X-Ray Spex
"Anthology"
(Sanctuary)

"It's about time!" is probably what most people are saying in regards to the newly issued 2-disc retrospective of X-Ray Spex released this year entitled "Anthology". As one of the first feminist punk bands out of the UK, Spex was a blueprint for the riot grrl movement. The sounds of Excuse 17 and Sleater-Kinney are not far removed from the wail of Poly Styrene's urgent wails. Lora Logic's tuneless-yet-tuneful sax coupled with Jak Airport's blazin' guitar hooks were enough to establish this far from prolific band with a secure place among punk's pantheon of great bands.

The first disc contains all of the only album that X-Ray Spex ever put out, "Germfree Adolescents". It also adds the punk anthem "Oh Bondage, Up Yours!" and the b-side "I'm a Cliché", both essential when it comes to this band's small catalogue. The one thing that is slightly frustrating about the first disc is that the sequencing differs from the original LP's. This is a problem often encountered with career spanning anthologies, and one that should be put to an end. Additionally, after the single and the album, Sanctuary chose to append demo versions of some of the songs on the same disc, rather than on the next disc. Because of this, the second disc is much shorter in length, causing quite an imbalance in listening to each disc.

That said, the second disc rocks despite its length. Brief but energetic (which can also be said of the band's career), the live tracks that make up the second disc have you wishing you were in the crowd at one of their legendary 1978 shows. Much like the new 2-disc retrospective of Richard Hell's, it is a grand document of a band at the height of its powers. Although given the brevity of their career, X-Ray Spex seemed to have spent their entire career at their peak.

With "Germfree Adolescents" having been out of print for so long, "Anthology" is a welcome substitute, providing us with that record an nearly everything else X-Ray Spex related.

-Karthik