But this album is a must-have for Buzzcocks fans, a real undiscovered treasure. The Buzzcocks are still lumped in with various cloddish punk bands like The Clash, or even compared unfavorably to them, as if Shelley's philosophical point of view was less valid than dopey and ignorant political ranting. What bothers me is that it still seems that no one realizes just how plain WEIRD Shelley's songs were. "Hollow Inside," anyone? It's like the punk version of a Mahler dirge. Yet the weirdness comes out of Shelley's own skewed philosophy, the intimacy and even profundity of his lyrics -- it isn't just window-dressing or desperation to be different like it is with, say, Wire.

This album-and-a-half brings Shelley's disturbingly baroque side to the forefront. If Edgar Allen Poe had a synthesizer, it would sound exactly like "Qu'est-ce Que C'est Que Ca." It is a truly insidious track, Shelley embarking on an existential quest -- "Is there a heaven / Do you believe all that you're told?" -- while the creepiest synth line in history swirls around him like a magician's coloured fog. "Yesterday's Not Here" is also superb, a dream pairing of "bag-of-nails" Buzzcocks guitars with New Order beats, and "Homosapien" is simply startling. At first it sounds much like any disco track from the early 80's, and this is probably how it briefly became a hit. Then someone listened to the lyrics, and Shelley's career was effectively over ( "Homo superior / In my interior." ) However, this song has since revealed itself as a gesture of liberation, and not only gay liberation. As it moves from homosexual lust to social commentary to transcendental longing, seemingly in the flick of an eyelash, it liberates synthpop and dance music from banality. You can imagine the young Pet Shop Boys hearing this track back in 1982 and thinking, "Maybe we DO have a chance."

I'd like to say that everything else here is great, but much of it is garishly dated, like the Stray Cats pastiche "Just One of Those Affairs." The songs selected from Shelley's second solo album, XL-1, are stomping and aggressive, as sugary as anything off the first two albums by Bis, but the lyrics have taken a major hit in terms of intelligence. Shelley was going for radio-fodder here. However, anyone who has spent years of their lives obsessing over The Buzzcocks should not overlook this; there are some chestnuts you won't want to live without. And "Homosapien" is even historically important -- how much pop music can you say that about?

Oh the memories...
Oh the memories... I wonder what ever happened to my Album?

The Best Album Ever
Although this album makes immensely pleasurable listening at the start, repeated listening makes it less enjoyable. Brilliant songs, such as Homosapien, If You Ask Me, but the best song is I Just Wanna Touch.

If you can't listen to the Buzzcocks because of the grinding guitars, then listen to this. It's like the Buzzcocks put through a 'make it listenable' box. A synthesiser, in other words.

I've got this on vinyl as 'XL-1', and I'm about to get the dub mixes of all the tracks on the ultra-rare tape version of XL-1

Homosapien
One of the best albums of all-time in my opinion. No joking. It reminds me of John Lennon's Plastic Ono band album in its honestness. Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks plays all the instruments. Lyrics are really awesome... e.g., "It's better NOT believing than believe what's not true."

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superior harmonic electric pop - irony in the soul!
Smashing album! Pure pop of the best kind