Public Image Ltd “The Flowers of Romance” 1981. PiL’s third LP today to commemorate guitarist Keith Levene’s death last week on November 11th. The Flowers of Romance was the last record Levene recorded with PiL; he co-wrote all of the songs, plays guitar plus contributed to most of the percussion (and there’s A LOT of percussion beyond drums), bass (Jah Wobble had departed PiL by then), synth and cello. The album’s title refers to Levene’s early punk band (Sid Vicious was a member); it went to #11 in the UK.

The Flowers of Romance is highly experimental post punk, prog-punk with extended and hypnotic drum solos, weird and exotic instrumentation and innovate sampling and looping techniques. Levene said about the record that it is “the least commercial record ever delivered to a record company.” It is definitely not ass-shaking, nor head-banging. But it’s really interesting. The title track, the “hit single” “Flowers of Romance” went to #24 on the UK singles chart, though it’s a different version than on the album, and was described in 2002 as “the strangest chart record of the last 25 years, maybe ever.” I love the deep industrial groove of “Banging the Door” (about John Lydon’s irritation of fans banging on his London home’s door at all hours of the night). “Four Enclosed Walls,” the lead track, has a crazy mix of sounds, including a “Mickey Mouse pocket watch [which was] placed on a floor tom so it would resonate and have more tone.” And “Go Back” is angular and sparse, with a sort-of Lydon rap about the repressive political climate of early 80’s England.