Not sure how we missed this, but last month, Caroline Records imported the remastered & expanded back-catalog from Magazine, the new-wave band that Howard Devoto formed after leaving the Buzzcocks. Best known for the tense “Shot By Both Sides”–a track that seemingly appears on every single punk-history collection ever made–Magazine went to some dark places, especially when the ominous keyboards bubbled up underneath; for proof, check out “A Song From Under The Floorboards,” which contains one our our favorite self-loathing opening lines:
Magazine – A Song From Under The Floorboards [MP3, link expired]
Magazine – The Light Pours Out Of Me [MP3, link expired]
Magazine – Definitive Gaze [MP3, link expired]
Yes, yes, it’s all a rich tapestry. Where’s “My Tulpa”??
Yeah, but the thing about “Floorboards” is that those opening lines — the whole song, really — are funny. It’s also secretly New Orleans. (That piano!)
look up the phrase “criminally underrated” and there you’ll find a whole chapter on magazine. brilliant band.
moz’s cover of “floorboards” isn’t bad, either.
“look up the phrase “criminally underrated” and there you’ll find a whole chapter on magazine.”
Just don’t look in the US edition of Simon Reynolds’s recent postpunk book, Rip It Up and Start Again. It’s one of a few chapters that are only in the UK edition. Amazon.co.uk charges a lot for postage, but in this case, it was necessary.
Good call with “The Light…” but but but, no “Motorcade”? For SHAME Idolators!