Flat-Pack Philosophy

It started in 1976 and is still here - thirty years of sex, punk and some of the greatest pop music ever made. In 2006, as British punk rock reaches its official 30th birthday, few of its founding fathers will be around to celebrate. However, one band remains as resilient in 2006 as they were thirty years earlier. The band that brought punk out of London and into the sticks by inviting the Pistols to play their native Manchester twice during the summer of ’76; released the first independent punk EP, thereby inspiring every label henceforth from Rough Trade to Factory, Postcard, Creation and beyond; and the band that has had a direct influence on bands such as REM, Orange Juice and The Smiths, making them a band whose cultural importance is too enormous to quantify properly…are still rocking 30 years later! This is a feat in itself considering their chequered history of run-ins and walk-outs. Flat-Pack Philosophy marks the fifth release from the Buzzcocks – Pete Shelley, Steve Diggle, Tony Barber, and Phillip Barker. In true punk fashion, Flat-Pack Philosophy packs 14 songs into 36 minutes and in places sounds like the best bits of every classic Buzzcocks single carefully welded together. It continues the great Buzzcocks tradition of romantic metaphors and of Diggle’s implicit literary references, and will certainly continue the ongoing success of this band. With the release of Flat-Pack Philosophy, the Buzzcocks can officially declare themselves punk’s strongest survivors, if not necessarily its sole survivor. In 2006, the band that started a thousand others is still making music in a different kitchen than anybody else.

Judged against the exceptional standards of the group's own catalog, this album is not so good. The Buzzcocks, after all, invented and perfected a very smartass, insanely catchy ideal of poppy, ultra-energetic punk rock and half your favorite bands have stolen from them liberally. But judged against other reunion records, it's definitely a fun album, and is easily their best post-breakup album. Steve Shelley's infamous high-pitched vocals sound more like a strange old geezer than a hyperactive kid, but that should not come as much of a surprise. Not surprisingly, the lyrics range from society to love. The songs are mostly mid-tempo, pleasant punk rock. You could do a lot worse, but they could do a lot better. --Mike McGonigal