Sounds 26 April 1980 ***** by Dave McCullough

Howie relaxes in his luxury apartment by Tom Sheehans

Howard Devoto 'human' shock claim NOW thAT Howard Devoto and Magazine have long fled the arduous and partly self-inflicted expectations that surrounded 'Real Life' - and now that they've escaped the silly but significant outrage and conspiracy that almost clouded over the masterly 'Secondhand Daylight' - they at last have the chance to relax - step aside and remind us of how much they have to offer.

Throw aside all those prejudices and misconceptions. for 'The Correct Use Of Soap' is from any aspect a magnificent record - a brilliantly rounded and complete set of songs that marginally clarify the Devoto myths and at the same time establish many more ghosts and spirits for the curious.

Almost certainly - it will come as a surprise. For Magazine followers - the album is a severe swerving away from the grandiose and intense trail that 'Secondhand Daylight' was apparently setting - and for the uninitiated or the neglected it must sound an unusually urgent - sparse - immediate and hopeful Lp. From the opening white heat raciness of 'Because You're Frightened' - through the short sharp body punches of 'Model Worker' and 'I'm A Party' - you're left in little doubt as to the new and compressed Magazine sound. where of the 'soap' of the title initially suggests all the benefits of a good - thorough spring-clean.

At first - it's tempting to look to the reinstatement of the ubiquitous Martin 'Spiral Scratch' Hannett as producer. and certainly he appears significant in giving the band a different perspective; but that's only half the story. Magazine sound superficially altered - shifted - swung round; but the basis of the songs - Devoto's persona - hasn't changed - indeed hasn't by any means been dissipated. It's opened out a fraction - opened inward maybe - inviting and calling out - leaving thumb-nail sketches of songs now instead of aloof and lonely portraits that only half-succeeded.

The thumb-nail sketches are hard enough in themselves - though. Magazine have always been infuriatingly theatric. Always elusive - hiding - sneering at the expense perhaps of communicating. I still can't move to 'Real Life' and 'Secondhand Daylight' took ages - months to reveal itself as a great album. 'The Correct Use Of Soap' is different - it pulls you in immediately like a big happy fairground instead of the usual chamber of horrors - but after you've admired the many colours - wondered at Devoto' singing a ballad - struggling with blues and soul - you realise that in fact it's not that facile a set of songs after all - there's just as much - maybe more depth and airey spirit here as there's ever been in Magazine.

It's perhaps because Devoto has learnt to communicate? Not quite; Magazine still sound at times pompous and proud - to their detriment - rigid and formal and stiff. But now they show at least a willingness to climb down - to be human - to cry and scream in their music without quite so much overlying calculatedness and imperiousness as before. That's why this album is so good: Devoto Sounds melting - less inhibited by anticipation - more intimate - far more of flesh and blood.

Some of his musical sleights of hand are breathtaking. Like the end of - 'Philadelphia' - a song of American ennui ("The truth's in drugs and outer space/Maybe it's right to be nervous now") - where at the end - over John McGeoch's guitar - the sound rises and soars in a hell-fire - shiny fast crescendo - only to end brusquely with a hollow - empty echo. Summing-up the hollowness of lazy Americana traditions - summing-up how effective and disarmingly sharp Magazine are. How sharp you have to be to catch the tricks and the repeated lines and phrases - the thematic depths of the record that stretch fleetingly across Devoto's apparent guilt - the transference of the political to the romantic ('I'm A Party' - 'Model Worker') - seemingly homosexual romance ('I Want To Burn Again') - self-assessment and a feeling of reawakening. I nearly fell off my chair when on 'You Never Knew Me' - the slow - soothing ballad - he dismisses the girl with a typical "You never knew me/You're ignorant that way" - only to stutter across the rising chorus in despairing forgiveness"I'm sorry - I'm sorry". Again and again; the - self-effacement Sounds so wonderfully untypical of him !

I could go on endlessly (for instance - along with PIL Magazine are one of the few bands championing and trailblazing the effective use of synths and moogs - a Very Important Point). I have my reservations still. Magazine are still partially 80's coffee table - just another trendy album to add to the trendy modern(e) collection. Devoto's too good for that routine.

But that's shortsighted. I used to want to hit Howard Devoto. now I want to hug him. He angers me. He keeps me awake. He gets under my skin at times still - and that's good. He's changed - I've changed. He's alive and kicking - so am I. Welcome to the world again - Howard.

Sounds 3/24 May 1980

Stacking bars of soap in a fireplace and eating soap at breakfast.

Sounds 19 jul 80

NME 21 Jun 1980 Lynn Hanna

Howard dispenses with the flannel by Chalkie Davies

Howardie comes clean EVER since Magazine started - they've been expected to fulfil almost impossible expectations. First exalted - then condemned - they've always been judged by high standards. Perhaps that is what caused them to retreat into the introspective self-Importance of 'Secondhand Daylight' - as Howard Devoto celebrated the Inscrutable mysteries of his own mental glamour.

Then for reasons that Magazine themselves are probably - unable to explain - a tour of America or - more likely - the musical chemistry between the band members - they've recently seen a resurgence of activity. Three singles issued in quick succession - a string of concerts. In this country - a reported 14 or 15 tracks recorded for the album - and - of course - their new album Itself.

The title 'The Correct Use Of Soap' Is taken from a barely distinguishable line on the of one of the singles. But whether Its name is intended to be irritating - Ironic or a droll disguise - the album is an attempt to breathe a less-rarefied air and break out of the precious atmosphere that had almost stifled them. It comes in a simple sleeve - the songs have uncontrived titles - and Magazine have at last made an album that is personal rather than a conscious projection of a calculated persona.

The start of side one is only the first surprise. 'Because You're Frightened' is an exhilarated rush of light - bright sound - as if they've suddenly shed a wearying weight of complacent pretension.

Instead of reclining all over the record - Devoto's voice Sounds shaken end involved ins way that I haven't heard since 'Spiral Scratch'.

Fear - love - the fear of love and love of fear - are the album's fixations. For the first time in Magazine's history - intellect is applied to honest emotion - in an album that Is self-absorbed but no longer claustrophobic.

As Devoto admits in 'Model Worker': 'I've been Indulging in ostentatious display.'

His deft way of twisting words makes the mental surrender of 'I'm A Party' both hurt and humorous. 'Take me with you/I don't know where I've been/So all things being equal/I won't know where we're going/Do me a favour/Do whatever you want to/I will let you hurt me/Because I know It hurts you too.'

'You Never Knew Me' Is moodily evocative - as Devoto embraces vulnerable fallibility: 'I'm sorry/I'm sorry I can't be cancelled out like this/We had to kill so much before we could even kiss/I don't know/I don't know whether lever knew you/I know you never knew me.' And his quietly repeated question Is far from rhetorical as he asks at the end: 'Do you want to?' -

The fast - excited 'Philadelphia' ends a side of enjoyable pep In the purest tradition - provoking - specific but strangely universal. By contrast - side two shows a desire to experiment that succeeds in every track.

It starts with a song that spins slowly into a dizzying sweep of sound as Devoto's deliberate delivery offers a brilliant balance of appraisal and experience: 'The newcomer arrives/possession and guilt in his face/apologises to the customs man/for the gaping hole in his suitcase- I'm ditching an empty suitcase/I've been living in storytown/I've been swimming in poisons. I've been blown about for years/on my way to you/but I still turn to love.' 'I Want To Burn Again' must be also a metaphor for his own mental state.

In the context of the album - Sly Stone's 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)' takes an entirely different perspective. And although they are both Magazine originals - the next two tracks are unnervingly familiar. Some delicately tangled dance-floor drumming drives 'Sweetheart Contract' that with its airy - girlish backing vocals is part parody yet as enchanted and entranced as very early Pink Floyd. 'Stuck' stalks a primeval landscape of raw soul-funk that has cunningly rearranged the components in a distorted approximation of the styles while Devoto declaims: 'I may love you out of weakness/Is that what I was afraid of?'

'Song From Under The Floorboards' ends the album and in many ways it's the most explicit - ambitious and elegant incarnation of Devoto to date as he revels in a lucid - loved degradation: 'The proudest jewel inside of me/glows with pleasure at my own stupidity- I used to make phantoms I could later chase/Images of all that could be desired/Then I got tired of counting all these blessings/Then I just got tired.'

Martin Hannett - the man who produced 'Spiral Scratch'. not to mention Joy Division's 'Unknown Pleasures' - has matched Magazine's skill with their new-found freshness so that they've never sounded more and more fulfilled. And Devoto's voyeuristic attitude to his own growth makes the album a vivid examination of a mind in which sensation is synonymous with analysis and the shedding of inhibitions an event which merits meticulous attention.

'The Correct Use Of Soap' makes 'Secondhand Daylight' superfluous in that it's the logical synthesis of the heady impatience of early Buzzcocks and the rich forceful flow of 'Real Life'. It is also Magazine's masterpiece.

1. [Because Your Frightened]
2. [Model Worker]
3. [I'm A Party]
4. [You Never Knew Me]
5. [Philadelphia]
6. [I Want To Burn Again]
7. [Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)]
8. [Sweetheart Contract]
9. [Stuck]
10. [Song From Under The Floorboards, A]

A Alternative Use Of Soap Lp - Virgin Canada V2156 1980 - Comes in die-cut sleeve, sleeve design a spare, empty version of the regular one [from ]

1. [Because Your Frightened]
2. [The Light Pours Out Of Me]
3. [You Never Knew Me]
4. [Upside Down]
5. [Sweetheart Contract]
6. [Song From Under The Floorboards, A]
7. [Philadelphia]
8. [I Want To Burn Again]
9. [Stuck]
10. [Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)]

MAGAZINE : 'The Correct Use Of Soap' (Virgin V2156)