Space Flower

Description

The Wild Swans are a post-punk band from Liverpool, England, formed by Paul Simpson in 1980, shortly after his departure from the Teardrop Explodes. Members of the Wild Swans have also been part of Echo & the Bunnymen, the Icicle Works, the Woodentops, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, and the Lightning Seeds. Their second album, Space Flower, is a fun, infectious, and colorful record, released at a time when college rock was becoming increasingly dark and bland, replacing the sincerity of their previous album Bringing Home the Ashes with a playful and unrestrained psychedelia. The cover features a large sticky ball of pastel-colored candy — a perfect reflection of what’s inside. "Melting Blue Delicious," a groovy bubblegum pop track, was the first single. The album concludes with the 10-minute trance space out, "Sea of Tranquillity." The record was produced by Ian Broudie (a veteran of the Liverpool scene). He had played in the post-punk band Big in Japan with Bill Drummond (future manager of the Bunnymen and member of KLF), Budgie (future drummer of Siouxsie & the Banshees), and Holly Johnson (future singer of Frankie Goes to Hollywood) and later produced some of the early tracks by the Bunnymen. Space Flower is a guitar-pop album at heart and still sounds quite fresh 36 years after its original release.