buzzcocks

Buzzcocks playing full albums on tour (dates), reissuing some too w/ bonus songs (track lists)

by Bill Pearis

Buzzcocks

Manchester punk legends Buzzcocks are mounting a 22-date North American tour where they’ll play their first two albums, Another Music in a Different Kitchen and Love Bites (both released in 1978) in their entirety “plus other hits.” The NYC stop is May 13  at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza. Tickets are on Live Nation presale now (password = GUITAR) and go on general sale Saturday (4/3) at 10am.

One of the truly greats, The Buzzcocks bridged punk and powerpop and their tuneful tales of teen angst were the blueprint for pretty much all all popular pop-punk from Green Day on. If you don’t own (or haven’t heard) Singles Going Steady, you should stop reading this blog right now and rectify that. Not just one the most essential documents of the punk era, it’s one of the greatest records ever.

That compilation is such a classic, people sometimes forget the Buzzcocks actual studio albums from the same era. Mute recently reissued the band’s first three LPs, Another Music in a Different Kitchen, Love Bites, and A Different Kind of Tension, all with bonus discs containing b-sides, demos, Peel Sessions, live versions, etc. All three are pretty excellent but — I gotta admit — I’m most partial to the final one,  A Different Kind of Tension, which adds a paranoid edge to the proceedings. Its reissue also comes with the non-LP singles from around the same time that were compiled on the Parts 1, 2, 3 EP. But all three are worth picking up.

What’s amazing, beyond the quality, is almost all of this was written and recorded in a two-year period. As almost all of their songs dealt with matters of the heart (and other body organs), their music hasn’t really dated at all. Their records since main men Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle reformed the band in the early ’90s, while less essential, are pretty good too.

Live, The Buzzcocks have still got it. (or at least they did the last time I saw them, mid-’00s.) Diggle especially seems to truly still love playing these songs. I wish they could coerce original drummer John Maher (arguably UK punk’s greatest drummer, along with Rat Scabies) to go back out with them, but their rhythm section is tight. And, of course, those songs, many of which have probably never been played in America before.

Click through for all Buzzc0cks tour dates, full trackslists for those reissues, plus some vintage (and recent) video.

Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen in Love

Buzzcocks – What Do I Get?

Buzzcocks – Promises

Buzzcocks – 2010 Tour Dates
Tuesday, May 11, 2010 Washington, DC Black Cat
Wednesday, May 12, 2010 Baltimore, MD Ottobar
Thursday, May 13, 2010 New York, NY The Filmore at Irving Plaza
Friday, May 14, 2010 Philadelphia, PA Trocadero
Saturday, May 15, 2010 Farmingdale, NY Crazy Donkey
Monday, May 17, 2010 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 Montreal, QC Le National
Wednesday, May 19, 2010 Toronto, ON Opera House
Friday, May 21, 2010 Cleveland, OH Peabody’s
Saturday, May 22, 2010 Detroit, MI St. Andrews Hall
Sunday, May 23, 2010 Chicago, IL Double Door
Monday, May 24, 2010 Minneapolis, MN Fine Line Music Café
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 Winnepeg, MB Pyramid Cabaret
Friday, May 28, 2010 Edmonton, AB New City Compound
Saturday, May 29, 2010 Calgary, AB Republik
Monday, May 31, 2010 Vancouver, BC Venue
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 Portland, OR Berbati’s Pan
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 Seattle, WA El Corazon
Friday, June 4, 2010 Oakland, CA Uptown
Saturday, June 5, 2010 Los Angeles, CA Club Nokia at L.A. Live
Sunday, June 06, 2010 Anaheim, CA House Of Blues
Monday, June 7, 2010 San Diego, CA House of Blues

BUZZCOCKS EXPANDED EDITION REISSUES FULL TRACK LISTINGS:
Another Music In A Different Kitchen
1-Fast Cars
2-No Reply
3-You Tear Me Up
4-Get On Our Own
5-Love Battery
6-Sixteen
7-I Don’t Mind
8-Fiction Romance
9-Autonomy
10-I Need
11-Moving Away From The Pulsebeat
Associated Singles
12-Orgasm Addict
13-Whatever Happened To…?
14-What Do I Get
15-Oh Shit
BBC Session
John Peel Show 7/9/77 TX 19/9/77
16-Fast Cars (2.15)
17-(Moving Away From The) Pulsebeat (4.40)
18-What Do I Get (2.50)
CD 2
1-Boredom (demo)
2-Fast Cars (demo)
3-No Reply (demo)
4-You Tear Me Up (demo)*
5-Get On Our Own (demo) *
6-Sixteen (demo)
7-I Don’t Mind (demo) *
8-Fiction Romance (demo)
9-Autonomy (demo)
10-I Need (demo)
11-Orgasm Addict (demo)*
12-What Do I Get (demo)*
13-Whatever Happened To…? (demo)
14-Oh Shit (demo)

LIVE AT THE ELECTRIC CIRCUS 15-Fast Cars (live)*
16-Fiction Romance (live)*
17-Boredom (live)*
18-Sixteen (live)*
19-You Tear Me Up (live)*
20-Orgasm Addict (live)*
21-Moving Away From The Pulsebeat (live)*
22-Love Battery*
23-Time’s Up
*previously unreleased

Love Bites
1-Real World
2-Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)
3-Operators Manual
4-Nostalgia
5-Just Lust
6-Sixteen Again
7-Walking Distance
8-Love is Lies
9-Nothing Left
10-E.S.P.
11-Late For The Train
Associated singles
12-Love You More
13-Noise Annoys
14-Promises
15-Lipstick
BBC Sessions
John Peel Show 10/4/78 TX 17/4/78
16-Noise Annoys (2.55)
17-Walking Distance (2.00)
18-Late For The Train (5.10)
John Peel Show 18/10/78 TX 23/10/78
19-Promises (2.29)
20-Lipstick (2.40)
21-Sixteen Again (3.14)
John Peel Show 21/5/79 TX 28/5/79
22- E.S.P.

CD 2
1-Love Is Life (Lies) (demo)*
2-Just Lust (demo)
3-Operatoros Manual (demo)*
4-Ever Fallen In Love (demo)*
5-Nothing Left (demo)*
6-Sixteen Again (demo)*
7-Raison D’etre (demo)*
8-Real World *
9-Nostalgia (demo)*
10-E.S.P (demo)
11-Lipstick (demo)
12-Children (Promises) (demo)
13-Mother Of Turds (demo)

LIVE AT LESSER FREE TRADE HALL 21/7/1978 (previously unreleased)
14-Breakdown*
15-What Do I Get*
16-I Don’t Mind*
17-Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t ‘ve)*
18-Noise Annoys*
19-Nothing Left*
20-Get On Our Own*
21-Love You More*
22-Fiction Romance*
23-Autonomy*
*previously unreleased

A Different Kind Of Tension
1-Paradise
2-Sitting ’round At Home
3-You Say You Don’t Love Me
4-You Know You Can’t Help It
5-Mad Mad Judy
6-Raison D’Etre
7-I Don’t Know What To Do With My Life
8-Money
9-Hollow Inside
10- A Different Kind Of Tension
11-I Believe
12-Radio Nine
Associated Singles
13-Everybody’s Happy Nowadays
14-Why Can’t I Touch It
15-Harmony In My Head
16-Something’s Gone Wrong Again
CD 2
Associated Singles
1-Are Everything
2-Why She’s A Girl From The Chainstore
3-Airwaves Dream
4-Strange Thing
5-What Do You Know?
6-Running Free
7-I Look Alone
Demos
8-You Say You Don’t Love Me (Demo)
9-I Don’t Know What To Do With My Life (Demo)
10-Harmony In My Head (Demo)*
11-I Don’t Know (Demo)
12-Run Away From Home (Demo)
13-The Drive System (Demo)
14-Mad Mad Judy (Demo)*
15-Jesus Made Me Feel Guilty (Demo)
16-Something’s Gone Wrong Again (backing track) *
17-You Know You Can’t Help It
18-I Believe July 1979 Indigo Arrow-Chronology
BBC Sessions
John Peel Show 18/10/78 TX 23/10/78
19-Everybody’s Happy Nowadays
John Peel Show 21/5/79 TX 28/5/79
20-I Don’t Know What To Do With My Life
21-Mad Mad Judy
22-Hollow Inside
* previously unreleased

Buzzcocks – What Do I Get, London 2009

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