Magazine: Play (Virgin Records/1981)

Manchester's Magazine were one of the finest bands to come out of the post/punk movement. Forming in 1977 after leader Howard Devoto left The Buzzcocks, the band released three excellent albums on Virgin Records. In mid-1980, guitarist extraordinaire, the late-John McGeoch left the band to join Siouxsie & The Banshees. He was replaced by Robin Simon for the Correct Use Of Soap tour (he can also be seen with the band in their appearance in the film Urgh! A Music War). Considering Simon had big shoes to fill in replacing the ever-innovative McGeoch, he fares pretty well here. 


Recorded in late Summer of 1980 at Festival Hall in Melbourne, Australia opening for XTC, Play is something of a neat little sampler of sorts. It contains the classic Magazine cuts “Because You're Frightened”, “The Light Pours Out Of Me”, “Model Worker”, “Permafrost”, “A Song From Under The Floorboards” and their deconstructionist take on Sly And The Family Stone's “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”. The only glaring omission here is the classic debut single “Shot By Both Sides” (which was the band's only real UK hit). The band sounds in fine form and they certainly have more command than your average opening band.

 Recommended for fans of The Buzzcocks, post-punk and new wave.

 This is the video review:


 

I.R.S. Greatest Hits Vols 2 & 3 (IRS Records/1981)

I.R.S. Records was one of the most influential American record labels of the New Wave era. International Record Syndicate was the brainchild of Miles Copeland III (older bother of Police drummer Stewart). Copeland founded the British record labels Illegal Records and Faulty Products in 1977 and 1978, respectively. He had previously established a relationship with A&M Records and in 1979 along with Jay Boberg and Carlos Grasso, made a deal with them to distribute IRS Records.

I.R.S. was responsible for exposing the general public at large with the likes of The Go-Go's, The Cramps, R.E.M., The Fleshtones, Wall Of Voodoo, The Buzzcocks, Oingo Boingo, The Fall and countless other alternative music acts of the late 1970's and 1980's.

Released in 1981, I.R.S. Greatest Hits Volume 2 & 3 is a double-album sampler of then-current recordings, released on the label. It personally introduced me to several bands when I first heard it. Namely The Cramps, The Fleshtones, The Buzzcocks, The Damned and The Stranglers. The album features two songs by Stewart Copeland's pseudonym while he was in The Police, rare single tracks from both Squeeze and The Police. It features notable entries from somewhat obscure acts like Humans, Fashion, Skafish, Payoloa$ and Patrick D. Martin. It also features curiosities from ex-Velvet Underground cellist John Cale, ex-Damned guitarist Brian James, ex-Squeeze keyboardist/BBC personality Jools Holland, and BBC6 personality Tom Robinson. It contains great songs by The Buzzcocks, The Damned, The Fall, The Stranglers, The Cramps and The Fleshtones.

The album is inconsistently excellent and overall is a pretty good representation of the music that I.R.S. Records. It was a pretty important album in shaping my own musical tastes growing up. There can't be too many better albums of it's kind. It's a great alternative music sampler of the early 1980's.  

Highly Recommended!

Here's the video review (including an awesome K-Tel-esque commercial) :

I.R.S. Greatest Hits Volume 1 (IRS Records/1981)

I.R.S. Greatest Hits Volume One was a sampler of material by artists on I.R.S Records. It was available via an offer that came with copies of I.R.S. Greatest Hits Volume 2 & 3. It is quite possible that this album was the Doing Time On Vinyl compilation album that was scheduled, but never released. It was released in a plain white sleeve with a orange sticker indicating the name of album and the slogan “A sampler of tunes you want to hear over and over again”. The copyright date is 1980, but considering it was only released via an offer from an album that came out in 1981, me thinks this didn't actually see the light of day until 1981 as well.

It features great singles from Klark Kent and The Buzzcocks, two tracks from both Oingo Boingo and The Stranglers and a rare single by Berlin with Virginia Macolino on vocals, before Terri Nunn joined the band. It also features Henry Badowski's first appearance on a US LP, Chelsea's fine cover of The Seeds' “No Escape” and Payola$ excellent “China Boys” single.

It's a nice little alternative new/wave compilation album. I've only seen this album two times, tops in the record shops. So, it's a semi-rare release. Recommended.

Here's the video review:

Payola$: Christmas Is Coming (A&M/1983)

From their third album, Hammer On A Drum, Vacouver's Payola$ released this Holiday gem in 1983. It's a mid-tempo love song filled with longing and loss, reverb on the snare and chorused guitars. It was the 80's thank you very much. It's a fine song, Holiday-themed or not. Nice, logical chord progressions in the verses. It was released on nice clear green vinyl in the US. Not too much to say other than it's not regarded as a holiday classic and it's a damned shame that it isn't.

Recommended holiday listening.

The Damned: The Black Album (IRS Records/1980)

The Black Album is fourth album by The Damned. Released by Chiswick Records in October of 1980 (just in time for Halloween), it was a double album set that obviously references The Beatles' White Album. However when it was released by their US label I.R.S. Records it was trimmed down to just a single disc. Which is fine because what was omitted (a side of live versions of past hits) and a seventeen-minute composition (“Curtain Call”) are both on the skippable side. 

The album contains a few Damned classics “Wait For The Blackout”, “Hit Or Miss”, “Dr. Jeckle & Mr Hyde” and the stand-out “Drinking About My Baby”.Musically there's a subtle change in direction from the full-throttle punk rock of their first few albums. There are elements of jangle pop, power pop and goth rock. Some of the songs aren't that successful, while others certainly are. It's definitely one of the Damned's last great albums and worthy of at least a listen or three.

Here is the video review: