Magazine (biography)

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Magazine – The Biography by Helen Chase

I saw Magazine 4 or 5 times from ’79 – ’80; I saw their “Urgh” show in San Francisco at the Warfield Theatre.  I saw them at the Whisky A-go-go at the time of “Secondhand Daylight”.  I got most of their autographs on my copies of their first two albums.

Some useful Magazine trivia:

Howard Trafford = Howard Devoto

Dave Tomlinson = Dave Formula

I later saw Howard’s other band, Luxuria – live, quite good.  Nobody was more surprised than I when Magazine re-formed for shows, over the last couple of years.

I have Howard’s book, “It Only Looks As If it Hurts” – and now there’s this book, “Magazine – The Biography by Helen Chase”.

Seems like she interviewed pretty much everyone possible, re: Magazine.  I guess that’s about what one could hope for.  Too bad about John McGeoch.  He was a great guitarist and songwriter.

Magazine remain my favorite band of that ’78 – ’81 era, even over XTC and Ultravox (with John Foxx) – I saw all three bands play live.  Never as amused with Visage, a band that seemed to gobble up Magazine members.

So, I recommend this book to Magazine fans.  Always nice to have some illumination on a topic previously thought to be ‘closed’.

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