Buzzcocks : Ever Fallen in Love
In September of 1979 The Buzzcocks offered two albums for the back to school crowd. Singles Going Steady remains the must have album for any even vaguely familiar with the Manchester band's history of fusing punk energy into remarkably catchy pop song. Released by I.R.S. Records as a primer for American audiences, it includes eight A-sides and their formidable B sides from 1977's "Orgasm Addict" to the recent summer's "Harmony in My Head". Sez Robert Christgau:
The Buzzcocks' knack for the title hook and the catchy backup chorus, along with their apparently asocial lyrics, tempts tastemakers in jaded olde England to dismiss them as mere pop, but over here their high-speed, high-register attack sounds powerful indeed.
The album finished at #20 in 1979's Pazz and Jop Critic's poll. It remains absolutely essential.
Buzzcocks : Hollow Inside
September is also the month the Buzzcocks released their third and final album of the glory years, A Different Kind of Tension. It's Buzzcocks style punk pop on side one ( aka "The Rose on the Chocolate Box") with more experimental forays on side two (aka "The Thorn Beneath The Rose"). The critics weren't overwhelmed. Red Starr of Smash Hits called it "likeable but predictable--the slightly seedy wimp pop formula is getting threadbare", and Rolling Stone's Mikal Gilmore found it repetitive "resulting in a catchall of reworked riffs and static, similar tempos". Over the years the album's stock has raised considerably.
