Magazine - Real Life (1978)

'Definitive Gaze' is such an awesome opener. It's even got a drum break worth sampling.

 

This is on the 2007 expanded release as well. One of the great post punk albums of all time. Their follow up Secondhand Daylight is fantastic as well, but a notch below, as its missing a killer song like "Shot By Both Sides" or "The Light Pours Out of Me" (my absolute favorite by them).

 

Rhythm of Cruelty from Secondhand Daylight is my favourite song of theirs.

Magazine are one of the few bands I listened to as a kid that I still listen to now, quality stuff.

 

Memories:
I was also living in Manchester at the time (1975-79) and I remember the great anticipation that there was for Magazine. Howard Devoto was already seen as a sort of living legend because of his Buzzcocks days and that wonderful "Spiral Scratch" E.P. The build-up to the the arrival of the band was like the second coming. I went to their first gig at The Electric Circus and they blew the roof off. I can remember Howard singing Beefheart's "I Love You Big Dummy" with an inflatable sex doll over his shoulder and John McGeough (who was an art college acquaintance of mine) rocking away on "Shot By Both Sides".



Then there was a great gig in the basement club Rafters (the new place to go once the Circus had closed down because it didn't meet fire safety regulations) and then a magical night at the old Mecca ballroom.
I bought the album of course and enjoyed it for a while but in the end I got a little sick of Howard's voice (or his lack of one) and the synths really got on my nerves. At the time, after the initial punk explosion, there was a questioning of where it would go from there. How would it evolve? There was the feeling that it was Howard and his band that would be the instigators of a new direction, the evolution... but Joy Division wore that crown.

 

Got this... apparently over a year ago, I was told on the recommendation since I love the Foxx era Ultravox records. Kind of got swept under the rug right around the time I got into a ton of other bands.

Give it a listen? "art punk" is a term I love, and those early Foxx records sort of define that term for me...

 

Secondhand Daylight
Fav album by them!

 

I could be wrong - but "post punk" is a label added much much later.

 

My English cousin gave me this single, Secondhand Daylight, and a booklet of Magazine lyrics. He was a friend of Howard Devoto's. I was a young kid on holiday in England once and staying at my cousin's in Leamington Spa and had decided to visit London. Devoto was living there so my cousin called him to see if I could stay at his place. Howard said no and my cousin was really pissed at him after he hung up the phone.

 

I actually prefer album version with more polished sound.

 

Real Life is a long-time favourite - I saw them touring in support of it and they were ace!

Secondhand Daylight is nearly as good.

Hmmmmm, when the first disc of Joy Division's Heart and Soul set is prised out of the CD player, which is where it is right now, mebbe Real Life replaces it...

 

I have this which was bought on release.

A friend of my brother had the album which I borrowed and taped which is why I didn't have the LP itself until 1990.

It goes on my best of the year whenever there's a thread on 1978 - looking back it's amazing how quickly some bands and musicians left the basic punk style behind. "Spiral Scratch" was released in Jan 77, and Real Life in June 78.

Love the whole album - and a real "OMG!" moment was hearing the opening bars of "The Light Pours out Of Me" when they reformed and played in 2009 - but the favourite for me is "Parade"- a prefect album closer on one of the best debut albums ever.

 

Great post. I remember a friend of mine raving about 'Secondhand Daylight' and bringing round to my house to play in 1980. Later that evening we headed out to see The Only Ones play at our local Uni. Fantastic music around 1978-80.

 

Honestly don't think they released a single or album that was less than amazing. Shot by Both Sides is a fantastic opening salvo, rightfully mentioned as a top 10 all-timer of the era. And yes, the energy on the single version trounces the LP version.

Gotta say my absolute favorite Magazine track is the magnificent Song from Under the Floorboards.

 

This great band never gets the "short shrift" from me! Yes, rather lost in the history books, but not forgotten.

BTW, I appear on their live album Play (I was in the audience), from memory XTC was the support. A wonderful night at our boxing arena Festival Hall (where The Beatles also played in Melbourne).

 

I beg to differ.

I saw Magazine and Joy Division at the Manchester Apollo around the same time, late 1979.

Magazine were supported by Simple Minds (still the only support band I've ever seen get a deserved encore) in a packed Apollo, where as Joy Division supported Buzzcocks to an almost empty balcony (except Tony Wilson and Factory colleagues with their video recorder - 'Here Are The Young Men' VHS) and a far from full stalls. Joy Division played to relatively small crowds when I saw them, and their stock rose only after Ian Curtis took his own life. The brand 'Joy Division' took off after the shock of that suicide, the release of 'Closer' and the hit single 'LWTUA', but Ian Curtis rarely looked out at a sea of faces.

 

I'm not concerned with packed houses, sales or whatever, I mean that artistically it was JD who were the revelation. In the Russel Club, they and in particularly Ian Curtis were mesmerizing. They really opened a door to where it could all go. Simple Minds, Ultravox and especially U2 also saw that and built their respective careers on it. Magazine sort of fizzled away into a corner.

 

One of the best debut albums by any band.

The follow up, Secondhand Daylight, is quite a good listen itself.

Just picked this up at the record store a few weeks ago for very cheap, and was glad to get it, as it contains a lot of non-album tracks.



It has a different version of "Shot By Both Sides" on it (as well as "Rhythm Of Cruelty"). Was this the early version that was lost?

I now have all their studio records except for The Correct Use Of Soap, which I have on CD. The first two are by far the best.

 

Alternate version of "Shot" in the box set.....

 

True.

 

Oh yes, I forgot about that third studio version officially released, the one that starts with a drum one-two, whereas the other two single/album have full-band starts.
Third best I would suggest.

 

I never heard that and don't actually believe it. The single version was included on the After the Fact compilation in 1982. I would guess they rerecorded it for the LP just to provide value for money with a fresh version, as groups often did in that time (like the Clash remaking White Riot for LP.) Plus, the rest of the album featured the keyboard player who wasn't there for the 45 recording, so the remake fit better in that case.

 

Peel Sessions is well worth getting too.

 

I've read that in a MOJO magazine, probably late 90s, early 00s. As you said "After The Fact" is from 1982. Four years after "Real Life". So maybe the single master had been temporarily mislaid.

 

I've bought a complete lot of early Magazine singles off thE bay around 2003 for next to nothing, most of them are fantastic, stuff like "Touch & Go" or "Give Me Everything" are also non-album tracks. Cool "Goldfinger" cover.