Album dossier / 1980

The Correct Use of Soap

Magazine · Post-Punk

Recorded in winter and spring 1980 across Strawberry Studios in Stockport, Cargo Studios in Rochdale and Virgin's 24-track mobile unit, The Correct Use of Soap was produced by Joy Division collaborator Martin Hannett, who later called it his 'best technical production' to date. It paired Howard Devoto's paranoid, aphoristic lyrics with a looser, more accessible sound built around John McGeoch's percussive, chorus-pedal guitar work, Dave Formula's swirling synths and Barry Adamson's bass, closing with a cover of Sly and the Family Stone's 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).' It proved to be McGeoch's final album with Magazine -- he departed later in 1980 to join Siouxsie and the Banshees -- and its singles 'Sweetheart Contract' and 'A Song from Under the Floorboards' remain regarded as some of Magazine's most enduring post-punk songwriting, helped by Hannett's dense but unusually poppy production choices.