Record / CD / Tape
Magazine
1978

This was one of those records that changed my outlook on music forever. I first heard it when I was 16. I'd been ill with tonsillitis and my friend made me a compilation tape of angular seventies and eighties alternative stuff. 'Shot By Both Sides' roared out of the speakers, musically malevolent and lyrically mesmerising. I became a great fan of Devoto's mysterious poetry (...it's so hot in here, what are they trying to hatch?) and John McGeoch's legendary axemanship. I think he made some very unusual choices. His solo in Permafrost, for example, (an incredibly woozy, atonal affair) is so good it makes me feel sick. The music for 'Shot', however, was written by Devoto and former Buzzcocks compadre Pete Shelley.

I always yearned to see the band live. Too late now, alas. The closest I came was hearing Jarvis Cocker's rendition of 'Shot By Both Sides' at his recent solo Academy 1 gig. Not at all bad.

I've followed bassist Barry Adamson's solo stuff over the years, but what became of Dave Formula? (Not featured on 'Shot', in fact.) His glamorous keyboard atmospherics lifted the band way above the meat and potato ordinariness of most punk.

Can anyone remind me who was behind the artwork for these sevens? (I love the Virgin logo at this point.)