"Not of This Earth" is the eighth studio album by The Damned, released on November 11, 1995. The album is often referred to as I'm Alright Jack & The Beanstalk.
The album has a complicated history. After the Final Damnation concerts in 1988, the original lineup of the band, including singer Dave Vanian, guitarist Brian James, bassist Captain Sensible, and drummer Rat Scabies, briefly collaborated on the track "Prokofiev," which was released in the U.S. on the independent Skinnies Cut label. Over the following months, Scabies continued to work on demos with guitarist Kris Dollimore from The Godfathers. Eventually, Scabies and Dollimore recruited bassist Moose, who had previously been with New Model Army, and the trio traveled to Scotland to work on more demos. Initially, attempts to get Vanian to join the project were unsuccessful as he was not impressed with the demos. Eventually, Scabies abandoned the material and started working with Alan Lee Shaw, who had previously played guitar for various bands. This led to more progress on the new material, and after Dollimore rejoined the project, the band began auditioning bass players before Moose returned. After considering alternative singers such as Robbie Williams and Joe Strummer, Vanian was contacted again and agreed to join the project, completing the new lineup.
The band rehearsed for a while and debuted under the name The Damagement before deciding to revert to The Damned name. In November 1993, they recorded a BBC Radio 1 session and subsequently toured the UK, U.S., and Japan. The band’s new material gained a following, particularly in Japan, where they received funding from Toshiba to record an album. Recording took place in the late Connie Plank’s studio in Germany, with additional tracks overdubbed at Stoneroom Studios in the UK. The album did not use any of the earlier Scabies/Dollimore material and was instead based on songs written by Scabies and Shaw. The album featured contributions from James Taylor of James Taylor Quartet, who added Hammond organ to some tracks, and former Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock, who played on "Tailspin" and part of "Never Could Believe."
Not of This Earth was released in Japan in November 1995 and included a remix of "Prokofiev" as a hidden track. By this time, however, the band was falling apart. Vanian wanted to continue touring to cover the costs of his divorce and was also working with his Phantom Chords project, while Scabies was less enthusiastic about performing for smaller audiences. The two band members disagreed on the album's direction, and a planned tour of small venues was canceled, leaving only a one-off show at Plymouth Cooperage, which became the band’s final live performance in this lineup. The band split up in August 1995, though they would reform a year later with Vanian and Captain Sensible in the lineup instead of Scabies.
The album's release caused some confusion about its title and nature. Initially, The Damned's official site listed Not of This Earth with the note "Not intended for release in this form." In 1996, the album was reissued in the UK under the title I'm Alright Jack & the Beanstalk, inspired by a phrase used by an acquaintance of Scabies. This version featured a 3D lenticular cover design with risqué animation and was issued in Germany and Sweden as well. A U.S. release came out in 1996 on the Cleopatra label, titled Not of This Earth, with entirely different cover artwork.
To add to the confusion, the album was reissued by Castle Music in 2002 as I'm Alright Jack & the Beanstalk in the U.S. and Japan, while Cleopatra included the album in The Damned Box Set in 1999. The 2002 Castle release in the UK featured the original Japanese artwork without the lenticular cover, and it included bonus tracks from the 1993 Radio 1 session.
