BUZZCOCKS: SINGLES GOING STEADY (1979)
1) Orgasm Addict; 2) What Do I
Get; 3) I Don't Mind; 4) Love You More; 5) Ever Fallen In Love; 6) Promises; 7)
Everybody's Happy Nowadays; 8) Harmony In My Head; 9*) You Say You Don't Love
Me; 10*) Are Everything; 11*) Strange Thing; 12*) Running Free; 13) What Ever
Happened To; 14) Oh Shit!; 15) Autonomy; 16) Noise Annoys; 17) Just Lust; 18)
Lipstick; 19) Why Can't I Touch It; 20) Something's Gone Wrong Again; 21*)
Raison D'Etre; 22*) Why She's The Girl From The Chainstore; 23*) Airwaves
Dream; 24*) What Do You Know.
This compilation of singles was America's
(rather belated, as it often happens) introduction to the noisy pop magic of
the Buzzcocks, and it has since acquired such a legendary status that I can
hardly add any interesting thoughts or observations to what you all already
know — other than, perhaps, the curious note that I arrived at this chronologically, and this means that on a subconscious
level, the Buzzcocks are as much an «album band» for me as they are a «singles
band»: in any case, it is certainly not true that all of their singles are pop genius, or that all of their albums are stuffed with thoughtless filler.
For one thing, the band's first single, ʽOrgasm Addictʼ, once its oh-so-shocking nature
quickly wore down, is a really stupid song whose only point seems to be
«telling it as it is», rather than coyly hiding behind innuendos, and hardly
has any instrumental or vocal appeal — it just intends to strike a common
chords with, you know, those of us who do
have the problem upon reaching puberty. Which is, well, probably most of us,
you know, but even if you never grow out of the problem, you will eventually grow out of the song at
least, as it's really no great shakes. In fact, its B-side, ʽWhat Ever Happened
To...ʼ, with its first appearance of the band's pop harmonies and its
ironic-nostalgic mood, reminding you of the Kinks (think ʽWhere Have All The
Good Times Gone?ʼ), is already vastly superior.
Already the second single, ʽWhat Do I Get?ʼ,
however, establishes a largely unbreakable pattern: the Buzzocks are a loud pop
band rather than a punk band, with a knack for simple, instantly efficient
hooks, second to none but the Ramones — nobody could that effectively wedge a slice of weepy sadness ("what do I
get, whoah-whoah, what do I get?", with that inimitably plaintive accent
on I) into a fast-moving,
chainsaw-buzz-driven tune. Also, this time, they are smarter and they place the
«offensive» track in B-side position: I have no idea if ʽOh Shitʼ marked the
first ever appearance of the word "shit" in a song title, but it
certainly must have held the local record for the number of times the word was
pronounced, and yes, it does serve as
the song's primary hook, which is inventive, but eventually gets a little
tiresome.
Some of the songs inevitably overlap with
tracks that were already included on previous LPs (remember, though, that the
Americans hadn't heard any of those, so this was probably their first meeting
with gems like ʽI Don't Mindʼ or ʽEver Fallen In Loveʼ), but considering the
overall wealth of material, that is no big tragedy, and all these songs
certainly deserve additional listens. That said, in terms of diversity of
approach and subtlety of hooks I would say that the Buzzcocks do not become
true «monsters of sound» until 1979 comes along, by which time excellent songs
just roll off the conveyer belt, but each one in its individual packaging.
ʽEverybody's Happy Nowadaysʼ combines a cozy
folksy verse melody (amusingly similar to the one on Dylan's ʽBuckets Of Rainʼ:
compare "life is sad, life is a bust" and "life's an illusion,
love is a dream") with a tongue-in-cheek falsetto chorus and a ringing
four-note riff that give the song an aura of frailty and fluffiness, clashing with
Shelley's sly glam-vocal delivery of the verse. And then you have its B-side,
ʽWhy Can't I Touch Itʼ (non-spoiler: you never get to really understand what
the "it" is in question, and no, it's not the "it" you're probably thinking of at the moment),
stretched out to more than six minutes despite really only having one verse and
an embryonic bit of a chorus — but they probably understood that they hit upon
such a fine groove, with two guitars and a persistent bassline conversing with
each other, that they were reluctant to let it go, and it just keeps on
pulsating like some enigmatic mantra — I can't properly explain the appeal, but
there is definitely something trance-inducing here.
Finally, the Diggle-written and Diggle-sung ʽHarmony
In My Headʼ happens to be Henry Rollins' favorite Buzzcocks song — probably
not because it has the audacity to substitute the required guitar solo for a
revised version of Black Sabbath's ʽParanoidʼ riff, but because of Diggle's
«visionary» lyrics and the song's paradoxical nature, where the lyrical and
musical confusion of the verses are stated to be the equivalent of the softly
sung, melodically played "harmony in my head" bit of the chorus.
Normally, you'd expect the chorus to explode after the already explosive verse
— instead, it calms and softens things down, implying that noise is silence,
confusion is stability, chaos is order, and the Buzzcocks are really the ghost
of Nick Drake in disguise. But no, in reality they still take queues from the
Stooges, as you can see from the B-side, ʽSomething's Gone Wrong Againʼ:
doesn't that nagging one-note piano line remind you of John Cale's minimalistic
addition to ʽI Wanna Be Your Dogʼ ten years ago? They should have dedicated
this one to the Stooges and the
Velvets, particularly since I can so
imagine Lou Reed grumbling "Tried to find my sock, no good it's lost,
something's gone wrong again" on any of the 1967-69 albums.
The 2001 CD reissue of the record has
significantly expanded it, trying to preserve the original principle (A-sides
on side A, B-sides on side B) by adding one more contemporary single (to no
special purpose, since both of its sides would be included on A Different Kind Of Tension) and six
more A- and B-sides from their last
three singles from the early 1980s, which were originally made available on the
EP Parts 1, 2, 3 already in 1981.
Unfortunately, those six songs are clearly inferior — not only was the band
already disintegrating, suffering from a lack of focus and a surplus of heroin,
but they were also piss-poorly produced, with an awfully tinny drum sound, plastic
guitars, and occasional cheesy synth overdubs. There are still some hooks
(ʽWhat Do You Knowʼ) and some humor (ʽWhy, She's The Girl From The Chainstoreʼ
is worth it for the title alone), but overall, I'd at least suggest
re-programming the album in such a way that these tracks do not rupture the
near-perfect flow of the original. (You could also try to reprogram the
original, for that matter, so that each A-side is paired with its B-side, but
that is not crucial, you just get two chronological channels instead of one).
So, is this the best possible Buzzcocks album?
in other words, were they a proverbial «singles band»? Honestly, I don't know —
their LPs weren't all that «conceptual» in the first place, either. Singles Going Steady does have the
benefit of being a compilation, even if nobody selected the material for them, and
the B-sides are important, because stuff like ʽWhy Can't I Touch Itʼ and
ʽSomething's Gone Wrong Againʼ goes beyond the standard pop-punk formula. Who
really cares, though? Those early albums and
singles all reflected the same musical philosophy, and all of this stuff is
indispensable not just for those interested in the punk fashions of late 1970s
Britain, but for all those interested in good music, period. Thumbs up
even if you're no longer a sexually frustrated teenager, because there's no
better way for even a 70-year old veteran to feel like a sexually frustrated
teenager than to dig in to some of these Buzzcock singles.
Now this is interesting; not for what's on the album but for what's missing. The DKOT and 80s singles might have been added, but the tracks from Spiral Scratch - their REAL first single and an item inextricably tied up with the story of punk and new wave - hasn't been, presumably because different parties own the recordings. It's not that it's particularly good. The tracks are similar in style to Orgasm Addict and I remember seeing them play it on a local television program (I'm from Manchester) thinking what a load of rubbish. Stupid two-note guitar solo. The point is they recorded it, pressed the singles and distributed it all by themselves. Thus they showed that you didn't need a record company behind you to do this kind of thing.
ReplyDeleteGeorge has a bit of a downer on punk, looking through the old starling.ru pages and I can see why you wouldn't think it up to much if you were only born in 1976. Those of us who lived through it find it very hard to describe how it affected the outlook of anyone connected with music, both positively and negatively. It really was a case of 'You had to be there'. Spiral Scratch and the Buzzcocks were a part of the legend that grew up around New Wave and why we thought it was a sea change. I think possibly the only comparable change was that which where recent technology has allowed people to make saleable music in their own bedrooms. I'm sure those that are living through it think it to be a similar revolution. I'm too old to appreciate it properly. Not that I would swap :)