Poly Styrene - 'Flower Aeroplane'

I want to share a small portion of joy with you, a portion of atomic rainbows and earth mantras and a journey on a flower aeroplane courtesy of the marvellous Poly Styrene. I finally bought Poly's last album from 2004, 'Flower Aeroplane', through the X-Ray Spex website and I'm so pleased I did.

It's described as, 'An eclectic mix of soothing transcendent sounds with a metal edge' on the Spex site and as 'Mantra with muscle' on the back of the CD. The overall sound is calming and inspiring as Poly takes the listener on a trip on her flower aeroplane while singing a love song to Govinda. The album opens with the gentle dance beats of 'Atomic Rainbow' before moving on to the first of several songs re-recorded from her 'Translucence' album from 1980, repeating the jazzy-calypso feel that engulfs you in tropical sunshine. It works very well, the mixing of styles, a melange of journeys with Poly occasionally reciting Sanskrit prayers. And, in context, it works excellently. I was entranced on my first listen.

I've never seen the track-listing for this album anywhere so here it is:

Atomic Rainbow
Essence
Beautiful
Spring
Shades
Sub-Tropical
Nice
B-Conscious
Airplane
Dreaming
Pink
Bi-Cycle
Earth Mantra

I will need to listen to it a few more times and read the lyrics in the booklet that comes with the CD but I think this stands a good chance of becoming a firm favourite. It's not part of Poly's Punky Party, but it's 100% Styrene. And that means, at the very least, that it's worth a listen. And then another. Just be conscious...