2025 has been a good year for remembering the wonderful Pete Shelley, by way of various re-releases, firstly, the Record Store Day exclusive of the ‘Yesterday Is Not Here (Radio Sessions 1979 – 1983)’ album (which includes the first, acoustic guitar and vocal rendition of the song that is the subject of this post, in the form of ‘Homosapiens’), then new re-releases of Pete’s ‘Homosapien’ and ‘XL-1’ albums. But, what do we have here? Not one of these new releases, no – quite a curio in fact and one that passed me by back in the day.
^ Pete Shelley vs Power, Wonder and Love – ‘Homosapien II’ 3″CD single – front
Magazine are a long-standing favourite of mine and it’s been welcome to have seen them been back in the public eye once again over the past year with the re-releases of their studio back catalogue. A nicely curated re-issue series, refreshed and re-visited, notably absent however are any of the live albums. The subject of today’s post is something of a curio. While 1980’s ‘Play’ (and its later, expanded 2009 re-visit as ‘Play+’) live album has tended to be the go-to de facto live document, this release is worth seeking out as a short but interesting example of a slightly earlier vintage.
^ Magazine – ‘BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert’ UK CD front cover design and CD label
The UK BBC Radio 1 music station’s ‘In Concert’ series was a simple yet valuable format, one matched around the world in many differing names – ultimately, a chance to hear a well recorded excerpt of a live show, broadcast a week or two after the recording date. Established or new and upcoming bands, they were of equal interest and importance to the producers. This show was recorded on 22nd November 1978 at the BBC’s then ‘Paris Theatre’ venue, on Lower Regent Street, London, which has long since closed its doors as a venue for such live recordings. This is a short release, clocking in at the 37 minute mark, so, far from a full live show. This is partly because the broadcast was shared with another act, the short-lived Snips.
‘Cut-Throat – How to get started in the music business – and survive!’ is a newly published book drawn from the archives of the sadly now departed Nash The Slash (the late Jeff Plewman) that I received recently in its limited edition form. Published by Skill, which bills itself as an ‘outsider micro-label and press offering discerning multi-genre releases in beautifully rendered limited editions’ the wonderfully packaged limited version is now sold out, but the regular edition is available – view the Skill Bandcamp. Along with the ‘Nash The Slash Rises, Again!’ [Facebook link] documentary, this will surely help keep the interest alive.
^ Nash The Slash ‘Cut-Throat – How to get started in the music business – and survive!’ book front cover
This curious little promo CD came to mind recently with the news that Talking Heads – a particular favourite of mine, for a certain period of their work at least – will be releasing a series of deluxe reissue sets that gather together the original albums plus various related recordings, starting with ‘Talking Heads: 77’, obviously enough. I must confess straight off the bat however, I find past re-issues of Talking Heads material a mixture of frustrating and essential. Frustrating because while previous re-issues did come with some bonus material, so many particular versions – those released on singles particularly – have either never been re-released digitally, or if they have been, are limited to downloads/streaming and only in restricted territories. For the essential examples, well… look no further than the Record Store Day release from earlier this year, the ‘Live at WCOZ 77’ live double album that captures the band in fine form (and some of which had been included on their fantastic 1982’ live double album ‘The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads’. Already, based on some of the music forum discussion so far, these releases likely have their work cut out to please all. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
^ Various Artists – ‘The Flashback Four – Hits and Rarities’ US Promo CD front cover design
This curious little release was issued as part of a series of cassette format singles of WEA label artists, such as Gary Numan and Tubeway Army as featured in a pervious post. Packaged in cute little flip-top box packs, the series shared a common theme of design layouts and would pair two the best tracks by each of the artists chosen per cassette. As well as this Talking Heads release, the series featured The Pretenders (two releases, no less), Angelic Upstarts, Rezillos, Tubeway Army, The Ramones, Gary Numan, Saxon and finally Jane Birkin.
^ Talking Heads – ‘Take Me To The River’ / ‘Psycho Killer’ 1981 UK Cassingle – flip-top pack front
