Jesus Made Me Feel Guilty [Demo Version] - Buzzcocks, Diggle
Something's Gone Wrong Again [#][Instrumental][Demo Version] - Buzzcocks, Shelley
2008 digitally remastered and expanded two CD edition of the Buzzcocks' 1979 album with bonus tracks plus a second disc filled with even more bonus material! A Different Kind of Tension pulls together all the associated si... more »ngles - five of them, including Parts 1-3 recorded with Martin Hannett and later collected on an American mini-album - as well as the last track the group recorded in their first incarnation: "I Look Alone". As an added bonus, there is a whole disc of demos from the period, including several hard to find songs like "The Drive System", "Jesus Made Me Feel Guilty", and Paddy Garvey's heart-rending "Run Away From Home". The set is rounded off with four BBC recordings from the period, including an early outing for "Everybody's Happy Nowadays". EMI.« less
2008 digitally remastered and expanded two CD edition of the Buzzcocks' 1979 album with bonus tracks plus a second disc filled with even more bonus material! A Different Kind of Tension pulls together all the associated singles - five of them, including Parts 1-3 recorded with Martin Hannett and later collected on an American mini-album - as well as the last track the group recorded in their first incarnation: "I Look Alone". As an added bonus, there is a whole disc of demos from the period, including several hard to find songs like "The Drive System", "Jesus Made Me Feel Guilty", and Paddy Garvey's heart-rending "Run Away From Home". The set is rounded off with four BBC recordings from the period, including an early outing for "Everybody's Happy Nowadays". EMI.
CD Reviews
Their best
Edward Bosnar | 03/06/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Usually a band's last album before its members part ways is considered their weakest. That's not the case here: "A Different Kind of Tension" is in my view their best effort by far, even better than their otherwise outstanding and frequently lauded "Singles Going Steady." The album's twelve tracks are an outstanding mix of post-punk standards, like "Mad, Mad Judy," "You Say You Don't Love Me" and "I Don't Know What to do with My Life," and more experimental songs like "Money," "Hollow Inside" and "I Believe" - the type of songs which often earned the Buzzcocks the misleading classification as an `art-rock' group. It's nice that the recording company re-released this CD; it's great to listen to it on something other than the overplayed and now-grainy cassette I used before."
I almost forgot...
jeffb47 | 05/27/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"...what a great album this is. This is definitive pop punk, sweaty and hard rocking. I call it happy punk, which is a relative term. Though full of angst and confusion of the times The Buzzcocks were not one of those F*-this and F*-that nihilistic type of punk bands. You pogo dance to it, you don't slam dance.This could possible be one of the 10 best albums of all time."
The Greatest Punk/ Pop Band of the 70's
Alfred A Curtis | Cape Cod, MA | 05/25/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I honestly believed that Pete Shelley would be a a true successor to John Lennon in the annals of Pop when I first heard the Buzzcocks. This is a band that took a rather caustic musical form (punk) and made it beautiful. Along with XTC, (the best band of ALL TIME; I'm not kidding!) Buzzcocks epitomized the feel and sound of the late 70's in a way that no one has before or since. I first heard "A Diffrent Kind of Tension" just a few months after Lennon's murder. When Pete sings "THERE IS NO LOVE IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE" ("I Believe") no disbelief is possible. The emotion is so real and honest it still give s me goosebumps almost 25 years later. The essence of punk was anger but the essence of the Buzzcocks was LOVE. I play a slow accoustic version of "You Say You Don't Love Me" in local clubs people always ask me who wrote it. I tell them "Pete Shelley". When they ask me where he is now I can only shake my head. I'm almost 50 and I've heard it all. BUY THIS ALBUM!"
THE Buzzcocks CD to own...
Spec | Silver Spring, MD USA | 02/22/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Rock solid album from start to finish. This is one piece of work I play over and over again."
A product of its timing
Stargrazer | deep in the heart of Michigan | 06/02/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Somehow, A Different Kind Of Tension is less of a cohesive listen than the compilation Singles Going Steady. The Shelley-Diggle songwriting poles are much more evident, making things even a little disjointed upon initial listens. There are lots of great songs here (and a few quirky experiments like robot voices in the title track; and the sound-collage "Radio Nine" that closes the album a bit anticlimactically after the blazing "I Believe"), but the dissolution of the band after ADKOT's release is foreshadowed by a certain strain in their musical chemistry. Ever-so-slightly starchy production does nothing to seriously diminish the great songs, it just gives the overall album a dated sheen.
Tough to swallow that sellers are offering this title starting at $48. Just an insight for those of you willing to scour some record stores for this (currently) out-of-print gem: I bought it for $16 two days ago at a local record store. The sticker on it had a hand-written "NR," which means this is a "non-returnable title" -- stores which stocked the title and didn't sell all copies aren't able to return it to the manufacturer. I worked at several record stores in my college days and this is one way music managers mark CDs so they don't pull them when they do big returns. So out-of-print, non-returnable CDs like this often end up in bargain bins and speed tables. Keep your eyes open for it before you shell out 50 bucks. I've picked up lots of great music this way. Good luck!"
Track Listings (16) - Disc #1