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)

Now That's What I Call Jangly

Side 1 of a mixtape, originally compiled for me by my girlfriend, sometime around 1996.

Despite the title, it's not entirely jangly but it is resolutely indie. She was a big fan of The Wedding Present, The House Of Love and James and I was immersed in their music for a few years. 

I haven't heard many of these songs in over a decade: I'd completely forgotten about Bedflowers; there's a lovely post about them on the Cloudberry Cake Proselytism blog, which provides some backstory. 

The David Bowie track closing side 1 feels like a bit of an anachronism, though it may have been added because I loved the song so much. 

We didn't part on the best of terms - my girlfriend, that is, not Bowie and I - but this is a reminder of happier times and some great music.

 

1) Ceremony (1st Version By Martin Hannett): New Order (1981)

2) Road: The House Of Love (1988)

3) My Ex-Lover's Address: Bedflowers (1991)

4) Suck: The Wedding Present (1991)

5) Sensitive: The Field Mice (1989)

6) Push: The Cure (1985)

7) Pink Glove: Pulp (1994)

8) Five-O (Album Version By Brian Eno): James (1993)

9) The Old Main Drag (Album Version By Elvis Costello): The Pogues (1985)

10) Jesus Says: That Petrol Emotion (1986)

11) In The Heat Of The Morning (Mono Single Version): David Bowie (1967)

 

Side One (45:13) (GD) (M)