Another Music in a Different Kitchen [Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Another Music In A Different Kitchen, the first Buzzcocks studio album and, as such, the first recording made minus the huge forehead of Howard Devoto, is a strange beast to say the least. Yes, the songs are pure pop-punk precision - hilarious, relevant in so as it deals with 'proper' issues (getting 'on your own' with your lover, harking for the lost innocence of youth in "Sixteen", and jealously over people with "Fast Cars"). Shelley, in particular, is at his acerbic best (witness "Fast Cars" and "You Tear Me Up"), a fact even more impressive when you consider that Devoto previously had a monopoly over singing duties.

Then, amongst the whimsical, you get brave, almost political statements - I want independence ("Autonomy") and even a blueprint for doomed youth (in "I Need" : sex, love, drink, drugs - the "Common People" of the punk era). The biggest surprise, however, is "Moving Away From The Pulsebeat" - 7-odd minutes of repetitive drum patterns and noise to form a track that can only be described as 'disco-punk'. Even more bizarrely, it sits perfectly alongside its high-octane counterparts. Only the Stone Roses' "Fools' Gold" comes anywhere close for sheer audacity and mesmeric effect. And, like with "I Am The Resurrection" on the Roses' debut, a fantastic song to finish the (original) album with...

That's not to say that this CD version of "Another Music In A Different Kitchen" is perfect. Indeed, the production is so clean that you're left hankering for a messy 4-track version of the album (don't agree? Check out the raw quality of the recently released "Time's Up" sessions). You're also left wondering about what sort of tracks they might have come up with if they didn't have to fulfil obligations to a major label. And in this lies a problem - the oh-so-necessary 'bonus tracks'. Whilst you can't knock the quality of the Buzzcocks' first two singles, neatly segued here after "Moving Away From The Pulsebeat", they just don't fit, and as such wreck the deserved status of "...Pulsebeat" as the highlight of this record.

Quibbles aside, this album is essential to any self-respecting indie record collection, and should sit quite nicely next to those Bis and Kenickie albums (such is the androgynous tone of Shelley's voice). True, "Spiral Scratch", the Buzzcocks' self-funded, own-label debut EP is their finest moment, but you can't really go wrong with this.

Rougher at the edges than later releases, it is also more experimental in many ways. Listen to tracks like 'Moving Away From The Pulsebeat' for a good example. It's not short on the snappy singles either, as 'I Don't Mind' is here, and the bonus tracks include the wonderfully spunky 'Orgasm Addict' and 'What Do I Get'.

Manchester's finest were never finer!