FEATURE:
Love Battery
Buzzcocks’ Another Music in a Different Kitchen at Forty-Five
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A tremendous debut from a legendary band…
IN THIS PHOTO: John Maher, Steve Diggle, Pete Shelley and Steve Garvey of the Buzzcocks in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Fin Costello/Redferns
Another Music in a Different Kitchen by Buzzcocks was released on 10th March, 1978. Even though it was the debut from the band, it was the Buzzcocks’ third line-up. Guitarist Pete Shelley sings on Another Music in a Different Kitchen following the departure of the original vocalist Howard Devoto. Bass guitarist Garth Smith was also fired. You would think this would lead to some dislocation and a sense of transition. Maybe some weaknesses at the edges. Instead, the Buzzcocks’ debut is fully formed and astonishing! Even though I am not a big fan of the album’s title – as it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense grammatically or in any other way -, you cannot quibble with the music on it! There was a 1996 reissue that included tracks like Whatever Happened To?, Orgasm Addict, and What Do I Get? The stunning original features Fast Cars, Love Battery, I Don’t Mind, and I Need. It is a classic album that turns forty-five very soon. I cannot find too many features about the album and its impact. There are reviews online concerning Another Music in a Different Kitchen, so it is only right to bring them in. Even if you are not a fan of the Buzzcocks or have not heard this album, it is well worth getting on vinyl, as there is a lot to respect and cherish. This is what Rough Trade say about the album and its vinyl release:
“Buzzcocks' first album, Another Music in a Different Kitchen from 1978 is a major punk landmark and a great record to boot. it's full of fire, wit, speed, philosophical lyrics and gender explorations. Released after the departure of Howard Devoto, this is one of the truly essential punk rock albums. It's aggressive and raw but the band also had pop hooks to spare. Lovingly restored and re-mastered from the original ¼” tapes for the first time and come packaged in the original Malcolm Garrett designed sleeves with a booklet containing unseen images and extensive liner notes by famed writer, broadcaster, music journalist and cultural commentator Jon Savage”.
I will move on to a couple of reviews. In their take on Buzzcocks’ Another Music in a Different Kitchen, AllMusic mention some of the band’s influences that can be heard from an amazing debut album. It is clear that one of the seminal Punk bands of their era released something monumental back in 1978. This is an album that still resonates, inspires, and moves people:
“General judgment holds the Buzzcocks' peerless singles, the definition of punk-pop at its finest, as the best expression of their work. However, while the singles showcased one particular side of the band, albums like the group's long-playing debut Another Music showcased the foursome's other influences, sometimes brilliantly. The big secret is Shelley's worship of Krautrock's obsessive focus on repetition and rhythm, which transforms what would be "simply" basic punk songs into at-times monstrous epics. The ghost of Can particular hovers even on some of the shorter songs -- unsurprising, given Shelley's worship of that band's guitarist Michael Karoli. "Moving Away From the Pulsebeat" is the best instance of this, with a rumbling Maher rhythm supporting some trancelike guitar lines. As for the sheer rush of pop craziness, Another Music is simply crammed with stellar examples. Lead-off track "Fast Cars" starts with the opening of Spiral Scratch's "Boredom"'s intentionally hilarious two-note solo intact, before ripping into a slightly bemusing critique of the objects in question. Most of the similar tracks on the album may be more distinct for their speed, but Shelley in particular always seems to sneak in at least one astonishing line per song, sometimes on his own and sometimes thanks to Devoto via older cowritten tunes redone for the record. One favorite standout: "All this slurping and sucking -- it's putting me off my food!" on "You Tear Me Up." Top all this off with any number of perfect moments -- the guitar work during the breaks on "Love Battery," the energizing yet nervous coda of "Fiction Romance," the soaring angst throughout "I Don't Mind" -- and Another Music flat out succeeds”.
I am going to wrap up soon. I want to end with David Quantick’s review for the BBC from 2010. I am not sure whether it is the case now but, in 2010, he named it his favourite album ever. He makes some great cases as to why it is such a stellar and remarkable listen. An essential album that should be in everyone’s collection, let’s hope new listeners pick up Buzzcocks’ debut ahead of its 10th March anniversary:
“Often dismissed at the time as a uniform, dull and oiky movement, punk rock threw up, sometimes almost literally, an immense variety of bands, from the 60s psychedelica of The Stranglers and the RnB of The Jam, to the icy noir of Siouxsie and the Banshees and the luminous plastic satire of X-Ray Spex. But most inventive of all were Buzzcocks, who began with the cheapo Steve Harley-esque sneer of Howard Devoto but, when he left, turned into the greatest world-weary but somehow innocent punk pop group.
The term “perfect pop” is misused to hell, because it’s mostly applied to bands that never went near the charts; but Buzzcocks were pop, in that they consistently had top 20 singles. In Pete Shelley – angelic, sexually ambiguous, eyebrow-raised – they had one of the best songwriters of the time, and in Steve Diggle – loud, mod, a bit barky – they had his perfect foil, and a man also capable of great songwriting.
Another Music in a Different Kitchen was their debut album. Everything about it – from its silver, orange-lettered sleeve to Martin Rushent’s aluminium-sheen production – is right. The songs are all brilliant pop tunes in the classic style, but with lyrics whose doomed romanticism would put John Lennon to shame, and the kind of riffs that only a Stooges and T.Rex fan could write. From I Don’t Mind’s woozy declaration that “reality’s a dream” to Sixteen’s stentorian “And I hate modern music! Disco! Boogie! Pop!”, Another Music… was as melodic as pop has ever been and as honest and real as any plaid-faced grunge act.
Best of all, it wasn’t just a set of songs: it was an album. Upgrading and referencing the Spiral Scratch EP’s Boredom as bookends to the whole thing, Another Music… mixed Shelley’s remakes of Devoto lyrics (Fast Cars being a standout) with new brilliance like I Don’t Mind. Diggle added one of Buzzcocks’ greatest songs, the otoric genius of Autonomy. And the whole thing finales with punk’s greatest end-of-side-two track, the epic Moving Away From the Pulsebeat, which still sounds like nothing else ever recorded. It’s my favourite album ever; buy it and find out why”.
A terrific album that still sounds fresh and revealing to this day – thanks to the phenomenal songwriting and Martin Rushent’s production -, a happy forthcoming forty-fifth anniversary to Buzzcocks’ Another Music in a Different Kitchen. It started a run of genius albums. Love Bites arrived later in 1978. A Different Kind of Tension came out in 1979. Such a prolific and wonderful band, Buzzcocks were remarkable, fully formed and assured right from the start! It is sad that we lost Pete Shelley in 2018. Even though he is gone, what he helped create on A Different Kind of Tension will live and shine…
FOREVER more.