.

Best of all:  The action-packed Astoria and Knebworth shows are both included on DVD inside.  Watch Dan play all the guitars so Justin can do the splits!  The DVD also includes all the music videos, outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage from their music videos.  There’s a cute bit in the EPK (electronic press kit) explaining why Justin always asked the audience to see their thumbs.  The editing on the Astoria show is absurdly fast!

CD 4 is a full-length show from 2004 at Wembley recorded on Dan’s birthday, and the last show on the tour.  It’s especially cool, because the band were already road-testing new songs from One Way Ticket.  Opener “Grief Hammer” was a new song that would become a B-side in 2005.  It has a stuttery riff with elements of that AC/DC vibe, but the band were clearly moving beyond that pigeonhole.  It takes balls to open a set at Wembley with a new song that nobody had heard before.  From there they visit more familiar territory with the favourite “Givin’ Up”.  A manic “Stuck In A Rut” blasts out immediately afterwards.

Other B-sides played at Wembley include the fan favourite “Makin’ Out”, “Physical Set” and that “Buffet” again!  Future classics “Dinner Lady Arms” and “Seemed Like A Good Idea at the Time” are rolled out alongside the hits.  “Dinner Lady Arms” is a tad harder than the soft-Leppard style of the later version, though the chorus still soars into the stratosphere.  “Seemed Like Such A Good Idea at the Time” is presented without introduction, and Justin on piano with a more spare arrangement than the elaborate album version to come.  This is more power ballad, and less experiment in extravagance.

As the 17 song set rolls through classics and hits, it’s clear this disc could be a standalone live album if the band choose to release it as such.  Great banter, and the band were obviously having a blast on stage.  At the end, there are two more surprises.  One is an abbreviated cover of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid, performed solo by Justin on piano.  Finally, they close the show with a bombastic “Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End)”, which works brilliantly in the end slot.  There is no feigning joy and surprise here.  All the delight is pure and genuine.

The final ingredient you need in a box set such as this is a kickass booklet with loads of reading.  Look no further, as Dan and Justin exhaustively tell the story from session to session and song to song.  The stories will keep you in stitches as the band shed light on things you never knew before.  Eddie Graham was the most “normal” one of the bunch, but they have survived it all, and the Darkness keep going!

We live in the age of box sets.  The Darkness have risen to the occasion with, dare I say it, the perfect version of Permission To Land.   Will they pull this trick again in the future with One Way Ticket?  They should, because they have demonstrated an understanding of what makes a great box set.  In short:

• Complete collection of B-sides, even from formats as obscure as DVD single.
• The rare demos and EP versions we’ve been wanting.
• Non-album singles.
• Even those clean versions that we normally wouldn’t try too hard to collect.
• Live concerts.
• Extensive liner notes.
• DVD with added value and live shows.
• Reasonable pricing and packaging.

5/5 stars

 

* One evening in 2003, I was listening to the Darkness with my girlfriend in my living room, late at night, heavily intoxicated.  I suddenly jumped and said “I get it!  These guys are not a joke at all!  They are dead serious about what they are doing!  Listen!  Just listen!”  It was an epiphany and I was right.

 

BONUS!  Check out Tim and I discussing this box set and more!