Celebrating its 42nd anniversary in 2020, and a year younger than Punk Globe magazine, is Germfree Adolescents by X Ray Spex. Itis one of the finest albums ever made. As individual as The Slits debut Cut, and a lot more original than the muscular sound produced by most other early punk pioneers. In common with Cut and Punk Globe, it was created by some of the most inspirational people of the era.
One of the reasons for this are the saxophone arrangements that cut, sizzle and bite their way through the entire album. These arrangements sound as if they were made to sit with the rousing voice of Poly Styrene.
The woman responsible for this was one Lora Logic. A slightly mystical figure in the annals of punk rock history.
Lora was born Susan Whitby in 1960. She answered an advertisement in Melody Maker aged fifteen years old. It was 1976, and she was quickly a member of X-Ray Spex. Her performance in early live shows was exhilarating, and her talent shone through immediately. A unique sound, in an increasingly unique band. Youthful exuberance. No brass had been used in punk rock to any great effect up to this point. The tracks that became the band’s debut album were forged during this period. Including the sax lines.
Germfree Adolescents is an album that is universally loved. It sounds fresh to this day. Culturally, it’s a sonic landmark. Something to admire and aspire to.
Would this have been so without the saxophone arrangements of Lora Logic? Well, no. Her playing on Oh Bondage Up Yours is simply electrifying. It pierced the listener’s ears back in 1978, and still does to this day. Her playing on this track was retained and used on the final released version.
However, Lora was fired from the band in, err, interesting circumstances. It was late 1977. Prior to the release of their album.
‘Poly saw that I was getting a little too much of the spotlight and I was just replaced without any notice after a year.’ Lora Logic.
Her time in the band was cut short. Abruptly. Unfairly. The attention she received did indeed take the emphasis away from Poly. This town ain’t big enough for the both of us, as the song goes. Lora was out, before she really got going. But her mark had truly been made.
‘They even used all the sax parts I worked out for the album with a new player.’ Lora Logic
Ultimately her arrangements were recorded by Ted Bunting on the album. The band’s actual sax-player was Rudi Thompson, but Bunting was considered the slicker player. Neither could hold a candle to Lora, though. Not in terms of the excitement she generated. The band proceeded to appear on television without her.
This must have been so frustrating for Lora, given the work she did on stage in those early days. Not to mention the work involved in honing the songs that were to appear on Germ Free Adolescents.
‘I became very cynical about the music business.’ Lora Logic
Not all surprising. Lora went to study photography at art college. She also began to dally with drugs.
Eventually Lora returned to music with Essential Logic. She was joined by Ashley Buff on guitar, Rich Tea on drums, Mark Turner on bass and Dave Wright helped on saxophone and a variety of instrumentation. They had a unique sound for the period, very punk in spirit, though not punk rock in sound. A single, Aerosol Burns (great title) came out in 1978. A cracking track. Rough Trade Records released the album Beat Rhythm News (Waddle Ya Play) a year later
‘Essential Logic’s music was described as a deceptively ramshackle sax-driven rhythmic style, with Lora playing the part of the punk banshee up front.’ Kill Rock Stars
Essential Logic’s career was short-lived, however, and following line-up changes, they disbanded. Lora became a solo artist, resulting in a single (Wonderful Offer) and an album, Pedigree Charm being issued in 1982. Both were again issued on Rough Trade.
She also played with The Raincoats, The Stranglers, Swell Maps and Boy George. Indeed, she appeared on Top Of The Pops, a chart show shown on UK television as part of Boy George’s backing band performing his hit, Bow Down Mister.
Lora mostly left the music scene behind in the early 1980s, discovering the Hare Krishna religion and leaving the drugs behind –
‘I was just ready for it (religion) and I embraced it and cleaned myself up. I travelled to India quite a bit and all over Europe to different temples to pray.’ Lora Logic
Lora married in 1984 (arranged by the Krishna temple) and raised two children
X-Ray Spex, including Lora, reunited briefly in 1995. But Poly and Lora clashed again, and it was soon over.
Lora reformed Essential Logic in 2001. Gary Valentine, the boy wonder bassist from the early days of Blondie and now occult specialist, played guitar and Dave Jones and Nick Pretzell from Bad Manners completed the quartet on drums and bass, respectively. A career anthology, Fanfare In The Garden, was issued on the Kill Rock Stars label in 2003, which mopped up sessions from later in Lora’s career.
There are not too many records that sound as vibrant, energetic and as edgy as Germfree Adolescents. The saxophone arrangements of Lora Logic are an essential component. Mention this album, and people still talk about the sax sound. Rightly so. Quality musicians were very much part of punk and remain so. What is important is not to showcase this for the sheer sake of it. Lora Logic well and truly blazed a trail.
Lora’s contribution to punk, like so many, was brief. But her sizzling sound lit a beacon that burned so bright, and still does for so many of us. She made a proper difference.
