Toby Manning writes in Buried Treasure"Flangers On 11 - When Punk Went Pink Floyd - the results were austere but hypnotic":-

In the winter of 1978-79 - punk was still a recent event - but it seemed far distant to founder Buzzcock Howard Devoto and his band Magazine - as they prepared to record their second album. Their debut - Real Life - had pushed punk into a more musically ornate and lyrically ambitious territory. Following its critical and commercial success - they were ready to push it further still. "We were moving away from punk and into the idea of soundscapes" remembers bassist Barry Adamson"music that was both emotional and descriptive."

In fact - soundtrack supremo John Barry was approached to produce the album - anticipating the '90s soundtrack vogue and Adamson's solo career - but declined. The other choice - Bowie producer Tony Visconti - was unavailable - so his engineer - Colin Thurston - and studio - Good Earth - were booked instead. "Colin worked on both Iggy's Lust For Life and Bowie's Heroes" recalls vocalist Howard Devoto"absolutely pivotal albums for all of us."

Recording began in rehearsal rooms in Amersham - using the Manor Mobile - and were completed at Good Earth. "Two weeks to record - two weeks to mix" recalls Adamson. "Me and [guitarist John] McGeoch argued a lot - but in light of bands I've been in subsequently - it went pretty smoothly. We all had room to contribute - but at the end of the day Howard's word went and we all respected that."

Devoto elucidates: "My role was essentially an arranger - a diplomat - having to balance the egos of everybody else - though being the lyric writer gives you a lot of power over the ultimate.-form of the song. [Keyboard player] Dave Formula was a hot more confident on this album - and while McGeoch could be quite spiky - I remember at one point he smashed a guitar-synthesizer in frustration - he was also less persistent - so he got a bit squeezed out."

McGeoch still managed to make his presence felt - however: witness the extraordinary - wracked solo on Permafrost. Overall - it was a more collective sound - Formula's "icicle keyboards" and Adamson's slithering bass adding to the epic - wintry landscape - though in places it dripped with effects. "I remember listening back to I Wanted Your Heart" says Devoto - laughing"and Barry just going - 'Everything is flanged to f***!"

There were also moments of sheer beauty: Formula's piano outro to Cut-Out Shapes - for instance - or the majestic Back To Nature. Devoto's lyrics - meanwhile - were sharper than ever. Under the shadow of the Cold War and at the dawning of Thatcherism - and under the spell of Dostoevsky - he depicted a world where the political and personal merge ("You were lovely as the goon squad in my heart") - and both are prey to the same uncertainty; "Cut-out shapes in second-hand daylight" as he puts it.

"Scepticism was really important to me" says Devoto now. "I've always been quite apolitical because of my weakness for seeing both sides of things. Or thinking I do. Feed The Enemy came fairly directly out of visiting Berlin that September on a tour of Germany supporting Patti Smith. Those serious borders with men with guns and a real feeling of not being wanted there. But at the same time having this complete fascination with it all."

"How many friends have we over there?" he sings in his chipped - precise tones - with just a hint of a sneer: "The border guard smiled unconvincingly! Whatever we do - it seems things are arranged. We always have to feed the enemy."

"I remember listening to the final mix at dawn" says Adamson"and when the girl backing singers came in halfway through Feed The Enemy - I felt this sort of shiver all aver - and thought - This is just f***ing genius. I thought it was going to be the record that would take us all the way - it was so cocky and bolshie and grand in its delivery. We saw ourselves as the host bastion of cold front reportage. We were very self-important."

Devoto agrees: "My attempts to be a man of the people were fairly few and far between. I had a real thing about being detached- not a hundred miles away from 'aloof' - I suppose. We thought we were something pretty special." They were soon brought down to earth. If the album was chilly - the reception was sub-zero. "We were absolutely clobbered" remembers Howard. Accusations hike "pretension - prog - and Pink Floyd" abounded: it seemed punk was nothing hike as far away as Magazine had perceived.

"If I could do it again" ponders Howard"the gatefold sleeve would go and we'd talk seriously about The Thin Air [McGeoch's epic Floydion instrumental]. That sort of reference point doesn't matter a shit now - but it did then. I hod tastes I kept quiet. Lord - I even hiked some of Yes as a youth."

The band took refuge in counter-attack. Howard: "We started bleating about the production and that wasn't fair. We all felt pretty bruised by the whole thing." A re-entrenchment saw a return to less epic territories - and to critical favour - with The Correct Use Of Soap. While Devoto sees that album as the peak of Magazine's achievement - Adamson feels it was a retreat from the ambition of Secondhand Daylight. "If anything - I think a little more of Secondhand Daylight now" he decides.

Adamson is not alone in his view: the timing scuppered its contemporary reception - by now - time is very much on Secondhand Daylight's side.