Finding their feet again after yet another career misstep, the Damned emerged with STRAWBERRIES, their fifth studio album in as many years. With their line-up more or less stable at this point, it features Dave Vanian's more assured vocals and the more-pop-by-the-minute keyboards and guitars of Captain Sensible.

STRAWBERRIES evokes the best of the Stranglers with a touch of XTC thrown in.

Well produced by the band themselves, aurally it's a great improvement over previous efforts, and even includes a lyric sheet. From the catch-a-fire punk of "Ignite," the album moves on to new-wave pop with "Generals" and "Stranger on the Town." "Dozen Girls" foreshadows the gothic Damned of the near future, while "The Dog," STRAWBERRIES' most interesting track, fortifies their creepy vampiric image.

For un-cynical punks in love, there's also the surprisingly bouncy un-cynical love song "The Pleasure and the Pain," and its companion "Life Goes On."