Magazine - REAL LIFE - 1978 - UK Virgin PUNK/NEW WAVE - Vinyl Lp *NEAR MINT*
£
18
$
24
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Description
MAGAZINE Real Life 1978 UK VIRGIN 1st PRESS MINT
POST-PUNK MASTERPIECE - 1 PLAY - FLAWLESS SOUND
MAGAZINE
Real Life
UK VIRGIN (V 2100) FIRST PRESSING (June 1978) OF MAGAZINE'S DEBUT "Real Life"
SUPERB COPY - LIKE-NEW, BOTH COVER & VINYL - BRIGHT AND FRESH LABELS NO SPINDLE MARKS WHATSOEVER - HARDLY-PLAYED - IMMACULATE SOUND THROUGHOUT - STILL STATIC WHEN REMOVING LP FROM INNER!
VINYL: MINT
SLEEVE: MINT-
PLAIN INNER SLEEVE: MINT-
PRESSED WITH THE FIRST ISSUE BLUE VIRGIN LABELS
MARTIX: V2100 A1 / V2100 B1 (etched 'MR BLAIRS')
Howard Devoto had the foresight to promote two infamous Sex Pistols concerts in Manchester, and his vision was no less acute when he left Buzzcocks after recording Spiral Scratch.
Possibly sensing the festering of punk's clichés and limitations, and unquestionably not taken by the movement's beginnings, he bailed -- effectively skipping out on most of 1977 -- and resurfaced with Magazine.
"Shot by Both Sides," the band's first single, was based off an old riff given by Devoto's Buzzcocks partner Pete Shelley, and the guts of follow-up single "Touch and Go" were rather basic rev-and-vroom. And, like many punk bands, Magazine would likely cite David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Roxy Music. However -- this point is crucial -- instead of playing mindlessly sloppy variants of "Hang on to Yourself," "Search and Destroy," and "Virginia Plain," the band was inspired by the much more adventurous Low, The Idiot, and "For Your Pleasure."
That is the driving force behind Real Life's status as one of the post-punk era's major jump-off points. Punk's untethered energy is rigidly controlled, run through arrangements that are tightly wound, unpredictable, proficiently dynamic.
The rapidly careening "Shot by Both Sides" (up there with PiL's "Public Image" as an indelible post-punk single) and the slowly unfolding "Parade" (the closest thing to a ballad, its hook is "Sometimes I forget that we're supposed to be in love") are equally ill-at-ease.
The dynamism is all the more perceptible when Dave Formula's alternately flighty and assaultive keyboards are present: the opening "Definitive Gaze," for instance, switches between a sci-fi love theme and the score for a chase scene.
As close as the band comes to upstaging Devoto, the singer is central, with his live wire tendencies typically enhanced, rather than truly out-shined, by his mates. The interplay is at its best in "The Light Pours out of Me," a song that defines Magazine more than "Shot by Both Sides," while also functioning as the closest the band got to making an anthem.
Side 1:
Definitive Gaze (4:25)
My Tulpa (4:47)
Shot By Both Sides (4:01)
Recoil (2:50)
Burst (5:00)
Side 2:
Motorcade (5:41)
The Great Beautician In The Sky (4:56)
The Light Pours Out Of Me (4:36)
Parade (5:08)
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