Magazine – Real Life + Thereafter | 2009 – 3.0

You could have knocked me over with a feather when in 2008 word reached my ears that Magazine were reforming for their first concerts in 28 years. I was aware that all of the past members had contributed to Dave Formula’s debut solo album [even including John McGeoch, posthumously from archival tapes] but I had no reason to hope that this would boil over into a full-fledged Magazine reformation. Nevertheless, it was announced in the Fall of 2008 that just that was happening.

More amazingly, it transpired that current star-in-his-own-right Barry Adamson would again pick up the bass; setting aside his very active and successful solo career [not to mention ego] to subordinate himself into the band once again. There would be just five concerts:

• London Forum (February 12-13)
• Glasgow Academy (16)
• Manchester Academy (14 and 17)

And two of these shows [Feb. 13 + 17] of these were duly recorded for this package. I can’t comment on the DVD since it’s PAL and I refuse to watch it on my computer. No fun there. I’ll need to do a standards conversion and burn a NTSC DVD – one of these days. The CD is another matter.

The disc opens with the band’s ultimate classic, in my opinion, “The Light Pours Out Of Me,” leading off the show. Guitarist Noko [a.k.a. Norman Fisher-Jones] vigilantly adheres to the John McGeoch playbook throughout the performance; to the point of conspicuously using the same guitar and pedals favored by the first guitarist. Adamson’s bass pulls the listener down throughout the intro until the ascending chords of the guitar arrive to show a way out.

Next come a pair of classics from “Soap” followed by the single from “Secondhand Daylight.” It’s immediately apparent that Dave Formula’s touch now is lighter and nimbler than ever on the keys. The net result is that every element of the sound has space to move and occasionally predominate. In the past, Formula’s keys have held center court more often than not.

“This Poison” gets a live airing and it’s the first time anyone had ever heard material from “Magic, Murder, + The Weather” live, since the group split up before the album was released in 1981. They stay close to the reggae arrangement of the album version and Formula even plays melodica.

The biggest paradigm shift occurs on “Permafrost.” On the first singing of the chorus, Devoto sings “you want me to drug you and f*** you, on the permafrost.” The two other performances of the chorus retain the original lyric. This alteration gives credence to Adamson’s interpretation of the lyrics as evidenced in Helen Chase’s 2010 book “Magazine: The Biography.” Adamson states that he saw the lyrics as an attempt at a tender gesture in a horrifying world rather than an expression of hatred or revenge. Perhaps age and wisdom had changed Devoto’s take on the dark ambiguity of the original performance of the song.

Next follows the inescapable “Twenty Years Ago.” For a B-side, this song is all over the place in the Magazine canon. It is the B-side to “A Song From Under The Floorboards.” It is the live B-side to “Sweetheart Contract.” It appears on “Play,” “Live At The BBC” and now this album. Additionally, “Scree,” “Maybe It’s Right To Be Nervous Now,” “The Complete John Peel Sessions,” “Tough + Go: An Anthology,” and “Live + Intermittent” all feature the song. If I could ask Howard Devoto anything. it would be why this particular song is favored so highly why it comes time to compile an anthology or live album for the group.

The album is another good live set from the band. Made all the more impressive by a nearly three decade layoff. Noko acquits himself completely by deliberately walking in the McGeoch shoes, and walking it well. It couldn’t have hurt that he was originally a Magazine fan before partnering with Devoto in Luxuria for those [excellent] two albums. Devoto left it up to the band to find a guitarist who would take over for the deceased McGeoch, and they wisely chose Noko; having all worked with him individually in the past. Devoto approved, and so would you.

Having played the five dates, Magazine committed further to summer shows showcasing their seminal “Correct Use of Soap” album for later in the year. Those sets saw the band playing “Soap” in its entirety before starting a second set of other material. It was the prospects of performing more concerts than originally committed to that sparked the notion of fresh material to enliven the set. Devoto proposed an EP but when the members reconvened, it seems they were a tad more successful at writing. There would have to be a new Magazine album forthcoming.

Next: Magazine’s fifth album…