BUZZCOCKS
Buzzcocks (Merge)
Reviewed by Alan Wright

---

It was with some trepidation that I approached the new Cocks CD, a self-titled offering on the indie Merge label (home of Superchuck, a very Buzzcocks-influenced band). I wasn't too keen on their last release, Modern, of which about half I thought was good, the other half, well, not too good. Any fears were put to rest after throwing this on, though. This is really good, up there with All Set, which I really liked and put up against any of the band's albums between 1977-82, before their original breakup. Well, now the new version of the band has been back together longer than they were together the first time.

First of all, the production on this is great. It's raw, heavy and energetic, and full of hard-driving guitars. Unlike Modern, there's little monkeying around with techno-ish effects, drum machines, or tacky synth sounds that plagued so much of that release. Bassist Tony Barber did a much better job producing this one. Steve Diggles' guitar is absolutely crunching throughout, approaching heavy metal at times (in a good way). Diggle also gets more songs this time out, having penned and sung 5 out of the 12. They even do a new version of "Lester sands (Drop In The Ocean)" which was a staple of their live sets when Howard Devoto was the singer, and appeared on the legendary Time's Up Bootleg of '76 demos. Devoto also co-wrote the cool "Stars," which is actually a remake of "'Til the Stars in His Eyes Are Dead" from the Devoto/Shelley "Buzzkunst" project, whose artsy techno CD I didn't like at all. Songs like "Jerk," "Driving You Insane," "Sick City Sometimes" and "Useless" all have qualities that make for classic Buzzcocks songs. I'll be recommending this one to my friends for sure! Also check out the "Jerk" single, which has two non-LP B-sides, a great Diggle song called "Don't Come Back" and a barnburning live version of "Oh Shit."

© 2003 - Alan Wright