Singles Going Steady
Singles Going Steady | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Compilation album by | ||||
Released | 25 September 1979 | |||
Recorded | November 1977 – July 1979 | |||
Genre | Punk rock, pop punk[1] | |||
Length | 47:49 | |||
Label | I.R.S., United Artists | |||
Producer | Martin Rushent, Martin Hannett | |||
Buzzcocks chronology | ||||
|
Singles Going Steady is a compilation album by English punk rock band Buzzcocks, first released on I.R.S. Records in the United States on 25 September 1979.[2]
Background
[edit]Singles Going Steady was the first Buzzcocks album to be released in North America and intended as an introduction to the band for the American public, coinciding with a tour of the US. Side one of the original release of the album featured their eight UK single releases on United Artists Records from 1977 up to the time of Singles Going Steady's release in 1979 in chronological order, while side two featured their corresponding B-sides, also in chronological order.
After healthy sales on import in the UK over the next two years, and following the group's split in early 1981, the album was belatedly released in the band's home country on United Artists Records on 16 November 1981 as a 'greatest hits' album.[3] However, as in the US, the album failed to chart.
The album was reissued in expanded form on compact disc in 2001 with an extra eight tracks, featuring the A-sides and B-sides of Buzzcocks' four singles released between Singles Going Steady and the group's break-up.
Critical reception
[edit]Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [4] |
Classic Rock | 9/10[5] |
Mojo | [6] |
Pitchfork | 9.4/10[7] |
Q | [8] |
Record Collector | [9] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [10] |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 10/10[11] |
Uncut | 9/10[12] |
The Village Voice | A−[13] |
Reviewing the album on import in 1979, NME called Buzzcocks "a vital part of the inspiration for the new pop age... This is the best album Buzzcocks never made. Hear it and weep."[14] A second review by the NME two years later upon the album's official UK release was no less enthusiastic, declaring that "this is the best Buzzcocks long-player to be realised, enshrining eight singles and their B-sides in a compilation which at a stroke helps to forgive the inconsistency of their other albums and clarifies the enormous debt which post-Buzzcocks pop owes to this frail practitioner [referring to Buzzcocks principal songwriter and singer Pete Shelley]... Employing the most traditional of beat group formations and turning their attention to the most elemental considerations, Shelley and the Buzzcocks created pop of such intense truthfulness it literally hurts."[15]
Melody Maker claimed that "to describe it as 'wonderful' would be doing the lads a gross injustice... Somehow, they devised a simple, crude but hugely effective medium for songs which were fast, funny and memorable."[16] Reviewing the 2001 reissue, Q said, "When Kurt Cobain picked these aging English punk rockers as the support act on Nirvana's final tour, the Buzzcocks received long-overdue recognition as one of the punk era's greatest singles groups... this singles collection, newly supplemented with eight bonus tracks, has lost none of its vitality."[17]
Looking back in 2019, Pitchfork's Jason Heller called the compilation "a paragon of songwriting about the pain and joy of love" and wrote that it "stands as one of the most endearing, intimate, and impeccably crafted batch of earworms in either the love-song or punk-rock realm". Heller praised the album's willingness to address emotions through punk music, saying, "Unrequited longing, severed ties, knock-kneed bashfulness, rash declarations of euphoric infatuation: Shelley delivers it all with jaunty melodies and deceptively complex chord progressions on par with the Beatles and the Kinks".[7]
Accolades
[edit]In 2003, Singles Going Steady was ranked at number 358 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[18] It has been subsequently included on updates of the list published in 2012 (at number 360), 2020 (at number 250), and 2023 (at number 250).[19][20][21]
In 2004, Pitchfork listed Singles Going Steady as the 16th best album of the 1970s.[22]
Track listing
[edit]Side one
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Originally from | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Orgasm Addict" | Howard Devoto, Pete Shelley | Non-album single | 2:00 |
2. | "What Do I Get?" | Shelley | Non-album single | 2:52 |
3. | "I Don't Mind" | Shelley | Another Music in a Different Kitchen | 2:16 |
4. | "Love You More" | Shelley | Non-album single | 1:47 |
5. | "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" | Shelley | Love Bites | 2:39 |
6. | "Promises" | Steve Diggle, Shelley | Non-album single | 2:34 |
7. | "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" | Shelley | Non-album single | 3:09 |
8. | "Harmony in My Head" | Diggle | Non-album single | 3:06 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Originally from | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
9. | "You Say You Don't Love Me" | Shelley | A Different Kind of Tension | 2:54 |
10. | "Are Everything" | Shelley | Non-album single | 3:59 |
11. | "Strange Thing" | Shelley | Non-album single | 4:10 |
12. | "Running Free" | Diggle | Non-album single | 3:14 |
Side two
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Originally from | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "What Ever Happened To?" | Alan Dial, Shelley | "Orgasm Addict" single | 2:12 |
2. | "Oh Shit!" | Shelley | "What Do I Get?" single | 1:34 |
3. | "Autonomy" | Diggle | Another Music in a Different Kitchen | 3:41 |
4. | "Noise Annoys" | Shelley | "Love You More" single | 2:49 |
5. | "Just Lust" | Dial, Shelley | Love Bites | 2:58 |
6. | "Lipstick" | Diggle, Shelley | "Promises" single | 2:36 |
7. | "Why Can't I Touch It?" | Diggle, Steve Garvey, John Maher, Shelley | "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" single | 6:32 |
8. | "Something's Gone Wrong Again" | Shelley | "Harmony in My Head" single | 4:29 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Originally from | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
9. | "Raison D'etre" | Shelley | A Different Kind of Tension | 3:34 |
10. | "Why She's a Girl from the Chainstore" | Diggle | "Are Everything" single | 2:26 |
11. | "Airwaves Dream" | Diggle | "Strange Thing" single | 3:54 |
12. | "What Do You Know?" | Shelley | "Running Free" single | 3:15 |
Personnel
[edit]Buzzcocks
- Pete Shelley – lead vocals, guitar
- Steve Diggle – guitar, backing vocals, lead vocal on "Harmony in My Head"[7]
- Steve Garvey – bass guitar (except "Orgasm Addict" and "What Ever Happened To?")
- John Maher – drums
- Garth Smith – bass guitar on "Orgasm Addict" and "What Ever Happened To?"
Release history
[edit]Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
---|---|---|---|---|
United States | 25 September 1979 | I.R.S. Records | LP | SP 001 |
Canada | ||||
United Kingdom | 9 November 1979[23] | United Artists Records | UAK 30279 | |
United States | 1988 | I.R.S. | CD | CD 001 |
Europe | 20 August 2001 | EMI | expanded CD | 7243 5 34442 2 8 |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Anthony, David; Ryan, Kyle; Heller, Jason (6 March 2014). "A beginner's guide to the bouncy buzz of pop-punk". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
- ^ McGartland, Tony (1995). Buzzcocks: The Complete History. Independent Music Press. p. 96. ISBN 978-1-8977-8305-4.
- ^ "Datelines". Melody Maker. 14 November 1981. p. 32.
- ^ Raggett, Ned. "Singles Going Steady – Buzzcocks". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
- ^ Stubbs, David (Summer 2019). "Buzzcocks: Reissues". Classic Rock. No. 264. p. 91.
- ^ Cameron, Keith (July 2019). "Buzzcocks: Singles Going Steady". Mojo. No. 308. p. 107.
- ^ a b c Heller, Jason (5 January 2019). "Buzzcocks: Singles Going Steady". Pitchfork. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
- ^ Catchpole, Chris (Summer 2019). "Buzzcocks: Singles Going Steady". Q. No. 400. p. 119.
- ^ Quantick, David (June 2019). "Buzzcocks – Singles Going Steady". Record Collector. No. 493. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
- ^ Gross, Joe (2004). "The Buzzcocks". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 124–25. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ^ Walters, Barry (1995). "Buzzcocks". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 65–66. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
- ^ Lewis, John (July 2019). "Buzzcocks: Singles Going Steady / A Different Kind of Tension". Uncut. No. 266. p. 43.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (29 October 1979). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
- ^ Rambali, Paul (13 October 1979). "Buzzcocks: Singles Going Steady". NME. p. 46.
- ^ Cook, Richard (31 October 1981). "Buzzcocks: Singles Going Steady". NME. pp. 35–36.
- ^ Sweeting, Adam (5 December 1981). "Buzzcocks: Singles Going Steady". Melody Maker. p. 19.
- ^ Elliott, Paul (October 2001). "Buzzcocks: Singles Going Steady". Q. No. 182. pp. 140–41.
- ^ "500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Singles Going Steady – Buzzcocks". Rolling Stone. 18 November 2003. Archived from the original on 20 December 2010. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
- ^ "500 Greatest Albums of All Time – Buzzcocks, 'Singles Going Steady'". Rolling Stone. 31 May 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
- ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time – Buzzcocks, 'Singles Going Steady'". Rolling Stone. 22 September 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
- ^ Stone, Rolling (31 December 2023). "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
- ^ Plagenhoef, Scott (23 June 2004). "The 100 Best Albums of the 1970s – Buzzcocks: Singles Going Steady". Pitchfork. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
- ^ "Music Week" (PDF). p. 32.