Every band deserves one perfect song, a pop gem so glistening and lovable that all other transgressions against creative good taste can be forever forgiven. Flesh for Lulu had exactly that with “Postcards from Paradise,” a single off of their 1987 album, Long Live the New Flesh. The song is so good that any greatest hits album that includes that track and a random assemblage of eleven other of the band’s efforts is guaranteed to be a pretty damn good record. Of course, there’s a downside to that, too. Every other song, almost without exception, is going to sound fairly drab when compared to the band’s peak. When the band’s follow-up album, Plastic Fantastic, arrived in 1989 college radio deejays far and wide dove into its grooves looking for the smash hit that wasn’t quite there. There were good songs to be found, and the hunting alone could lead to a decent amount of airplay. Still, to the degree that I have any recollection of the album its with a residue of disappointment.

In fact, unlike other releases from 1989 that got ample time on my college radio station of choice, the individual tracks from Plastic Fantastic don’t stir up immediate sense memory sensations. I can listen to something like “Time and Space,” which was evidently the second single from the album, and it almost sounds new to me. Sure, dated and a little cheesy (albeit a grungier version of cheesy), but still new to me. And yet it’s exactly the sort of song that should have locked in for me and my crew: punchy, catchy, a little wistful, with just a tinge of rebellion, and over quick enough that the novelty doesn’t wear out. Like a lot of music from around that time, it sounded like it was crafted with the hope that John Hughes had another emotional epic of high school melancholy in him. It’s practically an audition for the soundtrack. That should have worked for us, too.

I tend to turn over this block of the digital publishing week to nostalgic listening. This is one of those rare instances where I could almost be writing a review of some new music. “Time and Space” is a nice little song. It would sound great paired with “Postcards from Paradise” in a double-shot.

Listen or download –> Flesh for Lulu, “Time and Space”

(Disclaimer: Okay, I need to revisit my research method to determine what is and isn’t out of print. I’ll acknowledge that right from the spot just past the colon there. I feel like I’ve looked into Flesh for Lulu as an option before and determined that their music was still widely available, but now there are tumbleweeds rolling through the various online listings of their albums. I’m posting and sharing this song with the understanding that it’s not readily available embedded on a physical object that can be acquired through your favorite local, independently-owned record store. I mean no harm to legitimate commerce, and indeed heartily encourage anyone who hasn’t purchased themselves a version of “Postcards from Paradise” to do so. I will gladly and promptly remove this song if asked to do so by someone with due authority to make such a request. As for the sudden change in the availability of the band’s music, it’s entirely possible that I previously researched Gene Loves Jezebel and am mixing up my experiences. True story.)