The Gig That Mobilised Manchester? Lesser Free Trade Hall 20th July 1976

 

As much as I would love to conjure up a pristine recording of this famed gig I can't I am afraid. However, whilst this is not a new post (the link goes back to July 2023), such is the gravity of this particular anniversary it is worth directing people back to the 'I Swear I Was There' documentary DVD.

Having arranged a gig at Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall in June, Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto brought the Pistols back for a return fixture just six weeks later. This gig would be Buzzcocks first 'proper' gig (they weren't ready to play the June date)... oh and the actual first Buzzcocks gig occurred in April at the Bolton Institute of Technology.

Sex Pistols

(Lesser Free Trade Hall, Manchester 20th July 1976)

The story does not warrant a retelling here, watch the film for chapter and verse on that score. Suffice to say that if the 4th June gig was sparsely attended, the few that were there did a good job of spreading the word that something extraordinary was in the making and the return of the rag-tag cockney quartet was not something that the savvy ones should miss. And they didn't. On this night fifty years ago the Pistols played once more, watched by an audience that included the movers and shakers to be that would propel Manchester to a position of music prominence for the next 20 years or so.

It got press to from Jonh Ingham in the 31st July issue of Sounds too!

(Review from the collection of John Maher)

Here's the link to the DVD..... 'I Swear I Was There'.

The Price (Uxbridge Football Club 22nd December 1990) and Buzzcocks (Stardust Ballroom Hollywood 12th December 1979) - Got It Covered #1

 

Early yesterday evening, at the end of another working week, I picked up a pen and paper and put my mind to bands that have covered other people's songs (as mentioned earlier, it didn't take long for it to dawn on me that such a list would include nearly every band who have ever got to stage two of being in a band i.e. picking up an instrument (stage one of course involving coming up with a band name!)).

For some reason, one of the first bands that came to mind were The Price. A previous recording that I posted on here (Angler's Retreat, West Drayton... on here somewhere) saw them plating 'Ever Fallen In Love...' and 'Turning Japanese'. On this recording from Uxbridge Football Club where they played with TV Smith's Cheap at Christmas time 1990 they played a different Buzzcocks cover, the brilliant 'You Say You Don't Love Me' from their third studio album, 'A Different Kind Of Tension' released in 1979. 

I cannot recall why I was not at this gig.... the one in Uxbridge as opposed to the one in Hollywood. I can only assume that so close to Christmas I may have gone back to Sussex for the break.

A search for a flyer for this gig lead me to The Price's Facebook page, from which it became apparent that this gig was an early post on the Aural Sculptors site, but one that was lost in the technological ether as a consequence of the demise of the Rapidshare platform. So here it is again, with some artwork now. 

At the time Leigh posted a comment on this gig:

'I remember this show - Cheap were great as usual, and although our performance was somewhat hampered by our singer Malcolm over-indulging in Christmas spirit we played well too.

I saw Cheap play many times and they were rarely less than excellent. T'V. tells me that their one and only album 'R.I.P. - Everything Must Go!' is about to be reissued with extra tracks, which is good news as it means that more people may get to discover this criminally underrated band.

Incidentally The Price will be reforming to play at The London Punk Festival at The 229 Club in London on the last weekend of September, where I'm also playing with Ruts D.C. and T.V. Smith - as you say Adrian, the lengths I'll go to to avoid getting a normal job... (note this post is from 2012!)

Cheers - Leigh'

MP3: https://we.tl/t-zBnaemLa0EPXzci6

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-62A3Yf1oL2iyUvF3

And so to the original. 'You Say You Don't Love Me' is a Pete Shelley penned lament to unrequited love (on record at least he must have been one of the 'unluckiest in love' individuals in Greater Manchester!). The song appears on side one ('The Rose On The Chocolate Box'... side two being 'The Thorn Beneath The Rose'!) of 'A Different Kind Of Tension', the band's last before their original parting of the ways. 

'You say you don't love me

Well, that's alright with me, 'cause I have got the time

To wait in case someday you maybe change your mind

I've decided not to make the same mistakes this time around

As I'm tired of having heartaches, I've been thinking and I've found

I don't want to live in a dream, I want something real

And I think I understand now the way that you feel.'

Here are Buzzcocks on the US West Coast at the end of '79, promoting the album that had been released in the UK back in September.

But who did they play with in Los Angeles that December. The gig ad below indicates that the Alleycats and the Zippers provided support on the night. And I checked that the 12th December 1979 did fall on a Wednesday. Elsewhere on the net is a poster for the same date indicating that Squeeze were on the bill. It may be the case, but Squeeze had been in the US in April of that year supporting The Tubes and they appear to have been playing dates in the UK that bookend this Hollywood gig (Squeeze at St Mary College, London on 24th November (as part of a UK tour) and at Lewisham Odeon on 22nd December with the Police). Are there any Buzzcocks/Squeeze aficionado reading this who can set the record straight on this point?

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-4AKjogJRSDX5vdRK

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-Fm4ZPjTgBqEyPE4w

Buzzcocks Top Rank Suite Cardiff 10th May 1978

 

In my view, whilst 1977 could be claimed with reason by the Pistols, The Clash, The Damned and The Stranglers, 1978 belonged to Buzzzcocks. Like the Banshees, whilst Pete and Co were in the vanguard of UK punk it took them a long time to get signed and get an album out. But once UA had their signatures there was no stopping them. Two albums were forthcoming in 1978, 'Another Music in a Different Kitchen' in March and 'Love Bites' in September. With product came gigs and Manchester's Fab Four were hardly off the road in 1978. In March they toured with The Slits, in October and November with Subway Sect and in between times they squeezed in the 'Entertaining friends' tour with friends Penetration. It is from that tour that this little gem comes from.

On record Buzzcocks were very polished, the band benefiting greatly from the presence of Martin Rushent in the producers chair, live they were equally impressive but just that bit more raw sounding.

What a set to die for!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-oDHrD77veP

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-Xy9HXE1guM

The press were impressed too as evidened by this Record Mirror review of the band's appearance at Aylesbury Friars four days earlier.

BUZZCOCKS
Friars Aylesbury

WHERE have all the hippies gone? Aylesbury you let me down. Whatever happened to your long haired community, I suppose they've swopped their flowing locks for greasy crew cuts. Still its not how you look it’s what you look at that counts. Anyone could look at The Buzzcocks and enjoy them.

The music they are now creating is Universal. Before you think that I am (quite rightly) going over the top, let me admit that this was the best gig I have been to this year .. It was also the first time, and certainly not the last time, I will see The Buzzcocks in '78.

Right then pop pickers, lets do a bit of analyzing for you.

'Another music in a different kitchen', a weird title for an album which established The Buzzcocks as one of the most thoughtful and certainly the most talented new wave bands to emerge. Yes they are a new wave band, simply because they are pioneering a form of music which is full of imagination and mechanical energy. You can pogo to them and of course some morons still persist in showing their appreciation by spitting.

It 's strange how on stage the band keep an incredibly low profile, but still succeed in holding your concentrated attention. Pete Shelley doesn't believe in pretentiou's theatricals, but only has to rely on his distinctive loping Mancunian vocals to gain unconditional acceptance with any audience.

The band all look so ordinary that it makes the sounds they produce seem even more effective. Simple pop songs all with sixties sounding guitar hooks helps to satisfy the spikey head boppers. However the set reaches its climax during the hypnotic 'Autonomy' which has so much sheer 'musikal' originality that it made me wonder why bands like Devo are getting so much publicity when we have true innovators from the far more accessible industrial wasteland of Manchester.

Anyway, never mind the superlatives, here's the Buzzcocks.

PHILIP HALL

Buzzcocks/Johnny Moped/Wire/X-Ray Spex/Smak Roxy London 2nd April 1977 (Sounds 16th April 1977)

So, following on from the Johnny Moped Roxy sets, here's Jon Savage's assessment of the gig. Remember, this was the gig from which much of the 'Live At The Roxy' album content was culled. All things considered it is quite a favourable review.

Sounds (16th April 1977)

Buzzcocks/Johnny Moped/Wire/X-Ray Spex/Smak

ROXY

ROXY RATPACK, Saturday nite.

Find a friend and stick close: sink or swim. Tony and Julie were right: a club full of ‘Wild Boys’ outtakes and budding SS officers – (Sunday Times headline, Sunday April 3rd: ‘National Front Woos the Young’) – plenty of new faces as the music, fashion and attitude is spread by word of mouth and publicity. The soundtrack for this B-movie tonight is five bands, all of which use as a base Punk Rhythm I – the Ramones drill variant.

First on are Smak. They are so goddam awful that they’re hardly worth writing about, except that the main motive for their formation seems to have been to cash in. No style, no music, no presence, and lyrics half-digested platitudes. And they try to ‘shock’ – Yecch.

X-Ray Spex, of all the bands on tonite, seem to have the most potential for mass appeal. The sound is basic, but full and driving and, best of all, well mixed. (The Sax sound gives them an edge of difference). I suppose they’re fashion ‘n’ fun more than anything – Poly buzzes round the stage taking hecklers in her stride (Roxy Test I is how the bands deal with exploratory barracking) and forestalling most criticism with her songs: ‘I am A Cliché’, ‘I Can’t Do Anything’, ‘Bondage Up Yours’. She needs an audience and projects… most are converted, even Ari from The Slits, who came to pull mike wires.

Next are Wire: they short-circuit the audience totally, playing about 20 numbers, most about a minute long. The audience doesn’t know when one has finished and other is beginning. I like the band for that… good theatre. Image wise they look convincingly bug-eyed, flash speed automatons caught in a ’64 mod time-warp. As to songs: I’m really not sure – there seems to be some scheme of things, but this is buried in the poor sound and the limitations of the format. I caught the words to two songs, which I knew already: ‘Three Girl Rhumba’, and ‘One, Two X U’, which was the best of the set. There were glimpses of genuine originality: I’ll hold. The audience only really got interested when the bass player blew his stack at a heckler.

By the time Johnny Moped came on, one riff was beginning to merge into another… Wire’s poor sound and pretension had me blanked out so Moped didn’t grab my attention too much – watching. I could really take it or leave it. In fact, he’s fun, one of nature’s loons, he prowls round like a shabby tiger, sawn-off leather jacket and forehead full of hair. He’s one of the audience up on stage – the distance between them is minimal – and they love it. The band drives nicely – a solid rock sound. Best are a falsetto ‘Little Queenie’ and a version of ‘Hard Loving Man’. I still think he’ll remain a minor cult figure.

Four bands on into the punkathon: numb-out. All the better that the Buzzcocks are so good. Since the release of their EP, they’ve lost lead singer Howard Devoto, apparently pissed at the media monster that ‘punk’ has become – they’ve recruited a new bassist, Garth, switched the vocals to the Starway guitarist, Pete Shelley, and rehearsed.

The last is manifest; they excel at tight band work – no posing, no gobbing, no half-baked ideas of punkismo, just energy, presence and commitment. They sing and play because they have something to say. It isn’t particulary high-flown, brief jottings of everyday small incidents of boredom, frustration and despair., as the supermarkets and motorways spread. The titles tell: ‘Orgasm Addict’ – ‘Fast Cards’ – ‘Oh Shit’ – ‘Friends of Mine’ – ‘What Do I Get’.Their image/music mesh is good too – the flat Mancunian accent and laconic dryness fitting the lyrics and the cheap as a siren guitar sound.

As befits a band with Product, they get an encore (deserved): interestingly, they don’t do their most obviously anthemic song, ‘Boredom’, but a new one – ‘Love Battery’. Showing that they’ve transcended Devoto’s loss.

So – simply – hard driving speeded up rock, felt and meant and real, a reminder (after so much wretched excess) of how good ‘new wave’ music can be, Let’s hope the audience comes to them,

Jon Savage.

Buzzcocks And Magazine 'B'Dum B'Dum' A Granada TV Special 1978

 

I think that I would have got this documentary originally from Punktorrents. This is an excellent Granada TV special spotlighting the progress to date of Manchester's Buzzcocks and Magazine. In interview's with Tony Wilson, both Shelley and Devoto discuss their writing and motivations as well as the early incarnation of Buzzcocks. The documentary also features some excellent footage of a 'reunion' gig of sorts when Devoto once again joined his former Buzzcocks band mates on stage at a gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester on 21st July 1978 to mark the second anniversary of the gig where they supported Sex Pistols.

DVD Image: https://we.tl/t-dmVamrCurT

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-riUIvSPuOZ

Buzzcocks 1980 Home Demos for 4th Album

 

I believe that this collection of demos has been in circulation for sometime. The artwork that I have put together is accurate in one sense in that the material in this collection was demoed with the intention that the final songs would become the basis of the fourth Buzzcocks album. On the other hand, it should be noted that these songs are performed in these rudimentary states by Diggle and Shelley separately i.e. without the involvement of each other or John Maher and Steve Garvey. 

It does seem apparent that the two principal song writers in the band were pulling in different directions in a musical sense at this point. Pete Shelley especially has already embraced electronica with which he would continue to work with Martin Rushent during 1981, a collaboration that was to bring him significant critical acclaim with 'Homosapien'. The two named songs from Shelley in this collection, 'I Get A Feeling' and 'Guess I Must have Been In Love With Myself' went on to appear on that first solo album. Steve Diggle's contributions are more aligned with the pop/rock sound that Buzzcocks were known for.

The tensions within the band arising from relentless touring schedules over a number of years, not helped by an excessive intake of drink and drugs, pulled them apart in March 1981 as described in this piece that appeared in the 28th March issue of New Musical Express.

I would have to wait another 8 1/2 years before I got to see them.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-Fj8TnjHRil

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-A92UYyogIH

Pete Shelley 70 - Buzzcocks GLR Session 13th April 1994

 

My Facebook feed informed me that yesterday would have been Pete Shelley's 70th birthday. Yesterday, I also received my copy of 'Yesterday Is Not Here: Radio Sessions 1979-1983'. A nice coincidence. I do not usually bother so much with Record Store Day. I struggle to see the relevance of a rerelease of an album for £30 just to have it on luminous vinyl. Such releases, if offering nothing new musically, seem to be of interest only from a monitary perspective... something to be held on to as an investment or to be touted on eBay at twice the price a week after RSD. That it helps independent Record outlets I would of course applaud though. This radio sessions album does however offer something new... to my ears at least and hearing Pete's Mancunian tones that has put me in a Buzzcocks mood. 

Here's a GLR (BBC Greater London Radio) session from 13th April 1994.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-iXEhaeIKcj

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-gqn2Huqm6j

Buzzcocks Band On The Wall Manchester 8th November 1976

 

This choice was prompted by a visit made by Gunta and I into London yesterday. The reason for the trip was two fold, to see 'The Face' exhibition currently on at the National Portrait Gallery followed by 'Leigh Bowery' hosted by the Tate Modern on the Southbank. We crossed back over (under) the river on the Northern Line from London Bridge to Angel for something to eat. Later in the evening I was meeting a couple of old school mates in Highbury so we took a slow walk up Upper Street that took us past the 'Screen On The Green', the location of the a pivotal early punk gig that featured the Pistols, The Clash and Buzzcocks. It always thrills me to see one of the venues with a key link to the scene still standing and functioning as a working cinema.

This gig is another of those very early gigs that cemented Buzzcocks as punks leading lights (northern branch). Here at The Band on The Wall in Manchester. The sound is pretty good for it's age and the equipment that was available at the time.

MP3: https://we.tl/t-LSyPsOpgi5

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-4GMgiHgv0N

Spotlight on Andrew Lauder (New Musical Express 3rd March 1978)

Here's a brief insight into the world of Andrew Lauder, the record company executive, who when with United Artists signed The Stranglers, and along with the acquisition of Buzzcocks, made UA one of the big league independent labels behind punk.

This piece comes from the time when, having left United Artists, he was setting up Radar Records that really got behind Elvis Costello & The Attractions.

I found it interesting what he said of the punk scene as it existed in early 1978.

"In 1977," he theorises, "a new generation of kids discovered rock 'n' roll for the first time. This year many of them will learn how to play it and those who've already learned to play it are now learning how to write it".

He hit the nail on the head with that opinion I thought. Those bands that had survived the madness of punk could within 18 months play their instruments and were therefore free to produce some very exiting and totally diverse material... the reason why 1979 can be considered to be the best year for British misic ever!

Pete Shelley 'Cue The Music' Live In London 1986 DVD

Looking for a suitable post for the ongoing 1987 thread I was dipping my toes into old music press from the previous year amd some stuff came up relating to this little chap. 1986 saw the release of a new Pete Shelley album, 'Heaven and the Sea'. I have talked about it before on these pages, about what a remarkable album it is, despite falling victim to a degree of the overblown production that marred many an album that appeared in the secong half of the decade.

This is a recording of an episode of the ITV series 'Cue The Music' hosted by Mike Mansfield and on occasion (as here) by the comedian Tony Slattery, who we lost last month. I have two versions of this recording, one that I prepared and authoured an another downloaded years ago from Punktorrents authoured by Bandit999. Of the two versions, my version I think my version has a slightly clearer picture and so that is the one I have chosen to share here.

DVD Image: https://we.tl/t-hj1cUFoae6

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-5rA83AvpBr

01. Intro

02. Waiting For Love

03. On Your Own

04. Never Again

05. My Dreams

06. Blue Eyes

07. If You Ask Me (I Won't Say No)

08. No Moon

09. Telephone Operator

10. Homosapien

11. Something's Gone Wrong Again

In addition, below is the announcement from Record Mirror of his tour.... I would have loved to have seen him play the Zap Club in Brighton! Do anyone have any recordings from this tour. The closest that I have is the shortened support slot that he played with The Damned at the 10th Anniversary gig in Finsbury Park.

Record Mirror 8th November 1986

Finally, here's a contemporary review of a gig from this period that he played at The Warehouse in Leeds.

Record Mirror 17th May 1986

RockPop (German TV) Compilation

 

I received this DVD in a trade last week... a trade! I haven't done one of those in the longest time. To be honest I was not aware that this was in circulation. I had seen some of the excellent RockPop footage that appears here on other compilations (Buzzcocks, The Rezillos), so I was hopeful that the quality of the footage on this compilation would be comparable and it is! The only critisism I would have is that throughout, the programme designers included a TV screen through which the footage is seen.. a watching television on television effect. I guess that this was just another case of programme producers experimenting with early video technology that was coming into play in the late '70s/early '80s, which with hindsight does nothing to enhance the audiences viewing experience, if anything the outcome is precisely the opposite. That notwithstanding, the footage is excellent, opening with a 'Nice 'N' Sleazy' that I had never seen before. 

Most of the footage featured sits reasonably comfortably on a 'Punk & New Wave' compilation. There are some exceptions.... Cheap Trick for one. For some reason over many years that band have quite often cropped up on new wave compilations... to my ears they are American college rock, a long way from New Wave, regardless of whether you are considering New Wave from a US or UK perspective. I guess the cover of 'Since You've Been Gone' by Cherie and Marie Currie gets a foot in the door by virtue of the former having been a member of The Runaways.

Some of the other stuff is just interesting to see. John Foxx's Ultravox side by side with the Midge Ure version, Toyah's 'Neon Womb' from 'Sheep Farming In Barnet', the best song the band ever recorded and a typically madcap showing from Devo.

Aside from the 'new' Stranglers' footage my highlight is the inclusion of 'Die Roboter' by those Dusseldorf funsters, Kraftwerk. Brilliant to watch!

DVD Disc Image: https://we.tl/t-ehWwOH67tM

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-GaUfzEYrEl

Buzzcocks Irving Plaza New York11th September 2024

 

Buzzcocks were for me about a close as it was possible to get to perfect pop music, they really were 'Manchester's Fab Four'. In 2024, the politics of gender are a hot topic and here Pete Shelley was ahead of the curve more than 45 years ago. None of his bitter sweet love songs were gender non-specific, a fact that I don't think many people realised until years later Shelley explained aspects of his songwriting. Like many I felt his loss very badly a few years ago at the age of just 63. But, I count myself lucky that I was at his last gig in Belfast. As for the Post-Pete Buzzcocks, to be honest I cannot get to grips with it. Funny given that I follow a band with only one original member remaining but that's just the way that it is in my head (not so harmonious). 

Thanks to the original Dime poster (paprick).

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-xF5q5h0P7A

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-UxEKIEMvpV

Buzzcocks BBC Radio 5 11th June 1991

 

I suprised myself today when I realised that at no time in this site's lifetime have I posted this brilliant session. Having got over the nostalgia bit of their 1989 reunion tour of the UK and the US, it was back down to the age old rock 'n' roll business of making records. The new material from the band had a tricky birth. In 1991 an album was near completed in terms of demos when the decision was made to scrap it. The album was quite hot property for some years... it is available now having seen a release a few years back. I do not know what the band's gripe was with it, it had some really good material on it, some of which saw the light of day whilst some of it was sunk, until the recent release. The three new tracks 'Alive Tonight', 'Last To Know' and 'Who Will Help Me To Forget?' played in this session featured on that aborted 1991 album, but did also see an official release at the time as a single along with the track 'Successful Street'.

According to Pete, this Radio 5 session was the first live session that the band had ever done, all of the numerous others that the band had done over their career to date having been pre-recorded.

This is one of two Buzzcocks' BBC sessions I have that were for some reason omtted from the 1998 'BBC Sessions' CD release or the excellent 'Late For The Train (Live And In Session 1989 - 2016)' box set of 2021.

For the record, the album that did see the light of day in 1993 in the form of 'Trade Test Tramsmissions' was just fantastic. For me it is the best 'comeback' album by any band!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-MF1rp3XWM6

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-jo0dSiZc2E

Buzzcocks Radio 1 One World Session 2nd April 2003 (TFTLTYTD # 14)

https://we.tl/t-isEKMhdShR

 

I am a sucker for radio sessions. For the fan for whom official releases are never enough, sessions provided/provide that bit extra. In the UK, John Peel led the way with this format whereby bands would turn up to a studio and bang out three or four tracks in super quick time. This on the fly aspect only adds to the charm of session tracks. Funny thing is that despite the breakneck rate at which tracks have to be laid down.... one take and your done, for many fans and musicians alike session versions of songs can sometimes become the definative version. It is not unknown for a track that has been recorded in a matter of hours to knock spots of the 'official' version that was slavishly recorded over days in the studio! Maybe it is that urgency, that immediacy that makes all the difference... and perhaps more so from bands coming out of the punk era, a getting back to basics kind of thing.

Of the session itself, there is more in the info file included in the download. As mentioned this was a promotional session for the 'Buzzcocks' album, a fine album it is too. Of the two songs from the album, 'Jerk' and 'Lester Sands', only the former was new for 2003. The latter was more contemporaneous with 'Breakdown'. An early track and a thinly veiled attack on American music critic Lester Bangs... 

'Lester Sands is a stupid fucker/Lester Sands will stay that way'.

So, having ackowledged my love of radio sessions, this one is to remember Pete Shelley who left us at the age of just 63. I don't get too overly emotional when a musician I like dies, maybe I am just hard hearted. The Stranglers got me, Bowie did too, not to mention Terry Hall and Pete Shelley was right up there. I was numb when the news came through.

I note that this is available elsewhere online. I think that I got this from Dime, so thanks to the originaluploader, thebasement67.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-isEKMhdShR

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-LYmxhGJxxR

Anarchy In Manchester DVD

Still coming down from our recent long weekend in Manchester and the magnificence of the Southern Cemetery, and following on from my Joy Division cemetery trail, I have one more Manchester related post to make for now.

This post also acknowledges the sad demise of the punktorrents site, a source of some great audio and visual unofficial material. 

It was now 38 years ago that ITV (I think it was) put together a TV programme to mark the 10th anniversary of punk. In the summer of 1986 I was 17 and very receptive to this music, some of which I was familiar with, some of which I was hearing for the first time. Certainly I had heard of all of the bands as a lot of them were still active in 1986 and still enjoying a degree of popularity (Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Stranglers  and Elvis Costello), other bands such as The Jam has called it a day within the last few years. The Clash whilst split were still very active individually (Joe Strummer was playing as were Big Audio Dynamite and Havana 3AM). What was new to me was some of the footage.

The footage that featured in this new anniversary compilation drew together live footage and interview clips from the Granada TV arts and entertainment magazine show, 'So It Goes' that ran for two series between July 1976 and December 1977. As such it spanned the full lifetime of the first wave of British punk. The music part of the programming was presented by Tony Wilson, who used his influence at the station to get the 'new music' on to television and into young people's homes, whether the parents liked it or not. The Granada cameras couldn't have been better placed to capture the energy and exuberance of that first wave, warts and all (or should that be gob and all).

The programme that I saw (and subsequent rehashes) featured some of my favourite punk footage of all time, The Clash performing 'What's My Name' under a monsoon of phegm (always one of my favourite Clash songs), Buzzcocks with 'What Do I Get? ('Don't gob at me!') and of course the first TV exposure for the Pistols with a blistering studio rendition of 'Anarchy'.

In the intervening years since 1986, the footage has appeared in various forms, both officially and unofficially. An official VHS video entitled 'Punk' was released in 1992 featured The Stranglers performing 'Something Better Change' and 'No More Heroes' at the Hope & Anchor, as well as alternative tracks from Siouxsie and The Jam for example.

The two disc version included here was obtained from Punktorrents and has been brilliantly authoured with menus by Bandit999. The set features all six episodes that formed the 'Anarchy In Manchester' series. This series was newly compiled with narration from John Cooper Clarke and broadcast in 2014 on Sky Arts.

It cannot be considered to be the definitive collection because quite a few additional performances appear on different DVD/VHS variants, but it is pretty damn good and the quality is excellent. 

The big surprise here, given that it is all about Manchester and 'So It Goes' was Tony Wilson's baby is that the compilers of this latest collection omitted to include the Joy Division appearance on the show where they performed 'Shadowplay'.

See what you think.

Disc 1 image: https://we.tl/t-yyR5LMFbsq

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-sHb0QguhC4

Disc 2 image:https://we.tl/t-eSUFy0VpZl

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-P2qCHTrIu8

So It Goes (1977)

Rebroadcast On Sky Arts (2014)

Episode One

John Cooper Clarke Intro

Sex Pistols – Anarchy In The Uk

John Cooper Clarke – Majorca

Buzzcocks – What Do I Get?

Malcolm Mclaren – Interview

Penetration – Don’t Dictate

The Jam – Slow Down

Episode Two

John Cooper Clarke Intro

The Stranglers – Something Better Change

John Cooper Clarke – You’ll Never See A Nipple In The Daily Express

Nick Lowe – Shake An Pop

The Clash – Capital Radio

The Clash – Janie Jones

Ian Dury – A Bus Driver’s Prayer

Elvis Costello – Lip Service

Episode Three

John Cooper Clarke Intro

Elvis Costello & The Attractions – I Don’t Want To Go To Chelsea

Magazine – Motorcade

Siouxsie & The Banshees – Make Up To Break Up

Mink Deville – Little Girl

Magazine – Shot By Both Sides

Episode Four

John Cooper Clarke Intro

The Pirates – I Can Tell

Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers – Interview

Tom Robinson Band – 2-4-6-8 Motorway

Iggy Pop- Interview

Iggy Pop – The Passenger

Iggy Pop – Lust For Life

Episode Five

John Cooper Clarke Intro

Elvis Costello & The Attractions – No Dancing

Poly Styrene – Interview

The Jam – In The City

The Jam – All Around The World

Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Watching The Detectives

Tom Robinson Band – Glad To Be Gay

Episode Six

John Cooper Clarke Intro

Steel Pulse – Macka Splaff

Xtc – Neon Shuffle

Muddy Waters – The Blues Had A Baby

The Clash – What’s My Name

The Clash - Garageland

Street Music - No Heroes No Legends - Various Artists (United Artists GP577)

 

Well, this Japanese import is a new one on me. A solid tracklisting from United Artists clutch of punk and new wave bands that warranted a full five star review in the 5th August 1978 issue of Record Mirror. 

Anyone have this?

Take a look at this for a track list!

Buzzcocks Musiktheater Piano Dortmund 11th April 2024

 

Ok, let's try this on for size. Dispatches from the Stone Valley South front last night were less than complementary about Buzzcocks' performance. This is a difficult one, running this predominantly Stranglers related site it would be a bit rich for me to disparage any band for the reason of only having one original member in the line up! And yet The Stranglers situation sits easier with me than it does for Buzzcocks. I guess it is something to do with the stage chemistry that JJ enjoys with Baz, something that I do not see or hear with the post-Pete Buzzcocks. In fairness to Diggle and Co, they have released new material so the charge of resting on the band's laurels doesn't stand. Its just that....

... I have taken issue with the band in the past (the Fred Perry sponsored appearance at the garage in London being a case in point) where Steve's champagne shenanigans rock star pose grated, as did a 10 minute plus wig-out that 'Harmony In My Head' has become.

I have nothing against a band continuing under such circumstances and indeed I wish them well, long may they continue to entertain their audience. For me however, I will stick with the memories of some great gigs that (unknown at the time) culminated in the last Buzzcocks gig that Pete played in Belfast.

But don't let this old cynic dictate to you good people. Give it a listen and make up your own mind.

My thanks as ever go to Peter in Dusseldorf for sharing this file with me and the Aural Sculptors site. As ever, much appreciated.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-kY8jVzocba

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-7YZB80oPd3