Of course to round up the career of Susan Whitby,aka Lora Logic,the sax playing Buddhist. Here's one of the few recordings of her playing with X-Ray Spex at the infamous Roxy punk club in covent garden, Wearing a very dodgy outfit indeed.:
X-Ray Spex were one of the new waves' most instantly readymade groups.Hitting the ground running,with a bunch of incredibly simple and catchy,if piercing, tunes that anyone could learn and play in a few minutes.
Whitby provided a different edge in the legions of bandwagon punks,with her spidery sax lines,and was later heard to moan about the lack of writing credits provided by her chum, and ,weirdly, another future Buddhist, Marion 'Polly Styrene' Elliot (RIP).
Their career was just about the right length,as there was nowhere left to go in this format by the end of 1978.Like the Pistols, one LP was all that they had in them, or was needed....in fact as great as these songs were,hear more than 7 or 8 in a row tends to be too much for the ears.
As for Lora, she left after the first single to go to more progressive area's, along with the other early punk rock ship jumpers who saw the writing on the wall quickly.(Devoto,Perry,Lydon etc).
So here we have a faltering,sometimes inept, muffled recording of a performance at the Roxy Club in 1977.Don't know when, but it doesn't seem to be the one used on the 'Live at the Roxy' album.
Tracklist:
1 Oh Bondage! Up Yours! 2:42
2 Identity 2:25
3 Let's Submerge 3:05
4 Plastic Bag 4:10
5 I Live Off You 2:18
6 I Am A Cliche 1:48
7 I Can't Do Anything 2:59
8 Oh Bondage! Up Yours! 2:52
Mayo Thompson's revitalised avant-psyche outfit Red Crayola, or Krayola, featured the very fashionable Lora Logic on sax; among various Pere Ubu members, mustachioed session brass man Dick Cuthall (as seen on Top Of The Pops with the Special AKAetc), and Geoff Travis in the producers chair(?).
Mayo found many fellow travellers in post-punk Britain, so he came out of retirement to resurrect his sixties band to great effect.
An excellently Fractured and disjointed avant rock masterpiece, with all the syncopation of an emptying garbage truck.
In fact it sounds uncanilly like 'The Art Of Walking'LP onwards Pere Ubu.....which is funny, because Mayo Thompson was in Pere Ubu for those albums.....who influenced who? Who cares?
Tracklist:
A1 March No.12 1:58
A2 On The Brink 2:52
A3 Letter-Bomb 2:00
A4 Conspirators' Oath 2:41
A5 March No.14 1:19
A6 Soldier-Talk 7:00
B1 Discipline 3:23
B2 X 3:10
B3 An Opposition Spokesman 5:02
B4 Uh, Knowledge Dance 2:54
B5 Wonderland 2:58
To all intents and purposes this is 'Essential Logic' after they lost direction, with a splash of 'Camberwell Now', going Disco.
To these ears it sounds like a contractual obligation record. Gone is the energy,invention and sharp edges of earlier times,and replaced with blancmange, but blancmange you can dance to at the indie disco.Its pleasant enough, but we want more than that don't we?......DON'T WE?...ah fuck off! However, such is the fickle nature of Pop fans and music journalists,coupled with the fact that I have upgraded the download to 320k,after a request in the comments section from a charming Italian gentleman,that I can now declare that I now love this LP somewhat....This happens regularly in my world.
Tracklist:
A1 Brute Fury 4:00
A2 Horrible Party 3:50
A3 Stop Halt 5:00 they lost direction
A4 Wonderful Offer 4:30
A5 Martian Man 4:20
B1 Hiss And Shake 5:30
B2 Pedigree Charm 4:00
B3 Rat Allé 3:45
B4 Crystal Gazing 4:55
