Conscious Consumer - X-Ray Spex

It's joyous, it's energetic, it's full of life, it's ... an album I've never heard from the delightful Poly Styrene and X-Ray Spex! 'Conscious Consumer' was released on 31 October 1995, nearly 20 years after the classic 'Germ-Free Adolescents', and it's so recognisably an X-Ray Spex record from the opening wailing blast of Lora's sax and Poly's vocals and words. I've missed 11 years of listening to this - if only I'd known about it sooner.

It's wonderful - I find myself grinning just listening to it. I'm delighted that my blog is named after a Poly song.

As Poly says on the inside sleeve:

A note from From Poly Styrene -

London. West End. Browsing in the record stores. I spy the Spex. Serious disbelief. How many times can they re-package one album.Crazy or what?

So many unrecorded songs I've got because I haven't stopped writing since Spex disbanded, you know. So I phone Receiver Records to inform them of the Pop Art Moving Diary I'm compiling right now. It includes original X-Ray Spex songs and future material.At the same time I ask them "Would you like me to do some shelf filling?" and Frank Lea replies "Yes. We'd love it Poly!"

I like enthusiasm. I get together with Paul, Lora and friends. Six weeks later Receiver is in receipt of Conscious Consumer, our zillion-selling CD to fill all the shelves of all the record shops between here and the edge of the galaxy. Love to spend more time with you but I have to pop out for a byte of Audio Lunch.