MAGAZINE – THE CORRECT USE OF SOAP LP – Nr MINT UK 1980  PUNK

Magazine – The Correct Use Of Soap
(Virgin Records  1980  V2156)
Matrix No’s: A7/B5 – UK Pressing

Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are a few light surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality)

Textured Sleeve in Nr MINT- condition
– some slight wear to edges/corners

Magazine are an English post-punk group active from 1977 to 1981, then reformed in 2009. Their debut single, “Shot by Both Sides”, is now acknowledged as a classic and their debut album, Real Life, is still widely admired as one of the greatest albums of all time. The band was formed by Howard Devoto after leaving punk band Buzzcocks in early 1977. Devoto had decided to create a more experimental and less punk band. Their style and lyrical preoccupations later influenced many musicians.

Magazine reunited in 2009 for a UK tour, with almost all the remaining and “classic” line-up, with the exception of guitarist John McGeoch who died in 2004. He was replaced by Noko, who played with Devoto in Luxuria. Magazine released an album of new material, No Thyself, in October 2011, followed by a short UK tour.

The Correct Use of Soap is the third album by British post-punk band Magazine, released by Virgin Records in 1980. A different version of this album was released in Canada in 1980, by then distributor Polygram Records. This version was titled An Alternative Use of Soap.

Some of the songs mark a return of sorts to the punkier riffs and faster rhythms of Real Life after their second album Secondhand Daylight. As such, it contains some of Magazine’s best-known and most popular songs, including the singles “A Song from Under the Floorboards” and “Sweetheart Contract” and their cover of Sly and the Family Stone’s “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”. This was their last album with original guitarist John McGeoch, who left the band after the release of the album and joined Siouxsie and the Banshees then moved on to Visage, formed by his bandmates Dave Formula and Barry Adamson. He was replaced by Robin Simon (ex-Ultravox, now with Ajantamusic) to the world tour, promoting the album. Magazine would go on to release one more studio album; 1981’s Magic, Murder and the Weather, but this album is generally regarded as the end of Magazine and Devoto’s most productive and innovative period.

Two songs on the album make reference to elements of works by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, namely “Philadelphia” referring to ‘Raskolnikov’, the main character in Crime and Punishment, and “A Song from Under the Floorboards” of which the opening sentence is a paraphrase of the opening sentence in Notes from Underground’.

The single “A Song from Under the Floorboards” was featured on Rhino’s box-set Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the 80s Underground, and has been covered many times in concert by fellow Mancunian Morrissey and recorded by Australian band My Friend the Chocolate Cake on their ARIA Music Award-winning album Brood (1994). It was also covered by Simple Minds on the 2CD Edition of their 2009 album Graffiti Soul.

On the 1 September 2009, Magazine performed the original album in its entirety in the first half of their show at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

Track listing

The Correct Use of Soap

All songs by Barry Adamson/Howard Devoto/John Doyle/Dave Formula/John McGeoch, except where noted.

Personnel

• Howard Devoto – vocals
• John McGeoch – guitars
• Barry Adamson – bass guitar
• Dave Formula – keyboards
• John Doyle – drums
• Laura Teresa – additional backing vocals
• Raphael Ravenscroft – saxophone on “I’m a Party” – uncredited