No Room To Move, No Room For Doubt

Feed The Enemy is the opening song of Magazine's second album, Secondhand Daylight. 

The song plays to the band's innate sense of theatre, introducing elements of the band one at a time; it's 1:27 before Barry Adamson's bass kicks in with John Doyle's percussion and two minutes in until Howard Devoto utters his first word.

The sense of anticipation is paid off with the opening couplet,

It's always raining over the border

There's been a plane crash out there

Following the second verse break and a blistering turn from Dave Formula and John McGeoch, the song builds in intensity as Howard comes back in to deliver the final lines, the band moving as one yet ramping up the tension, until it comes to it's inevitable end. 

Feed The Enemy wasn't released as a single, that was track two, the punchier Rhythm Of Cruelty, but a video was made for the song, at 5:29 only twenty seconds or so shorter than the album version.

For Magazine's live shows, a shorter, sped up version in the spirit of their more uptempo numbers was introduced. It may lose the brooding menace of the studio original, but it travels well at this revved up speed.

When Magazine reformed, they also got to perform at the penultimate BBC Electric Proms. Their set on Thursday 22nd October 2009 included the faster version of Feed The Enemy.

I saw Magazine a couple of years later in Birmingham, for what proved to be their final tour in this (re)incarnation. Whilst Feed The Enemy had been dropped by then, the combination of classics and new songs from then-current album No Thyself did not disappoint.

It's always raining over the border

There's been a plane crash out there

In the wheatfields they're picking up the pieces

We could go and look and stare

How many friends have we over there?

The border guards fight unconvincingly

Whatever we do it seems things are arranged

We always have to feed the enemy

You could dance for me

And punch me through

You could dance for me

And punch me through

You could dance for me

And punch me through

You could dance for me

And punch me through

We watched them trash the last camera

Glued to all our TV's

The actors on the replay

Trying again to touch you and me

But they always seem to know

Exactly what they're talking about

They must've got you in a corner

You've got no room to move

You've got no room for doubt

That's exactly what they're talking about

They must've got you in a corner

No room to move

No room for doubt

Like An Insect Up And Down The Walls

As an appetiser for my review of Barry Adamson's gig at Strange Brew this week (coming Saturday, I promise), here's a classic from Magazine, circa 1978.

 

I've never seen the video for The Light Pours Out Of Me before and it's a nicely staged studio performance, with the individual members coming into shot with their respective musical introductions. 

 

So, you get a first sight of Barry (well, his torso at least) and guitar as that incredible bass line kicks in at 0:14, having followed John Doyle on drums and before John McGeogh, resplendent in a pink knitted jumper steps in front and, finally, Howard Devoto saunters into view, one hand in pocket, causally observing that "Time flies, time crawls..." 

 

Poor Dave Formula has to wait until 1:07 to get a look in but he makes up for it by playing two sets of keys, each placed either side of him.

 

One of the greatest openings to a song? It's hard to beat.

 

Before this raises any false hope, Barry didn't perform this or any other Magazine songs at Wednesday's show. However, here's one he did earlier, at the Moth Club in London on 27th April 2017. Different voice, different guitar, same great tune.

Phantoms I Could Belatedly Chase

Side 1 of a Magazine compilation cassette, originally recorded for me by my brother in September 1991.

 

I was 11 years old when I first heard Magazine, courtesy of my older brother having posthumous compilation After The Fact and live album Play on tape. 

 

I was fascinated by the handprint on the cover of the former and the grainy black and white photo of the band in the studio on the latter, both squashed and cropped to fit the two-and-a-half inch width of the cassette sleeve. 

 

I was fascinated by the song titles: Definitive Gaze, A Song From Under The Floorboards and especially Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) which to be honest also slightly irked this grammatically rigid adolescent.

I was fascinated by the sounds that emanated from the tape deck: Howard Devoto's voice, phrasing and a way of storytelling that was different from anything I'd heard before. And the music: spiky yet cinematic, poppy yet punky, alien yet painfully human (and hummable).

I was also fascinated by the perfunctory timing listed with the band name and album title on each side of the cassette. After The Fact's running time is 24:15 and 23:32 respectively; Play is 21:31 and 21:55. Unconsciously, the beginnings of an obsession with trying to cram the maximum amount of music on each side of a C60, C90 or C120 when it came to recording my own cassette compilations a couple of years later.

I think my brother was healthily less troubled by these things so there is difference of over a minute between the duration of each side of this mixtape: Side 1 is 45:19 whilst Side 2 is 46:22; I suspect I would have cursed every time I had to use precious Walkman battery power to fast forward to the end of the former to play the latter.

What is beyond argument is the quality of the ten songs on both sides. I'd wanted my brother to record his own equivalent of After The Fact for a long time. By the time I got it in 1991, I'd bought Secondhand Daylight (ah, the days of being able to buy back catalogue vinyl from WH Smith!) but memories of Magazine's wider work had faded. 

 

I loved this compilation, even if Magic, Murder And The Weather does get short shrift. A little unfairly in my opinion, but then what would I leave out to make room? I mentioned in my post about Side 2 that I swapped out a couple of versions for my recreation, but no such interference here. Parade is represented here with the live version from Play and it was the right call. On the surface, it might seem lazy to run tracks 4, 5 and 6 from The Correct Use Of Soap together (albeit in a slightly different order) but they work so well together, so why not?

And closing the side with Thank You - which many years later I discovered was a cover of Sly & The Family Stone is a perfect set up for the side to follow. Just listening to this again has brought a big smile to my face. Undiminished after more than three decades and the subsequent, inevitable deterioration of the original cassette.

Today's cover photo is another photo from Clan K's recent visit to Valencia. This time, it's a detail from one of the grand doorways to the Museu Nacional de Ceràmica i de les Arts Sumptuàries Gonzàlez Martí, succinctly described on Google Maps as a "Palace museum with an ornate 18th-century exterior, housing vast collections of ceramics & artworks." 

 

I'd like to tell you how much we enjoyed visiting it and viewing the exhibitions. To tell the truth, after taking a few photos outside, we carried on walking to the nearby Mercat de Colón, where we sat in a cafe enjoying coffee and pastries. The table next to us was hosting a "Day Of The Dead" (All Saints Day not George Romero) themed birthday party, crammed full of beautifully dressed and decorated - and excitably - pre-teen girls, with the associated parents sinking espressos at the table behind us. "So this is real life," as Howard Devoto once opined. You're telling me!

 

1) The Thin Air (Album Version) (1979)

2) Definitive Gaze (Album Version) (1978)

3) Talk To The Body (Album Version) (1979)

4) My Tulpa (Album Version) (1978)

5) Philadelphia (Album Version) (1980)

6) I Want To Burn Again (Album Version) (1980)

7) You Never Knew Me (Album Version) (1980)

8) So Lucky (Album Version) (1981)

9) Parade (Live @ Melbourne Festival Hall, Australia) (1980)

10) Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) (Album Version) (Cover of Sly & The Family Stone) (1980)

1978: Real Life: 2, 4

1979: Secondhand Daylight: 1, 3

1980: The Correct Use Of Soap: 5, 6, 7, 10

1980: Play: 9

1981: Magic, Murder And The Weather: 8

 

Side One (45:19) (KF) (Mega)

Side Two here

Phantoms I Could Later Chase

Side 2 of a Magazine compilation cassette, taped by my brother in September 1991.

 

I think the only Magazine album I owned at this time was Secondhand Daylight, which ironically makes up nearly half of this side, with a further two songs appearing on Side 1. I'd been familiar with their songs for several years though, as my older brother had first bought the After The Fact compilation on cassette, then the four studio albums plus live compilation Play on either tape or vinyl. 

 

I was fascinated by Howard Devoto's lyrics, unusual song titles and unique vocal phrasing. And the combination of heavy bass, virtuoso guitar, pounding percussion and swirling keyboards was undeniably attractive to this pre-teen. 

 

I'd been pressing my brother to do a Magazine mixtape for me for years and, judging by the date, it looks like he finally came good as a sort of homecoming gift as I returned from a year from Australia and back into full-time education (and living at home with my parents).

 

A couple of minor changes to versions included in this selection. Shot By Both Sides was originally the album version from Real Life, which cannot match the sheer energy of the 7" single so I've swapped them out. A Song From Under The Floorboards was the excellent live version from the album Play, though marred on the mixtape by a clumsy and premature manual fade out (sorry, bro!). I've gone for the studio version here.

 

Another characteristic of my sibling's selections was the loss of steam, especially in wrapping up side 2 of a compilation, and this was no exception. At the time, he mentioned that he'd stuck the final two songs on the end because the (undisclosed) songs he really wanted either wouldn't fit and he lost patience with it. For all that, I think both Burst and (the very apt) Stuck work very well in closing out this compilation.

 

It may be a while before Side 1 makes an appearance but, just to reassure you, both Real Life and The Correct Use Of Soap get more of a look in. Magic, Murder And The Weather was clearly less loved by Brother K and only gets one more song. I'll leave you to guess what that might be.

1) Feed The Enemy (Album Version) (1979)

2) Shot By Both Sides (Single Version) (1978)

3) Believe That I Understand (Album Version) (1979)

4) The Great Beautician In The Sky (Album Version) (1978)

5) I Wanted Your Heart (Album Version) (1979)

6) A Song From Under The Floorboards (Album Version) (1980)

7) The Great Man's Secrets (Album Version) (1981)

8) Cut-Out Shapes (Album Version) (1979)

9) Burst (Album Version) (1978)

10) Stuck (Album Version) (1980)

1978: Real Life: 4, 9

1978: Shot By Both Sides EP: 2

1979: Secondhand Daylight: 1, 3, 5, 8

1980: The Correct Use Of Soap: 6, 10

1981: Magic, Murder And The Weather: 7

 

Side Two (46:22) (KF) (Mega)

Six Degrees Of The Vinyl Villain

In a double first for this blog, today sees the return of Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon, which proved popular enough last Friday that it inspired one regular visitor to submit their own 'Six Degrees' suggestion. And, in an unplanned but wonderful bit of music blog synchronicity, who better for Dubhed's first ever guest post than JC, whose own blog - the legendary The Vinyl Villain - encouraged and supported my return to music blogging back in 2020?

 

It's not a spoiler alert to say that you're in a for a treat. Without further ado, JC, it's over to you!

 

1) One of the most important punk rock records was the Spiral Scratch EP by Buzzcocks. It proved to be the only release on which the band’s original lead singer Howard Devoto was involved before he left to form a new post-punk band, Magazine.

 

2) Magazine’s debut single was Shot By Both Sides. It aired on Top of the Pops on 16 February 1978 but proved to be the only time Howard Devoto would ever appear on the programme. This was not the case for the song’s co-writer, and Magazine guitarist, John McGeoch, who later became a member of Siouxsie & The Banshees.

 

3) Siouxsie & The Banshees, thanks to having numerous chart hits between 1978 and 1995, got to the TOTP studios on numerous occasions. But prior to this success, their career had gotten underway in September 1976 when they debuted at the 100 Club Punk Festival. Their guitarist on that night, and it proved to be the only gig he played with the Banshees, was Marco Pirroni, who later found fame and fortune as a member of Adam & The Ants.

4) Adam & The Ants was fronted by, surprisingly enough, Adam Ant . He had previously been a member of a band called the B-sides, alongside Andy Warren and Lester Square. While Adam went away to form the Ants and become, among other things, a swashbuckling pirate and dandy highwayman, Andy and Lester joined forces with Bid and John D. Haney to form The Monochrome Set.

 

5) The Monochrome Set have never got beyond cult status despite releasing what is now 16 albums in a more than worthwhile career which is still on the go today. One of their many non-hit singles, from 1993, was Forever Young.

6) Forever Young* was also, coincidentally, the name of a non-hit single by The Comsat Angels in 1987, on which the bass guitar was played by Kevin Bacon. 

 

Note from the editor: JC didn't include a specific playlist so I've taken the liberty of curating a Dubhed selection from the above. A couple of songs and an EP (Magazine, The Comsat Angels and Buzzcocks) were specified so I've included them, whilst tracks 3 & 4 are completely my own choice. Likewise, The Monochrome Set song choice, mainly because I don't have Forever Young in my collection and couldn't track it down in time for this post. I hope you - and especially JC - like the final selection.

 

1) Time's Up (Single Version): Buzzcocks (1977)

2) Shot By Both Sides (Live @ Melbourne Festival Hall, Australia): Magazine (1980) 

3) Happy House (Album Version): Siouxsie & The Banshees (1980)

4) Picasso Visita El Planeta De Los Simios (Album Version): Adam & The Ants (1981)

5) Fun For All The Family: The Monochrome Set (1982)

6) Forever Young: The Comsat Angels (1985)

Six Degrees Of The Vinyl Villain (22:12) (KF) (Mega)

 

Two posts does not a series make, but I have an idea for at least one more post and I welcome further guest suggestions if you feel suitably spurred on by the two offerings so far. Contributions can be emailed to phatdubhed at yahoo dot co dot uk

Normal service will resume tomorrow.

* In another example of blog harmony, Forever Young (and a whole bunch of other single releases) by The Comsat Angels was featured last month on another excellent music blog, My Vinyl Dreams. Get yourself over there right now!