Released on: Future Noise Music
Release Date: 28/05/11
Poly Styrene is quite rightly lauded in musical circles as something of a pioneer.
X-Ray Spex’s brief but vital explosion onto the British music scene with the release of Germ Free Adolescents in 1978 came at a time when bands subscribing to this newfound notion of ‘punk’ were so numerous that any hoping for any kind of recognition had to elevate themselves above the chaff - the sheer number of punk bands trying to make it at the time was the genre’s own quality control.
X-Ray Spex - thanks to their hectic live shows, horn-tinged power chords and in no small part to Poly Styrene’s unique and enviable abilities as a frontwoman - managed to carve out a niche and they are now mentioned alongside such illustrious company as The Pistols, The Clash and Blondie - not as followers, but as equals.
As a side note, Gobshout is also extremely sad to report that Styrene has recently announced she is battling cancer, and as such has had to cancel live dates in support of her new album Generation Indigo. We wish her a speedy recovery and have no doubt that The Big C will have found its match in a lady of such fortitude, and we look forward to seeing Styrene bounce back.
The album itself is still being released on March 28th as planned, and in typically outlandish style is something of an amorphous beast. Styrene’s voice and straight-talking lyrical style are present and correct, through which her admittedly admirable views are conveyed across the twelve tracks here, but the problems that surface lie in the myriad of genres she chooses to employ, with some being annexed much more successfully than others.
First track I Luv Ur Sneakers is a strange old choice for an opener, in that it is one of the weakest songs on the album, both lyrically and musically. Imagine John McLure singing about the moral implications of his favourite pair of shoes and you won’t be far off; “No animal died or lost its soul/In the production of your beautiful sneakers” is such a bizarre and inarguable statement that it's almost lovely, but ‘Makers-esque alternate-octave basslines, fuzzy synths and disco beats were wearing thin five years ago (or twenty five years ago, depending on your perspective) and do the song no favours whatsoever.
This same problem rears its head in tracks L.U.V. and Kitsch: the electro offerings are guilty of sounding terribly old-hat, even in the Crystal Castles and Hurts-infested world of now, and do not pack the lyrical punch necessary to carry them along (take “You can call me a brat/Or the bird that’s too fat/But I would say I’ve got my little yoga mat” from Kitsch, as an intentionally droll example).
Second track Virtual Boyfriend picks things up slightly and revels in its melodic corniness, before Generation Indigo introduces Cypress Hill-ian sampled beats (used again in the brilliantly chorused Gorillaz-esque Code Pink Dub) and is the first track to feature a rapper who sounds remarkably like Shaggy, together with the crawling funk of Colour Blind and the joyous summery ska of No Rockefeller. Rich harmonies and layers of guitar are draped across the mellower Ghoulish, going some way to disguise the fact that its melody is strikingly similar to oft-nativitied We Three Kings (that of Christmas fame).
The album’s strongest moments come, somewhat inevitably, in its rockier ones: Fifth track White Gold’s chorus refrain of “I wish I could fly a plane” soars to goose-pimpling effect like a Britpop anthem that should've been, while the chugging riffery of Trash City’s huge power chords is as close as Styrene comes to her work with the Spex, and these two tracks stand head and shoulders above all others besides album closer Electric Blue Monsoon, which is a beautifully lo-fi a-capella ditty showcasing a singing voice left frustratingly obscured or unused throughout the rest of the album.
The sometimes obtusely included politics are just wholesome enough to work in the context of the album, and Poly is not afraid to tackle subjects like race, war and equality with a simplistic clarity, but the weaker electro links found largely in its first half and the sometimes clunky (but signature) lyrical style do hold the album back. Still, the ambition on display here is admirable, and how much of the musical indecisiveness can be attributed to producer Youth (who has previously worked with The Verve and Edwin Collins) is debatable.
A mixed bag then, but one that shows commendable balls. From a character like Poly Styrene, did we really expect anything else?
6/10
Posted In Album Reviews, Mar 28 2011.
Words - Luke