This is from my favorite music magazine, The Big Takeover. What's it going to be Kravitz, the show, or not to show?
| buzzcocks time's up spiral scratch ep | ||
buzzcocks time's up spiral scratch ep (Mute) 
...this is one of the greatest punk LPs ever made, so raw, glorious and yet entirely magical it's no artifact, it's breathlessly relevant a decade and a half later.
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As brief moments of musical history captured completely alive go, this one is pure fascination.  The HOWARD DEVOTO-led Buzzcocks were a brief spasm, a volcanic jerk and spurt that lasted only eight months and a paltry 11 hard-to-come-by gigs. Right after releasing their wild, ground-breaking Spiral Scratch EP on their own New Hormones label in January 1977 (the first self-released punk record, kickstarting a revolution we take for granted and routinely abuse 23 years later), Devoto quit in disillusionment, fed up with a now-exploding scene he'd helped create. His parting comment sounded a warning for future generations of copycat punk acts/scenes: "What was once unhealthily fresh is now a clean old hat." He soon formed the equally brilliant, much different MAGAZINE, one of the first U.K. post-punk giants (see 1978's Real Life and 1979's Secondhand Daylight). Guitarist PETE SHELLEY was left to assume the vocals and leadership of Buzzcocks, busy bassist STEVE DIGGLE moved up to second guitar (igniting their famed "wall of guitar" sound), STEVE GARVEY eventually took over bass, and teen powerhouse JOHN MAHER matured into perhaps the hottest drummer of the last 25 years. One of the greatest lineups in history left behind three devastating LPs and 13 phenomenal singles going steady, half of them 1977-1981 U.K. hits, greatly obscuring the Devoto days. But the collaboration of two such tremendous talents as Shelley and Devoto at the dawn of their careers was far too shockingly raw and exciting to be forgotten. This issue of Spiral Scratch may be its American debut, but it's been reissued constantly in England -- it's unkempt joys inspiring so many divergent underground bands, it rivals the influence of The Velvet Underground's records. And its enduring popularity made the Times Up LP of the Devoto-lineup's 1976 demos one of the best distributed, most widely known, and most sought after bootlegs of the original punk era, a phenomenal DIY classic that was finally issued legitimately on Document U.K. in 1991. This Mute release is also its American debut issue. The Times Up sessions represent the first time Buzzcocks ever ventured into a studio, in October 1976, three months before the Spiral Scratch sessions. They'd played their first gig July 20 (supporting SEX PISTOLS and SLAUGHTER AND THE DOGS, a gig Devoto promoted), and now they wanted to tape their whole set to get more shows. Not only do rougher versions of the Spiral Scratch tracks appear here, but the original Devoto-sung versions of three Another Music in a Different Kitchen-era tracks (vocalized later by Shelley) are also here: "Orgasm Addict" is so raw and even more clever and ironic with Devoto's delivery, you won't recognize it; the same to a lesser degree "You Tear Me Up" and "Love Battery" (all Devoto's words, after all! Who else wrote about sex so frankly?). The real prizes, though, are the ones that only appear on Times Up. "Lester Sands" ("Drop in the Ocean") is the hottest song in this set (why did the later Buzzcocks drop it?), with an amazing riff/hook. The other two "lost" tracks are actually covers (Buzzcocks never did covers thereafter), of CAPTAIN BEEFHEART's "I Love You, You Big Dummy" (Devoto later took that for a Magazine b-side) and a blistering detonation of THE TROGGS' 1966 #2 U.K. hit "I Can't Control Myself" (a later R.E.M. cover), one of primal punk's finest-ever redefining moments (I'll bet head Trogg REG PRESLEY flipped if and when he heard this), complete with Shelley and Devoto's superb call-response vocal on the "bah bah bah's." (Note: sadly no recording was set down of another Buzzcocks' '76 track, "Peking Hooligan.") All of this was recorded in one morning and afternoon live without a single overdub, on a cheap four track for a measly $85. Yet this is one of the greatest punk LPs ever made, so raw, glorious and yet entirely magical it's no artifact, it's breathlessly relevant a decade and a half later. Ditto Spiral Scratch if you don't have it, your life is not complete without "Boredom" alone! As essential a moment in U.K. punk as "Anarchy in the U.K." issued the month prior and "White Riot" the following month! Only in some ways even more enduring, and less particular to its time. These newest issues of both add dozens of photos, lyrics, and liner notes, too. Do not miss. As we said, this was an incredible moment of history that will always sound fresh, even in the centuries to come. (140 W. 22nd St., 10-A, N.Y., NY 10011; http://www.mute.com) |
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