So today's New York Times has the requisite holiday CD gift suggestions (subscription required).
I felt such joy to see an anthology of work by earlyish British punks X-Ray Spex, led by subsequent (and now, I believe, reformed) Hare Krishna Poly Styrene.
But, reading Jon Pareles' review, I found something most distressing....censorship. Pareles refers to X-Ray Spex hit single "Oh! Bondage, Up Yours" -- not a cherished sentiment, but surely not obscene -- as a "mocking hit single whose title begins “Oh! Bondage." And he leaves off the rest of the title.
I'd hate to imagine that Pareles censored himself to be polite, but it sure looks that way.
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2 comments:
How irksome! I am sorry Pareles has become so assimilated but let's face it, he IS the Establishment now.
Great blog -- Fondly from a lost soul in Easton, CT
Nice to see Poly and the Spex still remembered. 'Let's Submerge' is a great collection - the John Peel Sessions sound fresh and new.
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