Buzzcocks: A Different Kind of Tension/Parts 1-3

Buzzcocks: A Different kind of Tension/Parts 1-3

1979/1981

I.R.S. Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Paradise  2. Sitting Around 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  13. Are Everything  14. Strange Thing  15. What Do You Know  16. Why She's the Girl from the Chainstore  17. Airwaves Dream  18. Running Free


This is another twofer CD...It collects the classic line-up's final album "A Different Kind of Tension" and the posthumous 1981 singles collection "Parts 1-3" which features the final three singles not included on "Singles Going Steady."



1979's "A Different Kind of Tension" is an interesting record...For one thing, the group's signature pop-punk is almost gone (the exception being the catchy and angst-filled "I Don't Know What to Do With My Life"and "You Say You Don't Love Me.").  They replace it  with a darker, post-punk sound...The droning title track, "Money" and "Hollow Inside" are all cold and repetitive...They still manage to get lodged in your head, but more like robotic  mantras than catchy choruses....

Guitarist Steve Diggle also gets a  much larger share of the vocal duties this time...His tracks are more gruff and aggressive..."Mad, Mad Judy" and "You Know You Can't Help It" are almost hardcore..

The best moment on the album though, is closer "I Believe" which works as a fitting finale to the Buzzcocks...They later re-united, but that doesn't dilute the song's impact...First off it's 9 minutes long...That might seem like peanuts on a Grateful Dead album...



...but a 9 minute pop-punk song? It's a feat rarely matched...An especially wounded Pete Shelley outlines his disillusionment with the world over a careening punk backing...

"I'm skippin' the pages of a book that takes ages for the foreword to end,
Triangular cover concealing another aspect from view,
My relative motion is just an illusion from stopping too fast,
The essence of being these feelings I'm feeling, I just want them to last..."

But the most surprising moment comes when Pete endlessly repeats, "There is no love in this world anymore!"  Sure, that's a sentiment you've heard a million times in punk and metal, but coming from the eternally optimistic and romantic Pete Shelley, it's actually kind of shocking...His voice eventually twists itself from the normally  twee and tuneful voice that we know and love, into an anguished snarl that recalls Johnny Rotten...Boy, it wasn't surprising that these guys broke up shortly after this record...

Amazing final track...

That wasn't quite the end though...They still had a couple singles in them...1981's "Parts 1-3" includes these last three singles and their b-sides...

As much as I love these songs, there's no denying it...The party's over...The joy is gone...When you listen to "Are Everything" and "What Do You Know?" the band coldly goes through the motions while the producer piles effects and overdubs onto everything...Surprisingly this technique works and the group's transition into post-punk is complete...Hell, if you told me "Airwaves Dream" was Joy Division, I'd probably believe you...

You really only glimpse the catchy Buzzcocks of old on "Strange Thing" but even that is drowned in a sea of echo...The record ends however, with the clear-headed and hopeful "Running Free." A lovely song that makes great use of new-wave keyboards...I would have loved to see them do another record in this style, but it was not meant to be...

In the 90's. Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle rejoined forces to resurrect the Buzzcocks name and continue on until this day...Their sound shifted away from the experimentation of the band's late 70's-early 80's work and they now mostly stick to power-pop  I've owned a couple of these records at one point or another, but I've slowly given them away or sold them off...



I did always have a soft spot for  1996's "All Set" though...The song "Playing For Time" in particular...

Anyway, this closes out the classic Buzzcocks era...So let's check out "Running Free" by the Buzzcocks...Enjoy...