Howard Devoto

Happy 70 To HOWARD DEVOTO (Buzzcocks -Magazine)

Posted on by JL

15 March 2022

Howard Andrew Trafford, better known as HOWARD DEVOTO
was born on 15 March 1952 in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England.

Happy 70 to the singer-songwriter who started his musical career as
frontman of the fab Manchester pop punks Buzzcocks along the late
great Pete Shelley.

Devoto and Shelley came up with the name Buzzcocks
after reading the headline, ‘It’s the Buzz, Cock!‘, in a review
of the TV Series Rock Follies in Time Out magazine.

Devoto left in 1977 after the band released their sublime Spiral Scratch EP
and he formed the top-notch post punk band Magazine (1977-1981). They
fabricated 5 albums with their debut LP Real Life as their masterpiece.
Devoto also made one solo album (1983).

Three great Devoto moments…

– BREAKDOWN – (from Buzzcocks‘s Spiral Scratch EP)

– A SONG FROM UNDER THE FLOORBOARDS –
(from third LP ‘The Correct Use Of Soap’)

– PARADE – (from Magazine‘s debut LP ‘Real Life‘)
(From the ebut album)

MAGAZINE: Facebook – All Albums

Classic Debut ‘REAL LIFE’ By MAGAZINE – Released 1978

Posted on by JL

Old and new albums to make your day…

27 January 2020

Band: Magazine (Manchester / 1977–1981, 2009–2011)

Album: Real Life – their outstanding debut LP

Released: June 1978

Score: Haunting, paranoid and edgy just like real life with several high-quality songs, experimental arrangements and lots of synths. One of the first essential post-punk albums. Frontman Howard Devote looked a bit like an alien and his outlandish voice
and vision were crucial for this record. Musically the late great guitarist John McGeoch was his ideal partner.
Highlights: Shot By Both Sides / My Tulpa / Parade / The Light Pours Out Of Me / The Great Beautician In The Sky

– SHOT BY BOTH SIDES –
(Cutting live version of the track Devoto wrote with the late
Pete Shelley and also appeared on the Buzzcocks debut EP)

.

– MY TULPA –


– PARADE –

– THE LIGHT POURS OUT OF ME –

– THE GREAT BEAUTICIAN IN THE SKY –

Album in full…

.
MAGAZINE: Facebook


Back sleeve

MAGAZINE Got ‘SHOT BY BOTH SIDES’ 40 Years Ago…

Posted on by JL

When timeless in sound and vision it’s a …

quotefield-kopie

19 January 2018

SHOT BY BOTH SIDES is an impressive jigsaw classic by MAGAZINE. Written by its frontman Howard Devoto and Buzzcocks’ mastermind Pete Shelley (they actually both formed pop punks Buzzcocks in 1976, Devoto left after a few months to start his own band). The song was inspired by Devoto‘s girlfriend who said to him after a political discussion: “Oh, you’ll end up shot by both sides” and has sonically nothing to do with punk whatsoever. It’s just a monumental, paranoid pushed up eruption released as a single on 20 January 1978, 40 years ago. Go frenzy here…

Audio version…

On legendary British TV show Top Of The Tops

MAGAZINE: Facebook – Discography

BUZZCOCKS – Reissue Of Memorable 7″ EP… ‘SPIRAL SCRATCH’

Posted on by JL

When it’s timeless in sound & and vision, it’s a…

quotefield-kopie

buzzcoks

Legendary Manchester band Buzzcocks, who injected punk with a roaring dose of infectious guitar pop back in the seventies, will reissue their 1977 DIY debut EP titled Spiral Scratch (with the wonderful Howard Devoto on vocals and who formed Magazine immediately afterwards, one of the first – and magnificent – new wave groups) , containing the four original tracks: Breakdown/Time’s Up/Boredom and Friends of Mine on 27th January and
also, on 10th March, a 12″ titled Time’s Up, an official studio bootleg documenting, with
11 tracks, their first-ever recording session (1976). All details here. You can stream the original audio version of the 4-track Spiral Scratch EP here on YouTube…

And the band, with two essential, original members – Steve Diggle and Pete Shelley – is
still alive and kicking. They released new album The Way in 2014 and are still gigging frequently. I got to go now and look for my personal, original copy of Spiral Scratch. But where, oh, where?…