Trade Test Transmissions

This article is about the Buzzcocks album. For the test transmissions by the BBC, see Trade test colour films.

Trade Test Transmissions is the fourth studio album by English pop punk band Buzzcocks. It was released on 14 June 1993 by record label Castle Communications^[6] on their sub-label Essential Records^[7] and was the band's first release in fourteen years, following up 1979's A Different Kind of Tension. The music was quite different from their earlier material with nods to the power pop scene popular at the time.

Trade Test Transmissions
Studio album by Buzzcocks
Released	14 June 1993 (1993-06-14)[1]
Recorded	March–April 1993[2]
Studio	Eastcote Studios, London
Genre	Pop punk[3][4]
Length	47:58
Label	Essential (UK), Caroline (USA)
Producer	Ralph P. Ruppert
Buzzcocks chronology
Operator's Manual: Buzzcocks Best (1991) Trade Test Transmissions (1993) All Set (1996)
Singles from Trade Test Transmissions
"Innocent" Released: May 1993 "Do It" Released: August 1993 "Isolation" Released: 1995[5]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Chicago Tribune	[9]
Robert Christgau	[3]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[4]
Pitchfork	6.9/10[10]
PopMatters	6/10[11]

Trade Test Transmissions has been generally well received by critics.

Jason Crock of Pitchfork was generally favourable, though writing "the album remains a strictly diehards-only affair."^[10] CMJ later qualified it as "a superb record which oddly got lost in the shuffle".^[12]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Pete Shelley, except as noted.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Do It"		3:23
2.	"Innocent"		3:34
3.	"TTT"		3:18
4.	"Isolation"	Steve Diggle	3:58
5.	"Smile"		2:47
6.	"Last to Know"		2:52
7.	"When Love Turns Around"	Diggle	2:25
8.	"Never Gonna Give It Up"		2:47
9.	"Energy"	Diggle	3:35
10.	"Palm of Your Hand"		3:22
11.	"Alive Tonight"	Diggle	3:48
12.	"Who'll Help Me to Forget?"		2:57
13.	"Unthinkable"	Diggle	2:52
14.	"Crystal Night"		3:18
15.	"369"		3:02

2004 reissue bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
16.	"Inside" (B-side of "Innocent")		2:32
17.	"Do It" (single version)		2:57
18.	"Trash Away" (live; B-side of "Do It")	Diggle	4:44
19.	"All Over You" (live; B-side of "Do It")		3:25
20.	"Libertine Angel" (non-album single, 1994)		2:57
21.	"Roll It Over" (B-side of "Libertine Angel")	Diggle	6:07
22.	"Excerpt from 'Prison Riot Hostage'" (B-side of "Libertine Angel")		1:59

Personnel

Adapted from the album liner notes.^[13]

Buzzcocks

• Pete Shelley – guitar, vocals
• Steve Diggle – guitar, vocals
• Tony Barber – bass
• Philip Barker – drums

Technical

• Ralph P. Ruppert – production
• Ingo Vauk, Philip Bagenal – mixing engineers
• Graeme Durham – mastering
• Malcolm Garrett – album design
• Pete Towndrow – photography