Magazine
Play.

The Magazine were a British band formed in 1977 from the partial ashes of the Buzzcocks, embarking on a significant musical journey between the late '70s and the early '80s, drawing from various genres and detaching from the mischievous aesthetics of punk to embrace a more refined and cultured style. However, they still maintained their anarchic and somewhat politically incorrect sense.
The vocalist Howard Devoto - former leader of the Buzzcocks - and the keyboardist Dave Formula were the main architects of the brief success of a band that did not emerge forcefully into the music market but caught the attention of a niche of enthusiasts. Devoto and Formula were not strangers to high-profile collaborations in the golden era of the British new wave. The former later contributed to the first project by This Mortal Coil and then founded Luxuria with the multi-instrumentalist Noko; the latter worked with Midge Ure of Ultravox for the first release of Visage.
Play is a live album recorded in Melbourne in September 1980, featuring about ten excellent songs mainly from their first and third studio albums, enthusiastically applauded by the audience present at the event. With Devoto's voice at the forefront and Formula's dominant solo sounds, these tracks unfold one more riveting than the other on solid rhythmic foundations, seductive riffs, jazz and fusion nods, filled with urban peripheral suggestions and a generally active English suburban atmosphere.
Parade, from the debut album Real Life, is certainly the best and most original track, melancholic and exceptionally well-structured. The main melody sticks in your head on the first listen. But with this song appearing halfway through the album, there is plenty of time to prepare and enjoy the magnificent sonic textures - for instance - of Permafrost, with its very harsh, hallucinated, and slightly misogynistic lyrics, as well as the compelling arrangements of Give Me Everything and the captivating refrain of A Song From Under the Floorboards.
The short forty-five minutes of Play flow marvelously and culminate with the final two tracks that dominate the scene with long rhythmic scans and the often recitative vocals of Howard Devoto.
Magazine did not receive the recognition they deserved, although the most attentive critics pointed out how advanced they were in transitioning the disruptive punk culture towards something more mainstream. In fact, in the early albums of Magazine, we find a lot of cues that later blossomed in the much more famous careers of other groups. Their adventure was rather short, but this live album remains an important testimony of their passage on the scene and their musical qualities.