Buzzcocks broke up in 1981 after a string of chart hits and such widely-acclaimed albums as Another Music In A Different Kitchen and Love Bites. They reformed in 1989, but have yet to excite the record-buying public. CD1 is the band's new album, and sees their songwriting strength diminishing with age. Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle divvy up the songwriting credits; Shelley's Soul On A Rock and Runaround are fast and fun, but Diggle's Speed Of Life and Don't Let The Car Crash stall somewhere in a mid-1980s pile-up. CD2 is a Best Of compilation, and features a few heavenly slices of punked-up pop music, including Orgasm Addict, What Do I Get and I Don't Mind. Forget the modern stuff, and stick with the reliable old punk classics.
By Kevin Courtney
The Cocteau Twins: BBC Sessions (Bella Union)
Never thought I'd feel nostalgic for my bedsit days, but listening to Elizabeth Fraser's trembling timbre brings back memories of coin meters and 10-day-old pizza slices on the formica sideboard. This double CD spans 14 years of ethereal wibbling from Fraser, Robin Guthrie and Simon Raymonde, and features such classics as Musette And Drums, From The Flagstones and Sugar Hiccup. The Cocteaus were true originals, making weird, meandering music which was considered too strange for daytime radio, and too unconventional for the critics to pin down. Their fanbase, however, included the likes of David Lynch, Madonna, Bret Easton Ellis and Iain Banks. Listening to these sessions is like opening a door into another musical dimension, and hearing something alien, frightening, and strangely familiar.
By Kevin Courtney
Innerzone Orchestra: Programmed (Talkin' Loud)
When Carl Craig as Innerzone Orchestra produced Bug In The Bassbin back in 1992, few could predicted that this track would become something of a blueprint for drum'n'bass. Few also could have predicted that we would be waiting seven years for Innerzone Orchestra to emerge with a debut album. Programmed shapes a new way at looking at jazz from Coltrane to Sun Ra, and as Craig is one of the techno's more relentless musical excavators, it should come as no surprise that this album shimmers from top to bottom. Between expansive new urban visions (Basic Math) and fresh takes on old threads (hear what they do with The Stylistics' People Make The World Go 'Round), Programmed puts the past, present and future in close proximity to great effect. You want adventure? You want Programmed.
By Jim Carroll
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