NME 3 Jun 78 by Phil McNeil

It's a long overdue return to NME for a man who - apart from the odd lives review and the occasional snide T-Zer put about by Mancunian rivals - has not graced theses pages for a good three months.

I saw Devoto in the flesh not long ago - tripping over his mike stand at the Roundhouse and inadvertently puncturing his obnoxious display of self-important co-o-ol. I also saw him just last week - making a completes prat of himself on the Old Grey Whitsle Test - where his personal performances was probably the most pretentious that show has ever played host to. (You mean Eno hasn't been on? -Ed)

Devoto's posturing was made to look even more foolish by his juxtaposition on OGWT with The Jam -superficially far less sophisticated - hut so tense and committed it sent shivers down the spine.

Nor is Devoto's credibility helped by comparison with his old band. Buzzcocks - whose aesthetic continuity - approachability and lack of bullshit has gradually earned them the position of the country s leading new wave band.

But then - who wants to be a boring old new wave band anyway? Not Magazine - for a start. Like The Stranglers - the only thing they share with punk rock is an audience.

No question - these guys can play (just as well - as none of 'em will ever figure in a Sun Pretty Punks line-up). Their concerted power - in particular - is a continual buzz. A better drilled squad hasn't reared its head for a long time.

The songs - lyrics by Devoto - music usually by Devoto plus guitarist John McGeoch - all seem to be arranged to the last quaver - and very expertly arranged they are too. Meshes of riffs replace one another in meticulous - kaleidoscopic order - using the classic guitar/bass/drums/keyboards line-up to its full.

McGeoch is a fine - fierce - controlled guitar player - and Dave Formula - despite his soppy name - is a thoughtful keyboard player whose repertoire ranges from Mike Garson cocktail surrealist piano through subliminal organ chordings to android synthesizer riffs - often - as for instance in the opening 'title' track "Definitive Gaze" - all within the space of one song.

Martin Jackson and Barry Adamson likewise deploy their drums and bass with minimum flash and maximum effect.

The bone of contention is Devoto's singing. It is the most distinctive element - though I'm sure the whole band - especially the fiery McGeoch. will have its territory inviolably staked out by the time the third album comes around - but at the same - Devoto's vocals are the most restricted and - face it - just plain weak constituent here.

He now sings in a deep croak far removed from the old effete "Spiral Scratch" style - fleshing it out with a few Harley/Ferry upturned vowels. It's adequate - but hell have to lay off this whole hackneyed glam-rock mysterioso persona he has a tendency to fall into -lyrically (very rarely) - vocally (too often) and physically (all the time) - because it is the one affectation that currently defuses Magazine's positive drive.

Trackwise - the outstanding numbers are the two that erupted that night on So It Goes - if my memory serves me right - the single "Shot By Both Sides" - re-recorded with producer John Leckie and the addition of Dave Formula - and "Motorcade" - which was co-written by Magazine's original keyboards player Bob Dickinson.

Like most of the songs here"Motorcade" is open to personal interpretation - partly because of Devoto's reticent/cryptic lyrics - and partly because of the typically unusual subject matter -seemingly the Kennedy assassination. The initial build-up is etched with a fine air of menace and then - as the motorcade looms into view and the gunman takes aim - of adrenalin merging into panic. The death of the victim is drawn with wry - sombre surrealism against a superb anguished solo by McGeoch: "In the back of his car/Into the null and void he shoots/The man at the centre of the motorcade/Has learned to tie his boots."

There is no moral - beyond the vulnerability of any individuals no matter how powerful - and the power of the random factor - a demented gunman - in upsetting the most secure system.

The main impression that Devoto's writing seems to emanate - though - to be sure - it's hardly an obsession - is assertion of individuality.

"Shot By Both Sides" - where he is "shocked by what was allowed at the heart of the crowd" - seems to repeat the theme (why people should interpret it as an anthem of political moderation - I don't know - the title is the only possible basis.) Although the arrangement remains the same - the new - slightly slower - version of that song shows Magazine at their peak: building relentlessly to taut climaxes - always keeping enough in reserve to give it the element of control missing on the single.

The rest of the album is not so well defined as those two tracks - but every song is blindingly arranged - never sticking to one format - often changing the established riff structure at will so that - for Instance - a song might fade out on a new refrain constructed of other elements of the song.

It is a style that appeals on several levels: juggling with musteal structures - evoking aural pictures - moving the imagination and the emotions. Although completely different in style and 'attitude' - The Stranglers again come to mind as a band who cover a lot of the same bases. And - above all - both bands back up their compositional finesse with brusque power.

The only weak moments on "Real Life" come when Magazine relax that power. Devoto's one solo musical credit"Burst" - lacks the abrasive edge of the album's better tracks - while the Formula/Adamson song "Parade" is a rather flabby excursion into Euro-smoochiness a la "Aladdin Sane".

Nevertheless - Devoto has put together that most ideal of all mucical units - all too rare these days - a hard rock band with intellectual and musical muscle. Not - of course - that that necessarily guarantees that it wont get muselebound - and become either cumbersome or pretentious.

But at least it shows a real belef in rock - acknowledging its renewed importance to its audience's rather than the dopey 'anti-intellectual' -motivations of people putting together yet another three-chord buzzsaw conglomerate or - even worse (real pop kids like Will Birch excepted). some shallow fast pop group.

On Magazine and the other new mainstream rock bands -The Motors Tanz Der Youth - The Stranglers. The Only Ones. XTC. The Attractions. bands whose commitment Is not to any political attitude - and whose music is less obviously stylised than. say - Wire or Buzzcocks - on them hangs the artistic integrity of rocks immediate future.

This is not to endorse those groups - but merely to emphasize the central importance of thc unaligned rock mainstream in times when trends break down - for ultimately it is those bands who will decide whether ycr basic rock opens up new avenues or slips back into the easy cliches of the mid-'70s.

It's ironic - but Howard Devoto could actually turn out to be as important as he thinks he is.

Sounds 24 jun 78

1. [Definitive Gaze]
2. [My Tulpa]
3. [Shot By Both Sides]
4. [Recoil]
5. [Burst]
6. [Motorcade]
7. [The Great Beautician In The Sky]
8. [The Light Pours Out Of Me]
9. [Parade]

ShotByBothSides.com/mag_real.htm