The Correct Use of Soap
Encyclopedia
The Correct Use of Soap is the third album by British post-punk
band Magazine
, released by Virgin Records
in 1980. It marks a return to form of sorts to the punkier riffs and faster rhythms of Real Life
after their more experimental album Secondhand Daylight
. As such, it contains some of Magazine's best-known and most popular songs, including the singles "A Song from Under the Floorboards" and "Sweetheart Contract" and their cover of Sly & The Family Stone
's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
". This was their last album with original guitarist John McGeoch
, who left the band after the releasing of the album and joined Siouxsie And The Banshees and continued a short more time with Visage, formed also by his bandmates Dave Formula
and Barry Adamson
; he was replaced by Robin Simon
(ex-Ultravox
, now with Ajantamusic) to the world tour, promoting the album. Magazine would go on to release one more studio album, 1981's Magic, Murder and the Weather
, but this album is generally regarded as the end of Magazine and Devoto's most productive and innovative period.
A different version of this album was released in Canada in 1980, by then distributor Polygram Records. This version was titled An Alternative Use of Soap.
The single "A Song from Under the Floorboards" was featured on Rhino's box-set Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the 80s Underground, and has been covered many times in concert by fellow Mancunian Morrissey
and recorded by Australian band My Friend the Chocolate Cake
on their ARIA Music Award-winning album Brood
(1994). It was also covered by Simple Minds
on the 2CD Edition of their 2009 album Graffiti Soul.
On the 1 September 2009, Magazine performed the original album in its entirety in the first half of their show at the Royal Festival Hall
in London.
Side A
Side B
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
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...
, released by Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
in 1980. It marks a return to form of sorts to the punkier riffs and faster rhythms of Real Life
Real Life (Magazine album)
Real Life is the debut album by English post-punk band Magazine, released in April 1978 on Virgin Records.- Track listing :- Personnel :* Howard Devoto – vocals* John McGeoch – guitar and saxophone* Barry Adamson – bass guitar...
after their more experimental album Secondhand Daylight
Secondhand Daylight
Secondhand Daylight is the second album by British band Magazine, released by Virgin Records on 30 March 1979.-Track listing:-Personnel:* Howard Devoto - vocals* John McGeoch - guitar, saxophone, keyboards on "The Thin Air"* Barry Adamson - bass...
. As such, it contains some of Magazine's best-known and most popular songs, including the singles "A Song from Under the Floorboards" and "Sweetheart Contract" and their cover of Sly & The Family Stone
Sly & the Family Stone
Sly and the Family Stone were an American rock, funk, and soul band from San Francisco, California. Active from 1966 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and psychedelic music...
's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
"Thank You " is a 1969 hit single recorded by Sly and the Family Stone, recognized as one of the greatest and most influential funk songs of all time. The song, double a-sided with "Everybody Is a Star", reached number one on the soul single charts for five weeks, and reached number one on the...
". This was their last album with original 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....
, who left the band after the releasing of the album and joined Siouxsie And The Banshees and continued a short more time with Visage, formed also by his bandmates 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...
and 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...
; he was replaced by Robin Simon
Robin Simon
For the art historian and critic Robin Simon, editor of , see Robin JH SimonRobin Simon For the art historian and critic Robin Simon, editor of , see Robin JH SimonRobin Simon For the art historian and critic Robin Simon, editor of , see Robin JH SimonRobin Simon (born Robert Simon 12 July 1956,...
(ex-Ultravox
Ultravox
Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....
, now with Ajantamusic) to the world tour, promoting the album. Magazine would go on to release one more studio album, 1981's 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...
, but this album is generally regarded as the end of Magazine and Devoto's most productive and innovative period.
A different version of this album was released in Canada in 1980, by then distributor Polygram Records. This version was titled An Alternative Use of Soap.
The single "A Song from Under the Floorboards" was featured on Rhino's box-set Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the 80s Underground, and has been covered many times in concert by fellow Mancunian Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
and recorded by Australian band My Friend the Chocolate Cake
My Friend The Chocolate Cake
My Friend The Chocolate Cake is an Australian musical group based in Melbourne. They have recorded seven albums since being founded in 1989 by David Bridie and Helen Mountfort, members of Not Drowning, Waving...
on their ARIA Music Award-winning album Brood
Brood (album)
Brood is the second studio album by Melbourne band My Friend the Chocolate Cake. The album was released in 1994 and won the 1995 ARIA Music Award for Best Adult Contemporary Album...
(1994). It was also covered by Simple Minds
Simple Minds
Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band who achieved worldwide popularity from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The band produced a handful of critically acclaimed albums in the early 1980s and best known for their #1 US, Canada and Netherlands hit single "Don't You ", from the soundtrack of the...
on the 2CD Edition of their 2009 album Graffiti Soul.
On the 1 September 2009, Magazine performed the original album in its entirety in the first half of their show at the Royal Festival Hall
Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...
in London.
Track listing
- All songs by Barry Adamson/Howard Devoto/John Doyle/Dave Formula/John McGeoch, except where noted.
- "Because You're Frightened" – 3:54
- "Model Worker" – 2:51
- "I'm a Party" – 3:01
- "You Never Knew Me" – 5:23
- "Philadelphia" – 3:54
- "I Want to Burn Again" – 5:16
- "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)"Thank You " is a 1969 hit single recorded by Sly and the Family Stone, recognized as one of the greatest and most influential funk songs of all time. The song, double a-sided with "Everybody Is a Star", reached number one on the soul single charts for five weeks, and reached number one on the...
" (Sylvester StewartSly StoneSly Stone is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly & the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of...
) - 3:48 - "Sweetheart Contract" – 3:18
- "Stuck" – 4:04
- "A Song from Under the Floorboards" – 4:07
2007 remastered edition bonus tracks
- "Twenty Years Ago" - 3:03
- "The Book" - 2:22
- "Upside Down" - 3:47
- "The Light Pours Out Of Me - Version" - 3:28
An Alternative Use of Soap
- Music by Magazine / Lyrics by Howard Devoto, except where noted.
Side A
- "Because You're Frightened" – 3:54
- "The Light Pours Out of Me" (Howard DevotoHoward DevotoHoward 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...
, John McGeochJohn McGeochJohn 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....
, Pete ShelleyPete ShelleyPete Shelley is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as the leader of Buzzcocks.-Biography:...
) – 3:28 - "You Never Knew Me" – 5:23
- "Upside Down" – 3:48
- "Sweetheart Contract" – 3:18
Side B
- "A Song from Under the Floorboards" – 4:07
- "Philadelphia" – 3:54
- "I Want to Burn Again" – 5:16
- "Stuck" – 4:04
- "Thank You (Fallentinme Be Mice Elf Again)" (Sylvester StewartSly StoneSly Stone is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly & the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of...
) - 3:48
Personnel
- Howard DevotoHoward DevotoHoward 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...
– vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - John McGeochJohn McGeochJohn 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....
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s - Barry AdamsonBarry AdamsonBarry 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...
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Dave FormulaDave FormulaDave 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...
– keyboardsElectronic keyboardAn electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:... - John DoyleJohn 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:...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Laura Teresa - additional backing vocals