Singles Going Steady - Buzzcocks

BUZZCOCKS - singles going steady is a collection of the singles of Pete Shelleys Buzzcocks, nothing wrong in that but this collection misses out any tracks from their first EP when Howard Devoto (later to form Magazine) was on vocals and Pete Shelley was the guitarist. That said it is still a very good collection of A-sides and B-sides starting with the 1977 single Orgasm Addict and of course includes the track everyone knows the Buzzcocks for, Ever fallen in love? The curious thing about this compilation is that all the A-sides are on the CD first and all the B-sides follow after them,rather than the more logical order of A-side followed by B-side. This does ...  Read the complete review

On the back of the Sex Pistols, Television, Elvis Costello, Patti Smith, and Richard Hell and the Voidoids, the Buzzcocks almost turn punk on it's head by making it commercial again. Which is what this is - pop music for punk fans. If it weren't for Oh Shit! and Orgasm addict this would be completely inoffensive pop music with power chords and snarly vocals. But it's very good pop-punk. Dealing a lot with relationships and the 80's scene. It incorporates harmonies and melody in the same way the Beatles would and holds so many gems that you would be forgiven for thinking that the Buzzcocks were one of the best bands ever And ...  Read the complete review

Buzzcocks, the masters of the irrepressible two-minute angst-fuelled pop burst, are well documented on this expanded compilation of A and B - sides culled from the Manchester group's singles from the years 1977 to 1979. The big hits are included of course. Their spiky ode to unrequited love, What do I Get? , the Pete Shelley penned masterpiece Ever Fallen in Love, and the smutty fun of the teenage paean to onanism - Orgasm Addict. Lesser known tunes to the casual listener such as Autonomy and Everybody's Happy Nowadays further showcase the Steve Diggle and Pete Shelley partnership as capable of producing the sweet and the scathing in equal ...  Read the complete review