Buzzcocks – Late For The Train: Live And In Session 1989-2016 (6 CD Box set)

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With songs about teen angst wrapped up in insanely catchy melodies it’s impossible not to be smitten with the Buzzcocks. Famed for their explosive live show Late For The Train: Live And In Session 1989-2016 collects the best of their post-reformation live recordings (and a disc of radio sessions) to illustrate why the Buzzcocks are such a hot ticket.

Disc One: Live At Birmingham Hummingbird 1989 (Official Bootleg)

Readers over a certain age will have fond memories of The Hummingbird and a capacity crowd on a cold December evening are primed and ready to explode. Their first tour post-reformation found the Buzzcocks delivering a ‘greatest hits’ show and it was a set studded with glittering gems. From the lovelorn ‘I Don’t Mind’ to the evergreen ‘Orgasm Addict’ via the punchy ‘Harmony In My Head’ each track highlights the bands undeniable superiority and marks their eight year hiatus as pure folly. There’s a strong focus on song structure and melody that reverberated through bands like The Smiths, Oasis and, indeed, any pop-punk band you care to mention.

Live At Birmingham Hummingbird is a soundboard recording: it occasionally swirls and sometimes is a bit muddy but the bands sheer joy carries things forward and the bootleg feel only adds to the live authenticity. In fact during the sublime ‘E.S.P.’ you feel you’re amidst a crowd of rowdy, pogoing punks, a sensation only intensified by the speaker melting ‘Everybody’s Happy Nowadays’. Two stone cold anthems close the set in the shape of ‘Oh Shit!’ and ‘Boredom’ but the evening has the feel of a rebirth and a band revitalised.

Disc Two: Live At The Northwick Theatre, Worcester 1993 (Official Bootleg)

By the time the Buzzcocks hit Worcester in ‘93 they’d released the critically acclaimed Trade Test Transmissions album and their set was a pleasing mixture of the old and new. With more than a nod to Joy Division ‘TTT’ was the opener but the following ‘Innocent’ was all Buzzcocks and married the melodic to the discordant. Like the first disc Live At The Northwick Theatre is of good bootleg quality and any sound issues are smoothed with pure enthusiasm. Live After Death it ain’t but the Buzzcocks were never about that; it’s more spit-and-sawdust than high sheen polish and it’s all the better for it.

Disc Three: Live At L’Arapaho Club, Paris 1995

As is the nature of these box sets some songs are repeated and tonight’s opener ‘I Don’t Mind’ makes its third appearance (and it’ll crop up later too). However, the different environments reveal new facets to the songs as the band fire off the audiences reaction and a partisan Parisian crowd seem well up for it. Firmly back in the tour cycle the Buzzcocks are on top form with Pete Shelley in particular being in fine voice. Undoubtedly the best singles band of the ‘70s and they’re all given an airing with ‘What Do I Get?’, ‘Love You More’ and ‘Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)?’ all peppering a punktastic set.

I don’t think the Buzzcocks’ marrying catchy pop melodies to punk energy could ever become tiresome and they’ve carried that ethos into their reformation with new tracks like ‘Unthinkable’ heavily laden with groove and swing. If anything this disc is even faster and frenetic than its predecessors and Live At L’Arapaho Club encapsulates all that’s good about a Buzzcocks live show.

Disc Four: Live At Finsbury Park, 1996 & Live At Maida Vale, 2003

The Sex Pistols gig at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall has gone down in the annuls of rock history. Bringing the Pistols to Manchester were the Buzzcocks and, in a nice piece of symmetry, when the Sex Pistols headlined Finsbury Park two decades later it was only natural that the Buzzcocks would provide support. Playing to a huge crowd the band show no nerves and even throw a few new tracks (‘What Am I Supposed To Do Now?’) into the mix. If you weren’t lucky enough to have been there then Live At Finsbury Park, 1996 is the next best thing.

Recorded at Aunty Beeb’s famous studios Live At Maida Vale, 2003 presents the Buzzcocks at their amphetamine-charged, visceral best. Quality recordings which are presented with a rough polish they simply explode with nervous energy with ‘Driving You Insane’ and ‘Lester Sands’ being definite highlights.

Disc Five: Live At The Forum, London, 2006

Recorded to commemorate the bands 30th anniversary Live At The Forum, London, 2006 is the perfect summation of the Buzzcocks career. Thankfully they kept a healthy respect for their past while keeping an eye on the future and that ethos is exemplified on this 28 track disc. From The Damned style opener ‘You Tear Me Up’ to the closing crescendo of ‘Orgasm Addict’ the band tear through an envious set list a breakneck speed. However, there’s plenty of variety on offer and incorporates the discordant ‘Moving Away From The Pulse Beat’ and the tumbling ‘Autonomy’.

Disc Six: Buzzcocks At The BBC

I have something of a love/hate relationship with the BBC: some of the archive footage they’ve lost over the years is criminal. But, on the plus side, they have documented some of the biggest bands at various stages of their career and Buzzcocks At The BBC finds our Mancunian heroes recording various sessions between 1993 and 2016. Often recorded in one take the songs presented here have that ‘live-in-the-studio’ vibe and, even without a rabid crowd, the Buzzcocks are in fine fettle and it’s heartening that the preceding 40 years haven’t blunted their power.

With many of the recordings on Late For The Train: Live And In Session 1989-2016 being released officially for the first time this set is a veritable treasure trove for the hardcore fan whilst also making a choice sampler for the curious. Pete Shelley would be proud.

  • Reviewed by Peter Dennis
  • Late For The Train: Live And In Session 1989-2016 is released via Cherry Red on 22 January 2020
  • Website

Disc One: Live At Birmingham Hummingbird, 1989

  1. I Don’t Know What To Do With My Life
  2. I Don’t Mind
  3. Love You More
  4. Promises
  5. Why She’s A Girl From The Chainstore
  6. Autonomy
  7. Noise Annoys
  8. You Say You Don’t Love Me
  9. S.P.
  10. Everybody’s Happy Nowadays
  11. Harmony In My Head
  12. What Do You Know?
  13. What Do I Get?
  14. Fast Cars
  15. Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)?
  16. I Believe
  17. Orgasm Addict
  18. Oh, Shit!
  19. Boredom

Disc Two: Live At The Northwick Theatre, Worcester, 1993

  1. TTT
  2. Innocent
  3. Last To Know
  4. When Love Turns Around You
  5. I Don’t Mind
  6. Who’ll Help Me To Forget?
  7. Autonomy
  8. Get On Our Own
  9. Energy
  10. Alive Tonight
  11. I Don’t Know What To Do With My Life
  12. Palm Of Your Hand
  13. Fiction Romance
  14. Do It
  15. Nothing Left
  16. Isolation
  17. Unthinkable
  18. No Reply
  19. Sixteen Again
  20. Why She’s A Girl From The Chainstore
  21. Harmony In My Head
  22. Fast Cars
  23. Breakdown

Disc Three: Live At L’Arapano Club, Paris, 1995

  1. I Don’t Mind
  2. Unthinkable
  3. Strange Thing
  4. Energy
  5. Breakdown
  6. Innocent
  7. Why She’s A Girl From The Chainstore
  8. Last To Know
  9. Running Free
  10. Libertine Angel
  11. Why Can’t I Touch It?
  12. Noise Annoys
  13. Boredom
  14. Do It
  15. Harmony In My Head
  16. I Believe
  17. I Don’t Know What To Do With My Life
  18. Love You More
  19. Autonomy
  20. Orgasm Addict
  21. Promises
  22. When Love Turns Around You
  23. Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)?
  24. What Do I Get?
  25. Oh Shit!
  26. Fast Cars

Disc Four: Live At Finsbury Park, 1996 & Live At Maida Vale, 2003

Finsbury Park:

  1. You Say You Don’t Love Me
  2. What Am I Supposed To Do Now?
  3. Hold Me Close
  4. Playing For Time
  5. Love You More
  6. Harmony In My Head
  7. What Do I Get?
  8. Back With You
  9. Boredom

Maida Vale:

  1. Driving You Insane
  2. Keep On
  3. Certain Move (Take One)
  4. Certain Move (Take Two)
  5. Lester Sands
  6. Jerk (Take One)
  7. Jerk (Take Two)
  8. Breakdown (Take One)
  9. Breakdown (Take Two)
  10. Orgasm Addict
  11. Harmony In My Head

Disc Five: Live At The Forum, London, 2006

  1. You Tear Me Up
  2. Friends
  3. Operator’s Manual
  4. Isolation
  5. Running Free
  6. Reconciliation
  7. Whatever Happened To?
  8. I Don’t Mind
  9. You Say You Don’t Love Me
  10. Moving Away From The Pulse Beat
  11. Strange Thing
  12. Love You More
  13. Soul On A Rock
  14. What Do I Get?
  15. S.P.
  16. Hollow Inside
  17. Why She’s A Girl From The Chainstore
  18. Speed Of Life
  19. 369
  20. No Reply
  21. Totally From The Heart
  22. Time’s Up
  23. Autonomy
  24. Promises
  25. Harmony In My Head
  26. Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)?
  27. Harmony In My Head
  28. Orgasm Addict

Disc Six: Buzzcocks At The BBC

National Music Day, 1993

  1. Do It
  2. Isolation

Jakki Brambles Session, 1993

  1. Palm Of Your Hand
  2. Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)?
  3. Do It
  4. Isolation
  5. Unthinkable

Mark Radcliffe Session, 1994

  1. Energy
  2. Libertine Angel
  3. Roll It Over
  4. Last To Know

Mark Radcliffe Session, 2006

  1. Flatpack Philosophy
  2. Soul Survivor
  3. Love You More

Mark Riley Session, 2015

  1. Promises
  2. It’s Not You
  3. The Way
  4. In The Back

6Music Festival, 2016

  1. Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)?
  2. People Are Strange Machines
  3. Boredom