Magazine: Maybe It's Right To Be Nervous Now

The punk era introduced dozens of new heroes and equal (if not entirely opposite) antiheroes, and while Howard Devoto was a founding member of The Buzzcocks, he didn't last long as the group's lead singer. Devoto seethed with paranoia and sneering suspiciousness, and his departure in part helped determine that band's role as a purveyor of poppy lovelorn anthems; his presence on Time's Up demonstrated the radically different and more aggressive path the group could have pursued under his continued leadership. Devoto soon emerged again as the mastermind behind the far artier Magazine, which helped define the sub-category of post-punk (itself largely pre-new-wave) and featured future members of Nick Cave's Bad Seeds and Siouxsie And The Banshees. The single "Shot By Both Sides," a snarling underdog song which packs more pathos in its four minutes than most punk acts mustered in entire careers, provided the group's clear highlight. Yet the pleasures of Magazine's angular riffs, futuristic keyboard atmospherics, and Devoto's high-strung singing extend well beyond a single song. Maybe It's Right To Be Nervous Now compiles three discs of rarities, radio sessions, live tracks, and singles in a smartly designed package that finally confirms Magazine's position atop the post-punk pedestal. Carry-overs from Devoto's brief Buzzcocks stint, like Captain Beefheart's "I Love You You Big Dummy," stand out, as do renditions of the sublimely alienated "A Song From Under The Floorboards," notable album tracks ("Sweetheart Contract," "I Want To Burn Again"), and a generous handful of other singles. Each disc (organized by era, though the group barely lasted four years and four albums) coheres about as well as each original record, though these sometimes rougher versions pack more bite. More surprisingly, Magazine proves its mettle as a live act, its ambitious compositions losing nothing in the transition to the stage, but gaining strength that compensates for Devoto's occasionally pretentious songwriting. Though a must for any fan, for once the extraneia may be a better catchall than the concurrently released best-of.