There’s no messing with ‘Jellyfish’. A jagged, creepy, scream-laden tribute to the titular ‘deep sea skiver’ and ‘seabed lurker’, it doubled down on Punishment Of Luxury’s incipient air of menace, a theatricality dating back to their roots in left-wing fringe theatre. Whether sporting stage make-up or scary balaclava knits, the Newcastle band’s futuristic collision of punk, psych and prog stood them further apart from their peers. Easily their most infectious effort, Brian Bond’s animated vocal delivery was a match to the shredded rubber gloves he sported performing ‘Jellyfish’ live, his squeamish lyrics flirting with homoeroticism (“I’d like to eat you and your helmet whole”) and barely disguised filth (“Your mother sucks cockle shells”), all topped with burbling water noises and a snippet of John Noakes. Tagged as ‘Seaside’ on the sleeve, ‘Jellyfish’ was supposed to be their first major label single (which explains its sleeve’s Man of War stylings), but was vetoed at the eleventh hour. Belatedly flipped when ‘Engine Of Excess’ stalled, bum-faced Oi! aggravator Gary Bushell didn’t help its cause, damning it “a pathetic attempt to capture early 70s quirkiness” in Sounds. Punilux nonetheless impacted hard on more impressionable minds. I vividly recall seeing them play 1978’s first single ‘Puppet Life’ on Tyne Tees one-off youth programme Alright Now – a performance whose sinister impact has yet to dim.