Buzzcocks The Academy New York 21st July 1991 (TFTLTYTD#2)

 

All of those people who once said that punk was just a noise made by 'musicians' that couldn't play their instruments just weren't really listening, or were listening to some really bad bands... I remember an argument on the school bus with someone in the year above who believed that punk was just heavy metal played badly... Judas Priest anyone?

Buzzcocks did not just make a noise. Over the three albums that the band recorded during their first incarnation Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle wrote a soundtrack to the teenage condition. Shelley in particular was peerless in his ability to produce kitchen sink dramas in 3 minute episodes. What's more, he was 45 years ahead of his time in his writing. A man open about his bisexuality from the start, his songs were lyrically gender neutral by design... boy meets girl, boy meets boy, girl meets girl... you decide, it had no relevance in his songs.

The band first split up in 1981 after a gig in Hamburg (recorded for posterity in 'Auf Wiedersehen') when the members that were considered to be the 'classic line-up (Shelley, Diggle, Garvey and Maher), burned out by touring and bad rock 'n' roll habits went their separate ways. In 1989, that same line up reformed (much to my delight) for dates in the US and UK. Bolstered by a hugely positive reception, the band wrote and recorded new material in demo form. For a reason that I have never really understood, the planned 'comeback' album based on these demo recordings was binned. These demos, long in the hands of fans, only finally saw a release in the last couple of years. Some of those tracks, especially 'Dreaming' and 'Why Compromise?' were classic Buzzcocks tracks that amazingly did not make the final cut when the band did finally release an album of new material in 1993 when 'Trade Test Transmissions' was released. 'TTT' in my opinion is one of the finest 'comeback' album seeing Pete, still unlucky in love, recounting his further tales of angst and frustration. The album bears all the hallmarks of Buzzcocks, but with a nod towards the indie sound of the early nineties (again strongly influenced by another generation of Manchester guitar bands). More information on the 'Trade Test Transmissions' album can be found here.

In their second incarnation, Buzzcocks doubled their initial recorded output with the release of a further six studio albums and whilst for me, 'TTT' was the best, each of the subsequent albums contained at least some of the glittering poetic magic that was Pete Shelley's stock in trade.

Buzzcocks went on to have a second wind that lasted from 1989 to 2018 when Pete played his last gig with the band on 25th August 2018, a gig I feel privileged to have witnessed. Pete Shelley succumbed to a heart attack in Tallinn, Estonia on 6th December 2018. Steve Diggle has continued to play under the Buzzcocks banner with the band's last line-up less Pete.

The family at the Pete Shelley memorial mural

(Leigh, Greater Manchester)

Many thanks to the original Dime uploader (notsaved) of this great quality recording from New York in 1991 that brilliantly showcases the pre-split material as well as new songs from the 1991 demos.

FLAC: https://go.wetransfer.com/t-B7ir9xlkQA

Artwork: https://go.wetransfer.com/t-xLWeoD67D2

01. Intro
02. I Don’t Mind
03. Love You More
04. Chat
05. Who’ll Help Me To Forget?
06. Alive Tonight
07. Tranquilizer
08. Never Gonna Give It Up
09. 16 Again
10. The Last To Know
11. Chat
12. Autonomy
13. Chat
14. Get On Our Own
15. Successful Street
16. Why Compromise?
17. Moving Away From The Pulsebeat
18. Everybody’s Happy Nowadays

01. Everybody’s Happy Nowadays (Cont)
02. Chat
03. Dreaming
04. When Love Turns Around
05. Mad Mad Judy
06. Harmony In My Head
07. What Do I Get?
08. Chat
09. Ever Fallen In Love With Someone (You Shouldn’t Have)?
10. Encore Break
11. Promises
12. Fast Cars
13. Noise Annoys
14. Orgasm Addict
15. Boredom
16. Outro