Magazine: Play 1980 ( 2 CD Album 2009 )

Magazine were an English post-punk band active from 1977 to 1981, then again from 2009 to 2011. The band was formed by Howard Devoto after leaving punk band Buzzcocks in early 1977. Devoto had decided to create a more progressive and less "traditional" rock band.

Play is the first live album by English post-punk/new wave band Magazine. It was released in December 1980 by Virgin Records (International) and in April 1981 by I.R.S. Records (US). It

peaked at No. 69 on the UK Album Chart. It was Magazine's sixth 1980 release.
The live album consisted of a recording of the group's performance at Melbourne Festival Hall in Australia on 6 September 1980. The performance was part of a world tour in support of the group's third studio album, The Correct Use of Soap, released earlier that year. The majority of the album is composed of songs from the first and third studio albums. The original album is notable for including a performance of the B-side "Twenty Years Ago", while omitting the group's best-known song, "Shot by Both Sides", which was cut from the original album release along with gig opener "Feed the Enemy".

The short-lived lineup of Magazine that performed Play had formed due to the departure of founding member and guitarist John McGeoch. In his place was ex-Ultravox guitarist Robin Simon. Simon left

the group on completion of the tour and was in turn replaced by Ben Mandelson for Magazine's fourth studio album. Simon's recording history with the group is limited to Play and tracks from another Australian gig on the 2009 compilation Live and Intermittent. The rest of the group consisted of Howard Devoto (vocals), Barry Adamson (bass and backing vocals), Dave Formula (keyboards) and John Doyle (drums).
The album was produced by Magazine and John Brand. Design was credited to Malcolm Garrett with photography by Birrer.

The album was originally released as an LP and cassette in December 1980. The album was

subsequently released as a budget album on LP, cassette and CD in the late 1980s. A Japanese edition of the album was released in 1995 with three bonus live tracks recorded at the Russell Club in Manchester on 3 May 1980, which had been released as B-sides to "Sweetheart Contract". A remastered edition, titled Play+, was released by Virgin/EMI in 2009, augmented by the two deleted songs from the Melbourne Festival Hall gig and a bonus disc featuring a 21 July 1978 performance at Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall. The 1978 gig featured the Real Life lineup of the group with McGeoch and original drummer Martin Jackson.

[ Play. documents an Australian concert from 1980 that finds Magazine in fine form, spitting out their unsettling, edgy post-punk songs with controlled energy. By this point, guitarist John McGeoch had been replaced by Robin Simon, and although there are some weak patches on the record, he fits into the group's dense interplay remarkably well. Play., however, remains a record for the collector, especially since their best-known song, "Shot by Both Sides," isn't on the record, and an awkward cover of Sly Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" is.]

This 1980 Australian live album captures the legendary (and now reunited) post-punk band Magazine in peak form, just a year before they disbanded.

We all know the drill: a successful songwriting partnership breaks up, and the defector goes on to form a band that either sounds exactly the same as his former band-- or one that sounds exactly the same, but much, much worse. In the annals of pop music history, Magazine were something of an exception, seeing how they matched the Buzzcocks in many ways while still spiraling off on several new tangents. If the Buzzcocks were a melodically inclined punk band that helped transition punk to new wave, Magazine were a new wave band that retained the fury and edginess of punk. The difference may have ultimately boiled down to the use of synthesizers, but still, Magazine posed much darker stuff than the Buzzcocks, and differently, too. As spin-offs go, Magazine were no mere copycats. They were something else entirely.

Howard Devoto was only in the Buzzcocks for a few months before ceding control to Pete Shelley. And, burning hot and bright, Magazine itself lasted only a few years. What they released, though, comprises one of the most distinctive catalogs in new wave, ranging from "Shot by Both Sides", the defining outburst of alienation, to more refined takes on the same subject like "A Song From Under the Floorboards", the last of Magazine's songs to feature founding guitarist John McGeoch before he jumped ship to Siouxsie and the Banshees.

That line-up switch is pivotal to Magazine's Play, a 1980 live album recorded in Australia and featuring McGeoch's freshly tapped (and short-lived) replacement Robin Simon. Most bands wouldn't have dared press "record" with the new guy barely installed, but clearly Magazine knew what they

were doing. While hardly epic, the disc bristles with intensity and arty, angular grit. In fact, for a while, Play might have been the best introduction to the band, as it showcases several of the group's best attributes-- Devoto's acidic singing, the disorienting keyboards, and future Bad Seed Barry Adamson's pulsing bass.
Magazine reunited in 2009 for a UK tour, with almost all the remaining members of the "classic" lineup, with the exception of guitarist John McGeoch, who died in 2004. He was replaced by Noko, who had played with Devoto in Luxuria.

Magazine: Play

Label: Virgin ‎– CDVX 2184, Virgin ‎– 50999 6 88463 2 9

Format: 2 × CD, Album

Country: Europe

Released: Aug 2009

Genre: Rock

Style: Post Punk, New Wave

Credits

Bass Guitar – Barry Adamson

Design [Original Sleeve] – Malcolm Garrett

Drums – John Doyle (tracks: 1-1 to 1-12), Martin Jackson (tracks: 2-1 to 2-9)

Engineer – John Brand (tracks: 1-1 to 1-12)

Engineer [Assistant] – Paul Frindle (tracks: 1-1 to 1-12)

Guitar – John McGeoch (tracks: 2-1 to 2-9), Robin Simon (tracks: 1-1 to 1-12)

Keyboards – Dave Formula

Lyrics By – Howard Devoto (tracks: 1-1 to 1-7, 1-9 to 1-12, 2-1 to 2-7, 2-9)

Mixed By – Pete Mew (tracks: 2-1 to 2-9)

Producer – John Brand (tracks: 1-1 to 1-10), Magazine (tracks: 1-1 to 1-10)

Vocals – Howard Devoto

Notes

Original album (CD1) released in 1980, recorded at Melbourne Festival Hall, 6th September 1980. Tracks 1 and 10 previously unreleased.

CD2 previously unreleased, recorded at Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall, 21st July 1978.

CD 1.

Melbourne Festival Hall, 6 September 1980

   

01. Feed the Enemy    Devoto, Formula    4:12

02. Give Me Everything    Devoto    4:27

03. A Song From Under The Floorboards    Devoto, Adamson, Doyle, Formula, McGeoch    4:15

04. Permafrost    Devoto    4:59

05. The Light Pours Out of Me    Devoto, McGeoch, Shelley    4:46

06. Model Worker    Devoto, Adamson, Doyle, Formula, McGeoch    2:57

07. Parade    Devoto, Formula, Adamson    6:05

08. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)    Sly Stone, Sylvester Stewart    3:49

09. Because You're Frightened    Devoto, Adamson, Doyle, Formula, McGeoch    3:53

10. Shot by Both Sides    Devoto, Shelley    5:19

11. Twenty Years Ago    Devoto, Adamson, Doyle, Formula, McGeoch    4:00

12. Definitive Gaze    Devoto, McGeoch    3:48

Total length:    52:45

MP3 @ 320 Size: 120 MB
FLAC  Size: 358 MB

CD 2.

Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall, 21 July 1978

   

01.  Definitive Gaze    Devoto, McGeoch    4:14

02.  Touch and Go    Devoto, McGeoch    3:17

03.  Burst    Devoto    4:14

04. The Light Pours Out of Me    Devoto, McGeoch, Shelley    4:58

05.  My Tulpa    Devoto, McGeoch    5:03

06.  Shot by Both Sides    Devoto, Shelley    5:06

07.  Give Me Everything    Devoto    4:42

08.  I Love You You Big Dummy    Don Van Vliet    3:51

09.  My Mind Ain't So Open    Devoto, McGeoch    2:30

Total length:    37:59

MP3 @ 320 Size: 86.3 MB
FLAC  Size:  270 MB

Personnel

Howard Devoto – vocals

Barry Adamson – bass guitar

Dave Formula – keyboards

John Doyle – drums

Robin Simon – guitar

John McGeoch – guitar (Play+ disc two)

Martin Jackson – drums (Play+ disc two)

    

Production

Magazine - producer

John Brand - producer, engineer

Paul Frindle - assistant engineer

Pete Mew - mixing (Play+ disc two)

Malfunctions - Stage

Birrer - Photography

Malcolm Garrett (at Assorted Images) - Sleeve

Magazine : Secondhand Daylight 1979  HERE