The Wild Swans – Space Flower (Purple vinyl)

The Wild Swans are a post-punk band from Liverpool, England, formed in 1980 by Paul Simpson shortly after he left the Teardrop Explodes. Members of the Wild Swans have also been members 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, colorful album that came at a time when college rock was becoming increasingly dour and bland. It replaces the seriousness of the previous album "Bringing Home the Ashes" with unabashed, playful psychedelia. The cover features a large, sticky ball of pastel-colored candy - a perfect reflection of the contents. "Melting Blue Delicious", a groovy piece of bubblegum pop, was the first single. The album ends with the 10-minute, trance-like space-out "Sea of Tranquillity". He had played in the post-punk band Big in Japan with Bill Drummond (later Bunnymen manager and KLF member), Budgie (later drummer of Siouxsie & the Banshees) and Holly Johnson (later singer of Frankie Goes to Hollywood) and produced some of the first Bunnymen songs. "Space Flower" is essentially a guitar pop album and still sounds pretty fresh 36 years after its original release.