Castle Us / Ryko
2006
Let's Submerge: The Anthology
About This Album
During their too-short recording career (1976-1979), seminal British punkers X-Ray Spex put out only a handful of singles (literally -- there were but five) and released only one full-length album. How, then, can a record label be justified in releasing a 52-song anthology for a band whose total output barely warrants its own divider in a record shop bin? Two words -- Poly Styrene. X-Ray Spex's simultaneously squeaky and roaring frontwoman defiantly cut her own swath through the increasingly poseur-ridden early punk scene in London. Instead of the ubiquitous "ripped T-shirts and chains" look of most rent-a-punks, Styrene had a penchant for Day-Glo outfits. While other punks channeled their energies into blind, reactionary rebellion, Styrene homed in on very specific targets -- namely big business advertising, commercialization, and sheepish poseurs. She was a woman fronting a punk band in the late '70s. She was half English, half Somali, and she wore braces on her teeth. Poly Styrene busted down barriers -- just by walking onto the stage. And that delivery! Her voice could go from bullhorn shout to sweet-and-lyrical on a dime, and often in the midst of the same line of phrase.
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 2,3,4,6,7,9,13 and 16)

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Disc 2 (try tracks 6 and 7)

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