— Steve Bush
Oh dear, Steve. It's Buzzcocks, not the Buzzcocks (but, hey, at least you used a lower case 't': The Buzzcocks would have been unforgivable). Just as it's Eagles and Talking Heads and Eurythmics and Pet Shop Boys, bands and their stans can get awful prickly about that dad blasted definite article being improperly used. (Funnily enough, groups employing a "The" don't seem quite as bothered when they get dropped, as in Beatles, Rolling Stones and Kinks; face it, The The are the only group with an incorruptible band name)
Nomenclature aside, designer Steve Bush kicks his month-long singles review residence off (though he would be back) with a recommendation that we go out buy a reissue of the debut E.P. by Buzzcocks "while stocks last". Apparently there were stocks aplenty as it got one chart placing short of the Top 30. Coming off five Top 40 entries on the bounce over the past year, this is a routine showing for a group that never quite got their flawless run of singles over the chart hump. (The classic "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" couldn't get any higher than number twelve) Though Bush wasn't to know it at the time, the group was nearing its end. What got them started was about to finish them off.
Studying the singles reviews from 1979 in detail, it seems clear that there were some trying to move on while others were more resistant. Punk in 1977 had opened up so much for so many. The chords were minimal, the tunes were short and everyone dressed as they pleased. Indie record labels popped up all over the country and, with expenses kept to a bare minimum, groups could make a few bob from just a few thousand sales. Kids flocked to punk venues to see chaotic gigs. Oh, that it could only have kept going. For some, it never stopped.
Bush claims that the sound of these four tracks on Spiral Scratch is "dated" but it seems like those still pressing on with real ale punk here at the very end of the decade were the real relics. Releases from the likes of The Members, Sham 69, Angelic Upstarts, Generation X, even those rubbish post-Lydon Sex Pistol records: all churned out as swiftly and unprofessionally as they were two years earlier but without the same excitement of old. Some of the tunes were still as potent but it was old hat by this time. The fact that The Rolling Stones seemed to have already missed the boat with the punk-influenced "When the Whip Comes Down" and "Shattered" from their Some Girls album and those songs were from a year earlier is all you need to know.
What you get with Spiral Scratch is ten minutes of tightly played punk rock that doesn't try to hide the skills of the foursome. Bassist Steve Diggle and drummer John Maher were even at this early stage a peerless rhythm section and the late Pete Shelley proves himself an underrated guitarist, even going so far as to take a solo on the E.P.'s best track "Boredom". Howard Devoto made his lone shot at Buzzcockdom count with rapid-fire, shrieked vocals and some genuinely funny lyrics. All four cuts demonstrate that they already had a clear understanding of what they were doing but they somehow fail to suggest what might have been — or, rather, provide a blueprint for Buzzcocks that were, not those that could have been. The thought of Devoto remaining is one of those delicious what ifs but not one aided by what's on offer here.
Like The Clash and The Damned, Buzzcocks were a cut above the competition. Punk was never expunged from their sound but they were far too capable as musicians and songwriters to let the genre constrain them. But where some stagnated and others moved on, they were just about done. Sprial Scratch doesn't simply "remind us of how it all started" but puts a cap on how far they came in such a short period of time. They could have done more but why soil such a perfect discography — assuming you're willing to ignore all the stuff they did after they reformed.
Oh dear, Steve. It's Buzzcocks, not the Buzzcocks (but, hey, at least you used a lower case 't': The Buzzcocks would have been unforgivable). Just as it's Eagles and Talking Heads and Eurythmics and Pet Shop Boys, bands and their stans can get awful prickly about that dad blasted definite article being improperly used. (Funnily enough, groups employing a "The" don't seem quite as bothered when they get dropped, as in Beatles, Rolling Stones and Kinks; face it, The The are the only group with an incorruptible band name)
Nomenclature aside, designer Steve Bush kicks his month-long singles review residence off (though he would be back) with a recommendation that we go out buy a reissue of the debut E.P. by Buzzcocks "while stocks last". Apparently there were stocks aplenty as it got one chart placing short of the Top 30. Coming off five Top 40 entries on the bounce over the past year, this is a routine showing for a group that never quite got their flawless run of singles over the chart hump. (The classic "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" couldn't get any higher than number twelve) Though Bush wasn't to know it at the time, the group was nearing its end. What got them started was about to finish them off.
Studying the singles reviews from 1979 in detail, it seems clear that there were some trying to move on while others were more resistant. Punk in 1977 had opened up so much for so many. The chords were minimal, the tunes were short and everyone dressed as they pleased. Indie record labels popped up all over the country and, with expenses kept to a bare minimum, groups could make a few bob from just a few thousand sales. Kids flocked to punk venues to see chaotic gigs. Oh, that it could only have kept going. For some, it never stopped.
Bush claims that the sound of these four tracks on Spiral Scratch is "dated" but it seems like those still pressing on with real ale punk here at the very end of the decade were the real relics. Releases from the likes of The Members, Sham 69, Angelic Upstarts, Generation X, even those rubbish post-Lydon Sex Pistol records: all churned out as swiftly and unprofessionally as they were two years earlier but without the same excitement of old. Some of the tunes were still as potent but it was old hat by this time. The fact that The Rolling Stones seemed to have already missed the boat with the punk-influenced "When the Whip Comes Down" and "Shattered" from their Some Girls album and those songs were from a year earlier is all you need to know.
What you get with Spiral Scratch is ten minutes of tightly played punk rock that doesn't try to hide the skills of the foursome. Bassist Steve Diggle and drummer John Maher were even at this early stage a peerless rhythm section and the late Pete Shelley proves himself an underrated guitarist, even going so far as to take a solo on the E.P.'s best track "Boredom". Howard Devoto made his lone shot at Buzzcockdom count with rapid-fire, shrieked vocals and some genuinely funny lyrics. All four cuts demonstrate that they already had a clear understanding of what they were doing but they somehow fail to suggest what might have been — or, rather, provide a blueprint for Buzzcocks that were, not those that could have been. The thought of Devoto remaining is one of those delicious what ifs but not one aided by what's on offer here.
Like The Clash and The Damned, Buzzcocks were a cut above the competition. Punk was never expunged from their sound but they were far too capable as musicians and songwriters to let the genre constrain them. But where some stagnated and others moved on, they were just about done. Sprial Scratch doesn't simply "remind us of how it all started" but puts a cap on how far they came in such a short period of time. They could have done more but why soil such a perfect discography — assuming you're willing to ignore all the stuff they did after they reformed.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
The Jam: "Where You're Young"
When you're young, you're full of angst, aspiration, passion and verve. When you're young, you're searching for someone to speak to you. When you're young, you cherish those figures who are fighting for something. When you're young, you don't give a toss if you can't make out the words to your favourite songs. When you're young, you're convinced that a line like "the world is your oyster but the future's your clam" is dead good even if deep down you haven't a clue what it means. When you get older, you realise that a number like this is just a filler on the way towards something you really want to listen to. When you're older, you respect those groups who used punk to better themselves.
When you're young, you're full of angst, aspiration, passion and verve. When you're young, you're searching for someone to speak to you. When you're young, you cherish those figures who are fighting for something. When you're young, you don't give a toss if you can't make out the words to your favourite songs. When you're young, you're convinced that a line like "the world is your oyster but the future's your clam" is dead good even if deep down you haven't a clue what it means. When you get older, you realise that a number like this is just a filler on the way towards something you really want to listen to. When you're older, you respect those groups who used punk to better themselves.
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