Full disclosure: this reviewer is a fully-fledged Magazine tragic! Endless nights of living alone in a maisonette in Forestville listening to the likes of Magazine, XTC, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello and The Stranglers with a glass of red made Magazine an essential part of my musical DNA! So I was delighted when this collection of fine Adelaide musicians decided to do a program of rarely heard Magazine songs for this year’s Fringe. On the other hand I wasn’t going to tolerate any half-hearted or inept nonsense.
Fortunately it didn’t come to that! From the opening strains of The Light Pours Out Of Me it was clear that this group knew what they were doing and were paying the music all due respect. Drummer Craig Rodda kicks the song off, and is quickly joined by Dave Ingleton capturing Barry Adamson’s distinctive bass sound and riff. Dave Weston immediately shows he is capable of representing the great John McGeoch. The job of emulating the enigmatic Howard Devoto falls to Stewart Smith, who more than adequately does this thankfully without trying too hard and slipping into parody. And it is a very great pleasure for me to hear Dave Formula’s lovely keyboard lines being reproduced by John O’Rielley.
Before we get to the music, however, for the sake of making this a show, backing vocalist Julie Kushnir begins a brief history of the band, and this continues in between each song from either Julie or Stewart. I remain in two minds about this – helpful for anyone not familiar with Magazine, plenty of quotes for fans either not previously known, or fun to recall, but we’re here for the music!
Similarly, the music is presented chronologically, with the first half containing songs from the first two albums Real Life and Secondhand Daylight. The second half is almost entirely taken from what is often regarded as the best Magazine album The Correct Use Of Soap, with only one track from the fourth album Magic, Murder and The Weather, described by some critics as ‘pedestrian’. Magazine broke up in 1981 but reformed in 2009 and released a further album No Thyself. There was no need to include anything from that album. Any complaints about songs not included would be mere nitpicking in a generous evening of 19 songs, but there were some real favourites missing – maybe next time.
Magazine never made it to mainstream radio airplay, so were never widely popular. But the list of popular bands they influenced tells an impressive tale. Barry Adamson joined Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. John McGeoch joined Siouxsie & The Banshees and Public Image Ltd. Simple Minds, Radiohead, The Smiths and China Crisis all cite them as a major influence. Dave Formula found airplay with Visage’s Fade To Grey. Even Australian band My Friend The Chocolate Cake released Song From Under The Floorboards as a single.
This was a great evening and I hope the team bring this show back, either in next year’s Fringe or at selected times throughout the year.