No Thyself is the fifth studio album by the band Magazine

Magazine (band)

Magazine are an English post-punk group active from 1977 to 1981, then reformed in 2009. Their debut single, "Shot by Both Sides", is now acknowledged as a classic and their debut album, Real Life, is still widely admired as one of the greatest albums of all time...

. It was released on the Wire-Sound label on 24 October 2011 about 30 years after the release of their previous studio album, Magic, Murder and the Weather

Magic, Murder and the Weather

Magic, Murder and the Weather is the fourth album by British post-punk band Magazine, released by Virgin Records in 1981. This was also their only studio album without original guitarist John McGeoch, who had moved to Siouxsie and the Banshees...

.

The bass guitar player Barry Adamson

Barry Adamson

Barry Adamson is a British rock musician who has worked with rock bands such as Magazine, Visage, The Birthday Party, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and the electronic musicians Pan sonic and Depeche Mode. Adamson created the seven-minute opus "Useless " remix for the latter band in 1997...

 did not participate in the making of No Thyself, and guitarist John McGeoch

John McGeoch

John Alexander McGeoch, , was a Scottish guitarist who played with a number of bands of the post-punk era, including Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Visage and Public Image Ltd....

 had died in 2004. Both musicians were important in previous line-ups. Pete Shelley

Pete Shelley

Pete Shelley is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as the leader of Buzzcocks.-Biography:...

, who had founded the Buzzcocks

Buzzcocks

Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton in 1976, led by singer–songwriter–guitarist Pete Shelley.They are regarded as an important influence on the Manchester music scene, the independent record label movement, punk rock, power pop, pop punk and indie rock. They achieved commercial...

 with Howard Devoto

Howard Devoto

Howard Devoto is an English rock and roll singer-songwriter, who began his career as the frontman for the punk band Buzzcocks, but then left to form Magazine, one of the first post-punk bands...

, contributed to the writing of the first track.

Track listing

All compositions by Devoto/Doyle/Formula/Noko, except "Do The Meaning" by Devoto/Doyle/Formula/Noko/Shelley.

1. "Do The Meaning"
2. "Other Thematic Material"
3. "The Worst Of Progress...."
4. "Hello Mister Curtis (With Apologies)"
5. "Physics"
6. "Happening In English"
7. "Holy Dotage"
8. "Of Course Howard (1979)"
9. "Final Analysis Waltz"
10. "The Burden Of A Song"
11. "Blisterpack Blues" (bonus track)

Variants

• WIRED 18 – 11 track special edition with bonus track "blisterpack Blues"
• WIRED 19 – standard 10 track version
• WIRED 22 – 10 track 12 inch vinyl LP version
• WIRED 17 – limited edition 10 inch vinyl single "Hello Mister Curtis (With Apologies)" backed with "Holy Dotage"

Personnel

• Howard Devoto
  Howard Devoto
  Howard Devoto is an English rock and roll singer-songwriter, who began his career as the frontman for the punk band Buzzcocks, but then left to form Magazine, one of the first post-punk bands...
  
   – vocals
• John Doyle
  John Doyle (drummer)
  John Doyle is a drummer who was member of New Wave bands like Magazine and The Armoury Show. He reunited with the first band for a tour which will be played in February 2009.-Biography:...
  
   – drums
• Dave Formula
  Dave Formula
  Dave Formula, , is an English keyboardist and film-soundtrack composer from Manchester, who played with the post-punk band Magazine, and New Romantic ensemble Visage during the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s and in the "world music" band The Angel Brothers.-Early Years and St...
  
   – keyboards
• Norman Fisher-Jones
  Norman Fisher-Jones
  Norman Fisher-Jones also known as Noko, is an English multi-instrumentalist musician, composer and producer, has formed and/or played with a number of bands primarily as a guitarist or bassist...
  
  (also known as Noko) – guitar and backing vocals
• Jonathan 'Stan' White – bass guitar and backing vocals
• Christine Hanson – cello and strings on "Final Analysis Waltz"
• Laura Teresa, Ray Shell, and Rosalie Cunningham – backing vocals

Reviews

The BBC gave this album 9/10 and said this: "The surprise excellence of the songs and the music makes this the long-overdue fourth great Magazine album. Thirty years ago, Howard Devoto sang of wanting to burn again. And here he is, doing exactly that."

The Guardian gave it 8/10 and had this to say: "No Thyself could be the fourth album they should have made instead of 1981's Magic, Murder and the Weather, which badly missed departed John McGeoch. Here, guitarist Noko and bassist John "Stan" White (replacing Barry Adamson, who had film commitments) help recapture the sonic blueprint laid down on the first three classic albums"

Mojo (in the print edition only) gave it 8/10 and said: "In 10 crisp, playful songs restores the exalted standards of the band's legend." (Referring to the 10 track, non-blisterpack edition).