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Track Listings
| 1. Art-I-Ficial | |||
| 2. Obsessed With You | |||
| 3. Warrior In Woolworths | |||
| 4. Let's Submerge | |||
| 5. I Can't Do Anything | |||
| 6. Identity | |||
| 7. Genetic Engineering | |||
| 8. I Live Off You | |||
| 9. I Am A Poseur | |||
| 10. Germ Free Adolescents | |||
| 11. Plastic Bag | |||
| 12. The Day The World Turned Day-Glo | |||
| 13. Oh Bondage, Up Yours! | |||
| 14. I Am A Cliche | |||
| 15. Age | |||
| 16. HIghly Inflammable | |||
| 17. Genetic Engineering | |||
| 18. Art-I-Ficial | |||
| 19. I Am A Poseur | |||
| 20. Identity | |||
See all 23 tracks on this disc
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
So much bull**it has been written and said about Punk Rock since it was propagandised into a formula by journos obsessed with politics and listeners who wanted nothing but the same old cliches again and again. This process started as early as 1977 when The Clash annoyingly brought the kind of sixties 'social realism' protest ideal into Punk Rock, transforming it into mere Punk (note the distinction).
X Ray Spex were (along with The Sex Pistols, The Stranglers, The Damned, The Adverts and Alternative TV) one of the true early UK Punk Rock bands and like their peers, their watchword was originality. Fronted by half Somali-half White vocalist Poly Styrene and female saxophonist Laura Logic, Spex were signed within three gigs, Logic departing after the initial 'Oh Bondage! Up Yours!' single included as one of the bonus tracks on this disc.
How did this originality manifest itself ? Well, I'm sorry to disappoint today's riot grrls by saying that feminism was not overtly on the agenda, making Poly's fronting of the band a more successfully feminist triumph by default -in 1977 Punk Rock UK, women did not have to compete with the boys, they were treated as equals and knew it, so they never had to bleat too much about oppression -Punk Rock transcended such boundaries. What counted in Punk Rock was that one was an individual.
Styrene instead employed a conceptual approach to her lyrics that resulted in a remarkably consistent worldview that anticipated postmodernism -possibly influenced by Andy Warhol's obsession with repetitious consumer images and his statments like 'I Want To Be A Machine'. In the world of the X Ray Spex, the consumer is King and Clown and this includes Punk Rockers themselves.... Read more ›
X Ray Spex were (along with The Sex Pistols, The Stranglers, The Damned, The Adverts and Alternative TV) one of the true early UK Punk Rock bands and like their peers, their watchword was originality. Fronted by half Somali-half White vocalist Poly Styrene and female saxophonist Laura Logic, Spex were signed within three gigs, Logic departing after the initial 'Oh Bondage! Up Yours!' single included as one of the bonus tracks on this disc.
How did this originality manifest itself ? Well, I'm sorry to disappoint today's riot grrls by saying that feminism was not overtly on the agenda, making Poly's fronting of the band a more successfully feminist triumph by default -in 1977 Punk Rock UK, women did not have to compete with the boys, they were treated as equals and knew it, so they never had to bleat too much about oppression -Punk Rock transcended such boundaries. What counted in Punk Rock was that one was an individual.
Styrene instead employed a conceptual approach to her lyrics that resulted in a remarkably consistent worldview that anticipated postmodernism -possibly influenced by Andy Warhol's obsession with repetitious consumer images and his statments like 'I Want To Be A Machine'. In the world of the X Ray Spex, the consumer is King and Clown and this includes Punk Rockers themselves.... Read more ›
14 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By Pen
Format:Audio CD
If you like Bikini Kill, Be Your Own Pet, yeah yeah yeahs, well, they wouldn't exist without this album. Much as the other reviewer don't like Polly Styrene's vocals, they've sure been influential, becoming the standard for girl punk yelping. The difference with the Spex is that they always let you know they were having fun, more than they were raging. See old clips of them, they're smiling, not spitting. The lyrics are funny, the kind of pop culture trash that the B-52s and early Blondie were also into. The difference is that X Ray Spex were British, and they were self aware enough to make fun of themselves as much as anyone else. forget clash, sex pistols, no one wants to sound like them today, the really influential punk groups were this lot, Ramones, Buzzcocks, Undertones and TV personalities - their influence is still widespread.
By S. FREEMAN
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I loved the singles 'Oh! Bondage...' and 'Identity' back in the day, but never had the album. Thought I'd give it a go a few decades later and it's a bit disappointing to be honest. There is too much sameiness in the songs, plus I find Poly's singing irritating after more than a few tracks. Having said that I love the saxophone, and the overall sound of the band is a good strong punk sound, There is a bit of '77 punk caricature about the Spex, but there are also some intelligent lyrics. I hate the cover artwork, but I suppose it is of its day, and it does go with the ideas in the song-writing. I am listening to the album as I write this, and the way Poly introduces 'Genetic Engineering' makes me cringe, but when the song gets going it is pretty good. I don't love this album, but I don't regret buying it. X-Ray Spex were an important punk band with an original sound and some good ideas. I love the track 'I am a Cliche', but Poly was no cliche.
By Psycho666
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'd just like to thank Amazon for this amazing product, just got into Poly Styrene and Xray spex, sadly, she's no longer with us. :( Great lyrics, great tunes, what more could you ask for!
Only downside, case broke trying to unwrap it from the cellophane:(
Buy it, and enjoy it!!!!
Only downside, case broke trying to unwrap it from the cellophane:(
Buy it, and enjoy it!!!!
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Poly styrene and co write from the heart and sing from the gut on this brilliant album that has the real x factor. RIP Poly.
Format:Audio CD
Poly styrene mixed race, part Somali female, London cultured, blasted her way with power and insight to ignite the funeral pyre. TOTP became an ironic staple for the anti girl pin up. No short cropped hair and overalls for Poly. She wanted to turn the world day glo. She showed that women did not need to display their bodies to get male attention. Instead they could display their intellect. Polystyrene what did they do to you? Born too soon and now look around, it was as if they never heard as you blazed across the universe.
The lyrics are a stunning trenchant critique of mindless, soulless hoarding of buy, buy, buy, herd trough snuffling, keeping up with jones, outright stupidity. X Ray saw things as they really were. Ouch, it was very ugly. They saw the present and foresaw the future. They were a pre Gang of 4.
Intelligence is never equated with pop, and at the time, it was not equated with women. They just sang about love. These lyrics were searing, light years away from Shappupyaface, Toast or even the noodling doodling, hand down the zipper, excess of Drog Rok.
"Germ free Adolescence," outlines obsessive compulsive disorder; scrubbing away 3 x per day. How many times has a song about psychological collapse reached the top 20 and become a hit? "I live of you," highlights greed and power, the pimp beating the whore and she just screams for more. Stated clearly in the midst of the feminist revolution this deals with abuse as an addiction to violence. How the middle classes hated it. She revealed a reality everyone wanted to paint in terms of noir/blanche. Polly painted violence in dayglo colours but the born again feminists saw good and evil in their good old God/Satanist religiously bigoted tinged worlds.... Read more ›
The lyrics are a stunning trenchant critique of mindless, soulless hoarding of buy, buy, buy, herd trough snuffling, keeping up with jones, outright stupidity. X Ray saw things as they really were. Ouch, it was very ugly. They saw the present and foresaw the future. They were a pre Gang of 4.
Intelligence is never equated with pop, and at the time, it was not equated with women. They just sang about love. These lyrics were searing, light years away from Shappupyaface, Toast or even the noodling doodling, hand down the zipper, excess of Drog Rok.
"Germ free Adolescence," outlines obsessive compulsive disorder; scrubbing away 3 x per day. How many times has a song about psychological collapse reached the top 20 and become a hit? "I live of you," highlights greed and power, the pimp beating the whore and she just screams for more. Stated clearly in the midst of the feminist revolution this deals with abuse as an addiction to violence. How the middle classes hated it. She revealed a reality everyone wanted to paint in terms of noir/blanche. Polly painted violence in dayglo colours but the born again feminists saw good and evil in their good old God/Satanist religiously bigoted tinged worlds.... Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
X-Ray Spex music cd
I only bought this for one track, just as well as the others are not the best tracks in the disco !
Published 2 months ago by Mr. Philip Cooper
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great band, shame about the singer
In their day, X-Ray-Spex were one of the more acclaimed punk bands, despite their album not arriving unil 1978, by which time the genre was starting to fade into the rest of New... Read more
Published on 2 Oct 2006 by D. J. H. Thorn
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