If Never Mind the Bollocks and London Calling are held up as punk masterpieces, then there's no question that Singles Going Steady belongs alongside them. In fact, the slew of astonishing seven-inches collected on Steady and their influence on future musicians - punk or otherwise -- sometimes even betters more famous efforts. The title and artwork alone (the latter itself partially inspired by the Beatles' Let it Be) have been parodied or referred to by Halo of Flies and {$Don Caballero   [ read more ]

CD $11.38

Did the Buzzcocks invent pop-punk? Probably not. Did they perfect it? You bet. Marrying glorious pop melodies, the chainsaw roar of a downstroked guitar, and the furious angst of a million confused teenagers, the Buzzcocks played punk rock that was physical, passionate, and emotionally compelling, but also joyously listenable (and danceable) in a way the Damned and the Clash could never dream of being. If the Buzzcocks Mark 1 (1976-1981) ever made a bad record, they've done a sple   [ read more ]

CD $11.38

That's right, you read it correctly. Buzzcocks. Are we excited or what? Merge is proud to release the latest installment from these legendary punk-pop pioneers. Buzzcocks is the band's 7th full length and perhaps their most powerful and engaging in over 20 years. One would be hard pressed to find more perfect practitioners of the three minute pop song than Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle. Tracks like Jerk, Keep On, Driving You Insane, Sick City Sometimes and Lester Sands are pure punk perfection, grabbing you   [ read more ]

CD $13.99

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Given that the Buzzcocks, the esteemed inventors of chainsaw pop, already have ten live albums on the market at this writing, the arrival of 30, titled to commemorate the three decades since their debut album, seems like something less than an event. Which is not to say the album isn't good -- Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle have admirably maintained the Buzzcocks' standing as one of the best and most consistently entertaining live acts in British rock, and this recording of a show in London (no date g   [ read more ]

CD $14.99

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A fascinating semi-legitimate release of all the studio work the Howard Devoto-fronted band recorded in Manchester in October 1976. This is an expensive disc that only clocks in at 24 minutes, but it's 24 pretty great minutes. Some of the material (e.g., the cover of Captain Beefheart's "I Love You, You Big Dummy") Devoto took with him to Magazine, but the rest of the material is prime Buzzcocks: "Orgasm Addict," "Breakdown," and "Boredom" to name but a few. With Devoto singing   [ read more ]

CD $11.38

The Buzzcocks' self-financed debut is every bit as important as the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the UK" in the establishment of the U.K. punk scene. And playing those two cultural artifacts back to back two decades later, it is the Pistols' effort which sounds more like the museum piece. Spiral Scratch's hand-pressed, blurry black-and-white sleeve housed four tracks -- each one a uniquely compelling experience, marrying raw, youthful zest with belligerent intelligence. The EP's release achieved    [ read more ]

CD $7.58

Despite the punk revival of the '90s, the Buzzcocks operated somewhat under the radar. They were an undeniable influence on many bands, including the chart-topping crossovers Green Day, but they were rarely cited as such, and even though a reunited incarnation of the group was surprisingly strong, their albums and concerts largely went unnoticed. Such was the case for their 1999 album for Go Kart, Modern. The title isn't entirely in jest -- the group tests out some electronics and drum machines,   [ read more ]

CD $12.33

This is the Buzzcocks recorded live, on their 1995 tour. The sound quality is listenable, neither stunning nor awful, and the set list is fine, if a bit short. But since there are so many live Buzzcocks recordings out there, some from the band's heyday in the late '70s, this one is really for completists. ~ Sean Westergaard, All Music Guide

CD $10.43

The Buzzcocks have had difficulty living up to the formidable legacy of their past on the studio material they've released since reuniting in 1989, but in the early years of the 21st century they've finally learned to make new records that don't need to stand in the shadows of Singles Going Steady. The darker undertow of 2003's Buzzcocks set it apart from their previous albums, and though 2006's Flat-Pack Philosophy isn't haunted by the same degree of angst as that album, it reflects the same de   [ read more ]

CD $16.13

Anarchy Music, an unfortunately named offshoot of Cleopatra Records, has issued Orgasm Addict Live, a Buzzcocks concert album, without the slightest hint of when or where it was recorded. It's possible that the lack of liner notes might be a passive-aggressive way of disguising the fact this particular recording has been released several times before; recorded at a show in Paris, France on April 12, 1995, these ten songs were the encore for the show released in 1996 as French, and this encore   [ read more ]

CD $16.13

Surfacing a couple of years after the band's unexpected resurrection but after the departure of bassist Steve Garvey and drummer John Maher, who were content to continue their other lines of work, Trade Test Transmissions is at once a fine, celebratory album and something of a disappointment. On the one hand, hearing the Pete Shelley/Steve Diggle partnership fully reestablished is fantastic enough; both singers sound just fine, and their guitar abilities are no less powerful than in the group   [ read more ]

CD $9.48

Since most of their songs were short, snappy numbers, the Buzzcocks' early material was custom-made for the stage, and the 2005 release Small Songs with Big Hearts certainly reinforces this point. Recorded in 1979 at the Rainbow Theatre in London, this high-energy 17-track set was previously available as disc one of the 2001 double-disc release Beating Hearts/Small Songs with Big Hearts. As longtime fans know, this was the period when the Buzzcocks were at the top of their game -- having just   [ read more ]

CD $18.98