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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Rightfully regarded as the bands best album. There is not doubt they were at their creative peak. The writing and playing is tight and confident. Then there is the production by the legendary Martin Hannett. You just know it's him. No one made drums sound the way he did. His production technique was crucial in defining the sound of the likes of Joy Division and A Certain Ratio. Just listen to the intro of the bonus track, a re-recording of "The Light Pours out of Me"!
"The Correct Use Of Soap" is a classic recording and was one of the first crucial albums of the 80's. Things are set in motion immediately with the opening stab of "Because Your Frightened", manic and punishing with Devoto spitting out lines like "look what fears done to my body". The catchy, poppy "Model Worker", underlying it's Brave New World air of drudgery! But the general themes throughout is paranoid distrust and romantic self-harm like on "I Want To Burn Again", with a rare acoustic guitar intro by John McGeoch. But the highlights for me are "Philadelphia", powered by Barry Adamsons fantastic propulsive bass, the uneasy, bubbling funk of "Thank You..." and the best for me is "Stuck". That has some of the greatest bass playing ever! The whole album ends with one of the best singles of the 80's "A Song From Under the Floorboard". Magazine had reached perfection here and there was nothing more to do. After this the band started to fragment.
Like all the re-issues in this series, the remastering is pretty good, a definite improvement over the original CD. Where these re-issues are let down is in the packaging. On "Correct..." all credits are reproduced and the essay like all the others is pretty informative. But where did the horrible green hue of the sleeve come from! The original LP sleeve was made from brown card. Even the original CD release got that right.
But the album is too good to take off a star for the poor quality of the presentation. It will always remain forever a 5 star album, however it's packaged!
"The Correct Use Of Soap" is a classic recording and was one of the first crucial albums of the 80's. Things are set in motion immediately with the opening stab of "Because Your Frightened", manic and punishing with Devoto spitting out lines like "look what fears done to my body". The catchy, poppy "Model Worker", underlying it's Brave New World air of drudgery! But the general themes throughout is paranoid distrust and romantic self-harm like on "I Want To Burn Again", with a rare acoustic guitar intro by John McGeoch. But the highlights for me are "Philadelphia", powered by Barry Adamsons fantastic propulsive bass, the uneasy, bubbling funk of "Thank You..." and the best for me is "Stuck". That has some of the greatest bass playing ever! The whole album ends with one of the best singles of the 80's "A Song From Under the Floorboard". Magazine had reached perfection here and there was nothing more to do. After this the band started to fragment.
Like all the re-issues in this series, the remastering is pretty good, a definite improvement over the original CD. Where these re-issues are let down is in the packaging. On "Correct..." all credits are reproduced and the essay like all the others is pretty informative. But where did the horrible green hue of the sleeve come from! The original LP sleeve was made from brown card. Even the original CD release got that right.
But the album is too good to take off a star for the poor quality of the presentation. It will always remain forever a 5 star album, however it's packaged!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Getting acquainted with MAGAZINE is a two stage process. First, you have to adjust your ears to music that does not simply pander to the eardrums, and second, you have to adjust those ears yet further to accomodate - in the singing voice of HOWARD DEVOTO - the aural equivalent of a Gerald Scarfe cartoon. But once those hurdles are overcome, the wonderful return on that investment will last you a lifetime.
THE CORRECT USE OF SOAP, Magazine's third album, is their finest 39 minutes. Ten perfect songs, fully-formed and as individual as the creative minds behind them, this is a defining pop product and, quite simply, beyond improvement. BECAUSE YOU'RE FRIGHTENED gets things off to a racing start with guitars and drums matching each other in grim intensity, but the pacing is deliberate as evidenced by tracks three and four, (I'M A PARTY and YOU NEVER KNEW ME), where the brakes are on for over seven minutes during which Devoto delivers two knockout vocals. Moving on, PHILADELPHIA is a superb rocker and I WANT TO BURN AGAIN exudes atmospheric eccentricity via swirly organ interludes and warped accoustic guitar.
Keyboards are reigned in from the previous two albums' pole positioning and the benefit in letting the other instruments breathe a little is key to the overall sound. This subtle re-alignment of DAVE FORMULA's pivotal contributions allows for no less than the best from colleagues ADAMSON, McGEOCH and DOYLE and the production by Martin Hannett is both punchy and dramatic. Just one listen is enough to know that peaks have been reached here.
Yes, there's an intellectual leaning to this music, not pretentious exactly, but you just know these boys "got an education" (SWEETHEART CONTRACT). Such a contrast when you consider the down to earth pop purity of BUZZCOCKS and, specifically, PETE SHELLEY - who, incidentally, co-wrote SHOT BY BOTH SIDES and THE LIGHT POURS OUT OF ME, two highbrow post-punk classics. Clearly, however, an ex-colleague for whom songs from a different kitchen were preferable to songs from under the floorboards.
A penultimate word in praise of Devoto's lyrics; at times they're simply thrilling. His higher functions clearly reside in other, more complex worlds, where cold-war paranoias, secret meetings, brutal relationships and personality disorders are the norm and everyday emotions vie for position on the boring old sidelines. Translate even a fraction of that facility to paper and the only conclusion worth making is that Mother Nature most certainly did NOT rip off this particular genius behind the mask(s).
Magazine's songs remain to this day wonderfully fresh and challenging - so be bold, get acquainted, and jump in...the driver might be a bit odd but the motor's a belter.
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
PS: Compilation album SCREE, (B-Sides and Rarities) is another one for your collection. The alternative versions of 'Believe That I Understand' and 'The Light Pours Out of Me' are worth the money by themselves.
THE CORRECT USE OF SOAP, Magazine's third album, is their finest 39 minutes. Ten perfect songs, fully-formed and as individual as the creative minds behind them, this is a defining pop product and, quite simply, beyond improvement. BECAUSE YOU'RE FRIGHTENED gets things off to a racing start with guitars and drums matching each other in grim intensity, but the pacing is deliberate as evidenced by tracks three and four, (I'M A PARTY and YOU NEVER KNEW ME), where the brakes are on for over seven minutes during which Devoto delivers two knockout vocals. Moving on, PHILADELPHIA is a superb rocker and I WANT TO BURN AGAIN exudes atmospheric eccentricity via swirly organ interludes and warped accoustic guitar.
Keyboards are reigned in from the previous two albums' pole positioning and the benefit in letting the other instruments breathe a little is key to the overall sound. This subtle re-alignment of DAVE FORMULA's pivotal contributions allows for no less than the best from colleagues ADAMSON, McGEOCH and DOYLE and the production by Martin Hannett is both punchy and dramatic. Just one listen is enough to know that peaks have been reached here.
Yes, there's an intellectual leaning to this music, not pretentious exactly, but you just know these boys "got an education" (SWEETHEART CONTRACT). Such a contrast when you consider the down to earth pop purity of BUZZCOCKS and, specifically, PETE SHELLEY - who, incidentally, co-wrote SHOT BY BOTH SIDES and THE LIGHT POURS OUT OF ME, two highbrow post-punk classics. Clearly, however, an ex-colleague for whom songs from a different kitchen were preferable to songs from under the floorboards.
A penultimate word in praise of Devoto's lyrics; at times they're simply thrilling. His higher functions clearly reside in other, more complex worlds, where cold-war paranoias, secret meetings, brutal relationships and personality disorders are the norm and everyday emotions vie for position on the boring old sidelines. Translate even a fraction of that facility to paper and the only conclusion worth making is that Mother Nature most certainly did NOT rip off this particular genius behind the mask(s).
Magazine's songs remain to this day wonderfully fresh and challenging - so be bold, get acquainted, and jump in...the driver might be a bit odd but the motor's a belter.
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
PS: Compilation album SCREE, (B-Sides and Rarities) is another one for your collection. The alternative versions of 'Believe That I Understand' and 'The Light Pours Out of Me' are worth the money by themselves.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
So we've had chance for time to diminish this masterpiece, for other pretenders to produce their best and make it fade - but this still stands in the pantheon as one of the truly great albums. There are flashes of brilliance here in every track - a turn of phrase, a sneer, a tune, a riff, a great base line - take your pick. Highly intelligent, highly wrought, yet catchy. Sing along and you'll soon be humming "I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit". OK, this doesn't fit in any category - it's not heavy on the guitar, it's not punk, it's just an intellectual poseur grappling with love and paranoia and life backed up with supremely original musicians. Yes, I do believe that this is my 'favourite' album - and I use album carefully - this is a collection, not a couple of good tunes stuffed out - all of these wonderful ditties belong together. Must go now, I think I'll hunt out my original vinyl copy. The whole thing is so perfect that even the sleeve design tells you all you need to know about the delights it contains.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
genius
The most underrated band of the 20th century, this is their finest moment. Devoto's lyrical genius at its peak. Every track is a masterpiece. Read more
Published 4 months ago by genee
By far their best
This is a brilliant album, and I still recall the shock, after the muddy punk-prog of their first two albums, of the bright, sleek clean lines of the songs and the playing on here. Read more
Published 19 months ago by NewHouse
Third successive classic album
It was unreasonable to expect that Magazine would follow their debut album, 'Real Life', with another of similar standard, but they did with 'Secondhand Daylight'. Read more
Published 22 months ago by D. J. H. Thorn
Songs from Underground
A magnificent album, one I criminally ignored at the time but its relative lack of commercial success shows I was not the only one sadly. Read more
Published on 14 Jan 2010 by J. Fennessy
only four stars folks........
only four stars folks, NOT as good as second hand daylight, largely its a bit too straight, decent, but rarely threatening to become a great album, sometimes a ballad, sometimes... Read more
Published on 14 July 2009 by casio smith
Pop Genius
As a Magazine fan, I think 'The Correct use of Soap' is their most accessible and commercial recording of all. Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2009 by S. LAWRIE
Masterpiece enhanced
This third album by the legendary band Magazine is generally considered more accessible than Real Life or Secondhand Daylight. Read more
Published on 30 Oct 2008 by Pieter
Their best - and most accessible - album
Magazine were one of the most influential bands of their time. Intelligent, heartfelt, incisive, and moving, they were always way ahead of the game... Read more
Published on 11 Dec 2007 by breakdownthewalls
Inferior remastering of a true classic album
I love Magazine: have all the vinyl, saw them live, own all the previous CDs, all the compilations, all the 2007 remastered discs (Virgin EU pressings, not Caroline, which is the... Read more
Published on 10 Jun 2007 by David Haakenson
Remastered reissue of classic 1980 album
'THE Correct Use of Soap' (1980) was Magazine's third LP, and slightly poppier than the bleak predecessor 'Secondhand Daylight' (1979) and was the last to feature the wonderful,... Read more
Published on 10 Feb 2007 by Jason Parkes
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