Magazine - Classic Or Dud?

Spiral Scratch, Real Life, Secondhand Daylight, The Correct Use Of Soap
This man's records took my breath away and filled me with hope
A darkness, daring and lyrical drama the world has long since lost
Song From Under The Floorboards, Parade, Motorcade and Permafrost"

It's hard to know if I have anything to contribute to this discussion when our members are having chats with Devoto over ice cream, but I'll take a shot. Magazine floated under my radar for the first couple years of my radio show, which mostly focused on post-punk. Next door to the station was the newsaper office, where I served time as arts editor my third year. There was a beat-up cassette of The Correct Use Of Soap, which didn't grab me the first few times it was played. The "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" cover didn't seem to add much to the original in my mind, and Dave Formula's keyboard work seemed almost MOR compared to say, Pere Ubu. But slowly the lyrics would sink in, particularly "A Song From Under The Floorboards" and I started to realize how brilliant and subversive Devoto was, more so than even Nick Cave. I dug into their other albums and decided that Magazine were nearly as powerful and intense as Joy Division, but not all their songs were as immediately gripping, and needed time to grow on you.

I remember reading an interview with Devoto where he addresses the lyrics to "Permafrost," in either Uncut or MOJO, but I can't find it. Isn't there an index for those magazines?

In looking around, I found Chris Ott's inappropriately timed dismissive take on Magazine in John McGeoch's obituary:

Devoto's sneering delivery and Magazine's unabashed use of border-prog synth sounds left a mixed legacy of obsessive fans and disinterested observers; though a handful of revered post-punk classics like "Permafrost" and "The Light Pours Out of Me" mandate remembering Magazine, the band's three studio albums between 1978 and 1980 were increasingly spotty, and McGeoch's dramatic leads far outshone the hesitant songs they supported.

That's a load of steaming crap. McGeoch actually held back on the last album (probably under Hannett's direction) to let the rhythm section and Devoto's songs shine. And he also infers that Reynolds intentionally left Magazine out of his 2001 post-punk article. The reality is that Reynolds needed 577 pages to include what he needed, and still can't please everyone. Of ...Soap, he wrote, "...it was hailed, correctly, as the band's masterpiece. Devoto's lyrics drew inspiration from an idea he'd found in a book of essays on love and lust by Theodore Reik -- the notion that you are particularly vulnerable to falling in love after you've experienced some kind of trauma or life crisis. 'Imay love you out of weakness/Is that what I was afraid of?' he wonders on the superb 'Stuck', a strange track loping somewhere unclassifiable between art-funk and jazz-metal. Enhanced by teh crisp edges and eerie hollows of Martin Hannett's production, Magazine's music finally matched the lofty themes, while Devoto penned some of his most darkly witty and literate lines: 'I could have been Raskolnikov/But Mother Nature ripped me off' (a reference to the anti-hero of Dostoevsky's Crime And Punishment)."

Here's a more interesting article from Stylus circa '02 - Rhythm Of Cruelty: Howard Devoto, Magazine and the Post-Punk Revival.

"So how did I spend my wilderness years, Momus, I'm glad you asked
I was up on the summit of Mount Olympus giving a songwriting class
To Aphrodite, Zeus and Psyche and many other gods
Of the early to middle Greek pantheon -- now they all write fantastic songs"

READ IT AND WEEP BIATCHES

The info located on this page (between items on Testament and America):

EMI has announced the release of definitive CD editions of Magazine's four studio albums: Real Life, Secondhand Daylight, The Correct Use Of Soap and Magic, Murder And The Weather. Jerky Versions Of The Dream, the first solo album recorded by Magazine mainman Howard Devoto, is also reissued.

All five albums were originally issued by Virgin Records. Each CD has been newly remastered from the original tapes at Abbey Road.

The CD of each album is supplemented by the complete non-album tracks, drawn from the album's contemporary singles. Jerky Versions Of The Dream also features the Howard Devoto's never-before-issued John Peel session from 1983.

I also prefer getting *just* the album, I hate it when extra tracks are tacked onto the end. I want a single artistic statement, and nothing more, whenever I buy an album. The single exception to this is Ride's GBA, but I count those tracks as part of the album anyway so it's OK.

Listening to this whilst a little drunk is fucking fantastic. Matches my confused yet relaxed, confortable yet slightly depressed mood.

After a day's listening, I'd say that most of the album will stick. I've already noticed a comparison between the piano in the intro to 'Back To Nature' and that in Mogwai's 'Auto Rock', sigh. Which reminds me, I may have to re-evaluate Mr. Beast at some stage; I gave it an awful kicking after not too many listens...

Hurrah! And about bloody time too!

"I know all these songs. But very little ever actually sticks."

Ned, are you familiar with "Rainy Season" from the aforementioned solo album?

I'm going to give these guys a try again. Only a couple of songs have ever stuck with me, sorry to say

And....Ned?

Now Playing : I Wanted Your Heart. OMG, OMG, OMG!

This is as close as I get/as I ever get...

Somehow, I'd forgotten that Martin Hannett produced The Correct Use of Soap. Of the remasters, that's the one I'd want.

"Real Life" is great too.

Geir likes Real Life?!!!??!

Damn.

Great album btw, just listened to it.

Fantastic album...It seems to come out of nowhere - a true original.

i love the album with The Great Beautician In The Sky on it. the one every one raves about - correct use of soap, not quite so much. production is a bit too 80s pop sounding.

It's a crime that you can only get the Peel Sessions disc in the 3-disc box. As is often the case, many of these versions outstrip their studio counterparts.

The 3 disc box set was as the same price as a normal CD when I bought it. Maybe the price has gone up since then I suppose, dunno.

great performance clip on youtube of "song from under the floorboards" w/a seriously funky black bass player

today I bumped into you again
I have no idea what you want
but there was something I meant to say

As the day stops dead
at the place where we're lost
I will drug you and fuck you
on the permafrost

classic, absolutely

today I bumped into you again
I have no idea what you want
but there was something I meant to say

As the day stops dead
at the place where we're lost
I will drug you and fuck you
on the permafrost

Words to live by.

Totally forgot the line about drugging and fucking until I played that song on my radio show this past week. Hi there, FCC!

Great, but better than Wire? wtf no.

mick mercer linked to this band today: Gloria Mundi

Gloria Mundi - Myspace
http://www.myspace.com/gloriamundifansite

They released an album on RCA in 1977 ! and sounded a bit like Magazine. Were Magazine inspired by this band? did they ever tour together?

Eddie Maelov - vocals // Sunshine Patteson - keyboards, vocals// Beethoven - guitar// c.c. - sax// Mike Nichols - drums// Ice - bass//

Don't think there was a Gloria Mundi connection. I did buy a couple of their singles when they came out, but I thought of them more like Ultravox at the time, but slight more trad-rock band. Of course trad-rock was what Magazine (and Joy Division, Echo, U2 etc) added back into new wave.

I'm not sure GM even preceeded Magazine, at least in my attention. There were a couple of bands like that, punilux, Ricki and the last days, erm, and others....

Of the two UK tours I remember magazine doing one had Simple Minds supporting and the next had Bauhaus.

I only saw them once, at the Astoria in Edinburgh with Bauhaus (and local band Josef K). This would have been April 1980, I also remember it was actually my mate's 20th Birthday and he, years later, became mildly famous and once mentioned that gig as one of his all time favourites.

Incidentally, I just got tickets to go see Barry Adamson play in Glasgow, and so that's... gulp, 28 years since I last saw him.... wonder if he still looks as cool? I know I do (grin).

I like Eddie and Sunshine's later pop record on Survival. Somewhere in Europe is a gem of a song.

One of the members of the Monochrome Set, Jeremy Harrington, was also in Gloria Mundi. Just for the record.

Just for the record.

ahem

so they played most of Soap then

really really feeling like I should of found out about this sooner

devoto in 3/4 length pants, espadrilles and a pink jacket, like some demented gameshow host meets sex tourist

Great gig in Manchester last night. Thought they are sounded great - agree Devoto looked a bit odd, but Barry Adamson still looked like the coolest dude around. Fantastic bass playing too.

please come to NY!

so, will it be good? -

http://music.is-amazing.com/sites/music.is-amazing.com/files/covers/magazine.jpg

No Barry Adamson on this...apparently?

I wanted to quote a strange aside from another thread, talking about the old Rolling Stone Record Guides:

Magazine seemd very harshly dismissed for instance, a 4 line paragraph and each album three stars, but "Philadelphia" was identified as their best song which cannily seems to be the consensus now

Did I miss the news that there's a "consensus" that "Philadelphia" from The Correct Use of Soap is their best song? I'd personally rank it 5th or 6th on that album alone. I don't think it's even made it to any of their compilations.

Meanwhile, No Thyself is one of those albums I keep meaning to get hold of.

Third week bingeing on whatever Magazine I can find.

How do you rate them? I never connected with the reunion album.

Of the subsequent non-Magazine stuff that Howard did, there's good bits on his solo "Jerky Versions Of The Dream" and the two Luxuria albums but none of them are consistent enough for me to enjoy fully.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/may/04/post-punk-guitarist-john-mcgeoch-magazine-siouxsie-sioux

Anybody get this yet?

The Light Pours Out of Me: The Authorised Biography of John McGeoch
Rory Sullivan-Burke

John McGeoch was the unsung hero of the post-punk era. Blazing a trail with some of Britain’s biggest bands and most revered artists – Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Armoury Show and Public Image Ltd. – John left an undeniable and indelible mark on music.

The Light Pours Out of Me examines John’s life and legacy, drawing on original interviews with the likes of Siouxsie Sioux, Howard Devoto, Johnny Marr, Billy Idol, John Frusciante, Keith Levene, Jonny Greenwood, Nick Launay, Ed O’Brien, Peter ‘Hooky’ Hook and many others.

xxpost I haven't heard the reunion album but love the first three very much. Digging on older live sessions I can find, too.

I really don't think that the fourth album has any bad songs, but the sound is often very harsh.

I think Luxuria's Beast Box is his best non-Magazine release. I saw the video for "The Beast Box is Dreaming" when it came out, but couldn't get into the record at the time. Now I particularly like the "torch songs" or ballads; Devoto is not as tormented as he was in the Magazine days, but there's just as much wit and perception in the lyrics and singing.

magic murder and the weather may actually be my secret favourite, tho i haven't revisited any of them for a long while

i used slightly to know ben mandelson, mcgeoch's replacement -- he co-ran a record company whose records i often reviewed, and he was both a nice person and a very folk-scholarly person, which was probably not quite the right vibe for magazine but i liked it myself

awake much of the night with truly astonishing dental pain (on antibiotics, direct to root canal when I get home from work but work mean travel and I've got several days yet to go) and the music of magazine specifically the secondhand daylight album is helping. ty magazine, top group

Check out "Seconds to Last" by Colin Newman for more explicitly dental-themed post-punk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fME8qjXbV1I