IS THAT REALLY 12 MONTHS GONE BY??

With time being a bit tight for all sorts of reasons, I now tend to spend hours on Sundays writing all sorts of pieces up to two weeks in advance for the blog. Which is why, although I am typing this on 14th February you aren't reading the words until quite a few days afterwards.

As myself and Mrs Villain exchanged gifts on Valentine's Day, we both recalled that this time last year we had travelled down to Manchester to catch Magazine play live. I wont bore you all with just how much this gig meant to me after all the years as I've said it all too often here on the blog, but we were both amazed to think that 12 months had flown in so quickly.

And to commemorate the anniversary of the gig, I've dug deep into the cupboard and pulled out the sole single from the LP that no-one ever claims to be their favourite - Magic, Murder & The Weather from 1981 - one that was recorded as the band was breaking-up and which consequently was never promoted via a live tour or indeed much promotional press. It is an album that misses the touch of the late John McGeogh who had quit the previous year fed-up with the lack of success, and instead took his talents to Siousxie & The Banshees and later on to P.I.L.

Anyway, here is the last original single that Magazine ever released, in its 12" form along with the b-sides:-

mp3 : Magazine - About The Weather
mp3 : Magazine - In The Dark
mp3 : Magazine - The Operative

Incidentally, the guitarist brought in to replace McGeogh was Ben Mandelson, a former college mate of Howard Devoto. Among other things in a what has been a long and distinguished career, Mandelson would many years later become part of Billy Bragg & The Blokes.

Happy Listening.