Black Cat Bone

Let's see how this works

"Shot by Both Sides"
"Touch and Go"
"Give Me Everything"
"Rhythm of Cruelty"
"A Song from Under the Floorboards"
"Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)"
"Upside Down"
Sweetheart Contract EP
About the Weather EP

V

"Damaged Goods"
"At Home He's a Tourist"
"Damaged Goods"/"I Found That Essence Rare"
"Outside the Trains Don't Run on Time"
"What We All Want"
"Cheeseburger"
"To Hell With Poverty!"
"I Love A Man In Uniform"
"Call Me Up"
"Is it Love?"
"Silver Lining"
"I Will Be a Good Boy (live)"

(.. singles lists taken from Wikipedia for releases between 78 and 84)

I lived for those Go4 songs when I was younger and still enjoy them on occasion. I must admit to not knowing or even remember hearing the Magazine songs, although I have heard of the band. I can't see going back to discover them now.

mag

hookfinger wrote: I must admit to not knowing or even remember hearing the Magazine songs, although I have heard of the band. I can't see going back to discover them now.

I find that doesn't really work with this sort of thing - that if I didn't catch something when it was happening, I'm not likely to enjoy it decades later.

Case in point: I came to Magazine late and they didn't do anything for me.

Magazine walk this for me. What an incredible run of singles. What an amazing band, they really widened the scope of what was possible in music after punk closed down so many avenues.

mantochanga wrote:Magazine walk this for me. What an incredible run of singles. What an amazing band.

This, plus I found Go4 irritating. Always felt they were pretending more than they delivered

Go4 had a truly wild and inventive guitar sound though. I find the didactic vocals a turn off these days though.

Have a told my Andy Gill story? Quite a character.

Anyway, the didactic elements of Go4 did get to be a bit much, but the first few singles are brilliant. And "I Found That Essence Rare" knocks any objections into the bin- it comes on as balls-to-the-wall as any AC/DC or Ramones track you can name. It's one of my favorite singles ever by anybody, let alone the ones we've been talking about. And the rhythm section makes it as much as Gill.

Magazine have always mystified me. Aside from a song or two here or there, they just sound like generic post-punk to me.

toomanyhatz wrote:
Magazine have always mystified me. Aside from a song or two here or there, they just sound like generic post-punk to me.

They had a lot more variety than that.

toomanyhatz wrote:Have a told my Andy Gill story? Quite a character.

well........?

Magazine, because they never had Edie Reader as a backing vocalist.

The G Experience! wrote:Go4 had a truly wild and inventive guitar sound though. I find the didactic vocals a turn off these days though.

Ditto.

Was I Love a Man in Uniform considered an early single?

sloopjohnc wrote:
Was I Love a Man in Uniform considered an early single?

I wouldn't think. Hadn't Sara Lee joined the band by then?

I came to both pretty late, like the late 90s when I was 30 years old.

But I got Gang of 4 immediately. They remind me of the Minutemen in some ways, that choppy guitar sound, the shouted poetry that makes up most of the lyrics, and funky/agitated rhythm section. (Though there are also big differences; Go4 are more like actual dance music, and minus the Creedence/ Kiss influence.) I saw the reunited original band do what I think was the last show of their reunion tour and it more than met any expectations, they were sweaty and loud and absolutely shit hot. My interest starts to fade around the time of Man In Uniform, though I really liked it when they played that song on the reunion tour; even though Burnham and Allen don't play on the single, they made it their own that night.

I like Magazine, enjoyed hearing their first album when I finally got it a few years ago. It just didn't hit me that hard and I haven't been inclined to investigate a lot further.

There's always been a real UK/US divide on the board with these bands. Like the other Americans who have responded to this thread, Magazine have never clicked for me at all. Gang of Four, on the other hand . . . I regret I never saw them.

Magazine, easily.

Go4 were dreadful. Skinny cunts shouting slogans that Manchester Poly Socialist Workers would have rejected for sounding naive. And so fuck that they had 'scratchy guitars'?

Armed with (a level of) maturity I'll go heavily for Magazine.

Having said that, if GoF had released "Paralysed" as a single I'd have been slightly harder pushed to make a decision.

Baron of the Flies wrote:There's always been a real UK/US divide on the board with these bands. Like the other Americans who have responded to this thread, Magazine have never clicked for me at all.

I'm not disparaging Magazine. I bought the import single, Shot by Both Sides, Second Hand Daylight and the Correct Use of Soap. Got played a lot.

But you're right - I liked the harder edge of Gang of Four better. Howard Devoto always seemed like he wanted to be punk's Bryan Ferry and Magazine to be Roxy Music after the Buzzcocks.

Gang of 4. I just like them better all around and would give them my vote on the basis of Armalite Rifle alone.

But Magazine's run of singles was very good and I can still enjoy listening to them on a playlist. It was on their albums where they lost the plot. Or rather, could never find a plot and settle-upon it.

Baron of the Flies wrote:Gang of Four, on the other hand . . . I regret I never saw them.

They were a great live band in their prime and the reunion show I saw with Mattyredsox down in Philly a few years ago was darned good too. They could really get a crowd moving with their abrasive funk and there was terrific energy and joy coming from the stage.

The live thing is another big mark in the negative column for Magazine. I saw them once, at Hurrah's. Musically, there was a detached muso vibe about the whole evening and the musicians all looked like they’d have rather been doing their laundry. Devoto had steps welded to his custom mic-stand and would crawl/slither up the thing and curl himself around it… kinda cool at first, but the shtick got really old after a few songs and it was his only trick.