There were few bands that really stood out when the Punk/New
Wave scene erupted towards the end of the 70's but X-Ray Spex were surely
one of the premier acts of the period. They arrived midway through 77 and
had disappeared inside 18 months with a string of classic singles and a solitary
glorious album in their wake.
Many of the bands from this period that had hit singles and albums have long
since been forgotten and their really are few acts from this period who still
command a slot in the larger High Street music stores. Generally though if
you wander into an HMV or Virgin store in the UK you'll find a tabbed divider
marked X-Ray Spex, there quite often will be nothing in stock but their section
tab remains intact and that in itself speaks volumes.
Female fronted bands during this period were pretty thin on the ground, their
wasn't too many members of the female sex who could fit the persona required
to front one of these aggressive, raw, anti establishment Punk Rock bands
but Poly Styrene had it by the sackful. Thousands of kids who couldn't bear
smiling at school suddenly spotted this tiny, screaming Punk icon wearing
dental braces on Top of the Pops and for the remainder of that year they became
a desirable facial feature alongside the safety pins and dog collars.
Their were originally two females in the line up, Laura Logic the original
teenage sax player was allegedly forced out of the band and back to school
by Poly's inflated ego. The single that broke the band appeared prior to this
album and wasn't included on it originally but "Oh Bondage Up Yours"
is now one of the few welcome features as bonus track. It's your classic 1977
three minute blast, eye catching, media intriguing title and lyric delivered
in an equally ferocious manner, a true classic of the era.
X-Ray-Spex essentially rework The Ramones ideals, two and three minute blitz's,
live renditions all inherit the famous 1-2-3-4 Ramones count in's, the chainsaw
guitars are present throughout and there's not a guitar solo in sight. Where
X-Ray-Spex really scored and created their unique originally was all in one
instrument, Rudi Thompson's blistering sax. The saxophone was an instrument
which was practically dead and buried as a credible instrument for any band
at this time let alone a band at the cutting edge of the new Punk Rock phenomena,
but it worked, and it worked unbelievably well. It sounds ridiculous to imagine
a band with Ramones style guitars, a thrashing and pounding drummer, and a
energetic screaming female vocalist accompanied by a saxophone, apart from
being an integral part of the band the sax also handled all the solo's with
supreme effect and efficiency.
"The Day The World Turned Day Glo", "Identity" and "Germ
Free Adolescents" were the singles from the album and Poly delivers many
of the tracks with a distinct John Lydon style warbling vocal, at times there's
so much energy in her voice that it sounds as though she's literally struggling
for breath "Identity" and "Genetic Engineering". The title
track is the only really energy change on the whole set, the sax plays a distinctly
cheesier part here than anywhere else on the album, inspiration for Gary Numan
here I think, I'm sure this sax line of sorts is splashed all over his Pleasure
Principle album.
"Art-i-ficial" is the best track here for me, heavy rock style opening
guitar riff starts the track before Poly leads it through an adrenalin pumping
three minute stormer, "Obsessed with You", "Let's Submerge"
and "Genetic Engineering" all push it close and are all of the same
mould. "Plastic Bag" is stranger track with its blistering choruses
and slower spacey verses, "Warrior in Woolworths" with it's T.Rex
style guitar and a little less sax upfront (apart from the solo) is a lighter
number with Poly a little more angelic than anywhere else on the set.
Germ Free Adolescents is a classic and it's essentially due to it's uniqueness
in it's instrumentation and the energy it generates. The CD reissues have
lost that energy a little by incorporating too many non album selections and
mixing up the original track order (why do they do that ??). Latest editions
have even reissued it as the X-Ray Spex Anthology which incorporates the awful
Live at the Roxy 1977 album in its entirety, lots of rough mixes of the album
tracks and three selections from the dreadful 1995 re-union album. The additional
tracks only prove that this 1978 classic should have been left alone and possibly
only boosted by the 70's non album singles. To gain maximum pleasure from
this set and truly experience it as it was originally intended get hold of
the original track listing and burn a CD with the tracks in the correct order,
sit back and enjoy, eat your heart out Siouxsie.
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