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Public Image Ltd “Happy?”

sfilzen — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 18:29:25 +0000

Public Image Ltd “Happy?” 1987. Today, January 31st, is John Lydon’s birthday (b. 1956). Happy? is PiL’s sixth studio LP; it went to #40 in the UK and to #169 in the US. It has an 80’s industrial dance sound; Lydon said the it has “a doom, death and destruction feel about it, very crunchy, tanks rolling, very military in its approach.” My top track include the two singles from late ’87: “Seattle” which went to #47 in the UK and made it onto the US dance chart at #30, and “The Body” which did not chart. Both are really solid industrial dance tracks and it’s entirely likely I danced to one or both sometime in ’88 when heading to alternative night at the dance clubs we’d drive up to in Green Bay from Appleton was totally a thing. I also like “Hard Times,” which has a lot of Lydon sneer and some signature “ah-ha-ha-ha’s” overlaying some righteous 80’s hair metal guitar riffs and prog keyboards. Even if I didn’t like that track, I’d share it just for PiL’s performance of the song at the Bristol Zoo for a Saturday morning kids’ program.

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Public Image Ltd “The Flowers of Romance”

sfilzen — Mon, 14 Nov 2022 17:49:52 +0000

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.

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Public Image Ltd. “Public Image: First Issue”

sfilzen — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 18:47:46 +0000

Public Image Ltd. “Public Image: First Issue” released on this date, December 8th, 1978. PiL’s debut album is widely considered to be the first post-punk release, issued the same year as the Sex Pistols demise. It went to #22 on the UK album charts but, based on the criticism of the record at the time, I suspect a lot of those sales were more to do with Johnny Rotten’s reputation than for a love of PiL’s new kind of music. It’s a challenging and difficult record (arguably a lot like John Lydon himself) though I really love it. One critic called it “morbid directionless sounds with Rotten’s poetry running just behind it.” History has been much kinder, however, hailing First Issue as a breakthrough in rock music and influencing a new generation of alternative artists. The only song that is truly pop-accessible is the title track “Public Image” which hit #9 in the UK. “Religion I” (just Lydon reciting his lyrics) and “Religion II” (same lyrics, great bass line courtesy of Jah Wobble) are harsh and confrontational: “Fat pig priest/Sanctimonious smiles/He takes the money/You take the lies.” Lydon wrote “Religion” during the disastrous Pistols tour of the US in ’78 and the band as well as Malcolm McLaren refused it so onto Public Image it went, controversy be damned. “Fodderstompf” is disjointedly hypnotic and really long, as are “Theme” (which is morbid as Lydon wails over and over “I wish I could die!”) and “Annalisa” (also morbid, it’s about a girl whose parents thought she was possessed so they started her to death, so that reviewer did have a point) tossing out the quick, sharp punk formula completely. According to Lydon the track “Low Life” is “about Sid [Vicious] and how he turned into the worst kind of rock ‘n’ roll star” under McLaren’s influence.

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Sex Pistols “Live Worldwide”

sfilzen — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 16:33:20 +0000

Sex Pistols “Live Worldwide” 1985. A “semi-official” (which means also semi-bootleg) LP on Konexion Records. It’s not listed or clear when or where most of the tracks were recorded, though one source has the truly awful rendition of “Anarchy in the UK” from a John Lydon/PiL performance on Channel 4, “The Tube” on October 28th, 1983 (the backing music includes a saloon-style piano; the YouTube link descriptor calls it “Plinkerty Ponk Piano”). In fact, none of these songs were actually recorded by the Sex Pistols but rather by Lydon and his PiL backing band which at that moment included Arthur Stead on keyboards (I’m guessing he’s the one guilty of the saloon piano), Joseph Guida on guitar, Louis Bernardi on bass and Martin Atkins on drums. Atkins, on the same site that I found the recording information on, states about the band and these performances: “”I called them the ‘Holiday Inn band’, because it was like a Holiday Inn band! We were just supposed to do Japan, then it spiraled out of control a bit, and the next thing you know we’re on ‘The Tube’ on Channel 4 doing a version of ‘Anarchy in the UK’ on the piano like Chas and Dave! It was terrible.“ Besides “Anarchy,” Lydon and the band runs through “Pretty Vacant,” a tolerable version of “Submission,” “Problems,” and “God Save the Queen” among other classic Pistols songs. Semi-official/semi-bootleg or not, yet another piece of evidence in the “swindle.” God Save the Sex Pistols!

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Public Image Ltd. “This Is What You Want…This Is What You Get”

sfilzen — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 18:37:08 +0000

Public Image Ltd. “This Is What You Want…This Is What You Get” 1984. I’m spinning PiL’s fourth album for John Lydon’s birthday today, January 31st. (b. 1956). Most of PiL’s recording career has been fairly fraught with strife and controversy and this album was no different: original PiL guitarist Keith Levene helped write many of the tracks and helped record the first version of the record, but in ‘83 Levene left PiL (so did bassist Pete Jones), took the tapes, mixed them and released the album as Commercial Zone on Virgin Records without Lydon’s input. So Lydon recruited a group of studio musicians, along with Martin Atkins who had previously drummed for PiL and shares writing credits on all of the songs, to re-record the tracks for This Is What You Want... though did give Levene writing credits on several of the tracks. It includes a new version of the previously released single (’83, #5 UK) “This Is Not a Love Song” and another single, “Bad Life” (#71 UK), which had the original title “Mad Max” on Commercial. Those are the two best, and most accessible, tracks on the album, though I also really like the grooves on “Where Are You” and “1981″ (which was originally slated to be included on PiL’s ‘81 release The Flowers of Romance). The rest of the LP leans heavily toward the experimental side of post-punk and gets a bit droney/boring at times (ie “Tie Me To the Length of That” (Atkins says about that song: “Things like ‘Tie Me to The Length of That’, we just jammed. John played this thing that was like a cross between a mellotron and an electric organ, and we got some great sounds out of it. He played this walking, ever changing bassline and I drummed to it, and I felt that we were just totally connected at that point – every time he changed I was there with him, I’d change and he’d be there.“) and goes electrical freak-out at others (ie “The Pardon”).

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Public Image Ltd. “Album”

sfilzen — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 16:26:56 +0000

Public Image Ltd. “Album” 1986. I’m spinning PiL’s fifth studio album in honor of Ginger Baker who died yesterday, October 8th, at age 80. Baker played drums on Album and I can only imagine the energy in the recording studio between Baker and John Lydon, both of them “gingers” known for their strong and often volatile personalities. Despite what could be viewed as an ironic partnership given Lydon’s punk background vs. Baker’s classic blues-rock pedigree (as an April Fool’s joke in 1981, NME wrote that Baker was joining PiL), I’m pretty sure in Lydon’s autobiography that he said working with Baker was a good experience. Baker, renown for his crushing drum solos and flamboyant style, bashes the shit out of the rhythm section on Album, most especially on “Fishing,” “Bags,” and “Ease” and he was a great match for Lydon’s lyrical fury. Baker did not play drums on either single released from Album, “Rise” (#11 UK charts) and “Home” (#75 UK); Tony Williams (drummer for Miles Davis) recorded the drums for those tracks.

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PiL “Home”

sfilzen — Thu, 31 Jan 2019 20:08:43 +0000

PiL “Home” b/w “Round” 1986. Spinning a little Public Image Ltd today because it’s John Lydon’s birthday (b. 1956) and Home is where we’ve been pretty much stuck for the past week, with an almost-blizzard followed by sub-sub zero temps that have had schools and businesses (including bars!) closed for days and days. “Home” was the second and final single from PiL’s Album. It reached #75 on the UK charts and features Steve Vai on an extensive and rather virtuosic guitar solo, giving the song a borderline heavy metal feel (offset nicely, though, with Lydon’s sneer). The b-side “Round” is also on Album. It’s got a really groovy and experimental rhythm and a really lovely guitar melody line that recalls the other single from Album, “Rise.” (As an aside, I was reading a bit about Album on Allmusic, which is usually pretty great and accurate, and it credits PiL’s “Round” to a bunch of guys, none of whom were Lydon. I started clicking on their names and they’re all members of Jethro Tull. Tull’s song “Round” is an under-a-minute instrumental from their 1968 debut album This Was. Punk/post-punk, the Sex Pistols/PiL actively and purposely rebelled against the overworked, overwrought complexity of prog rock bands like Jethro Tull so I find the mistake amusing.)

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Public Image Ltd. “Death Disco”

sfilzen — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 22:13:33 +0000

Public Image Ltd. “Death Disco” b/w “No Birds Do Sing” 1979. “Death Disco” is a deeply funky dissonant post-punk groove that John Lydon wrote for his mother who had recently died of cancer: “She asked me to write a disco song for her funeral.” It’s not a happy song but it is really really good. “Death Disco” went to #20 on the UK single chart and was reimagined and retitled to “Swan Lake” on PiL’s 1979 album Metal Box; it also was included on the ‘83 album Live in Tokyo. “No Birds Do Sing” also has a deep bass groove, dissonant guitar and Lydon’s snarly whine but is not as intense and feels more hypnotic, like super-early gothy shoe-gaze.

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PiL “This Is Not a Love Song”

sfilzen — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 17:02:15 +0000

PiL “This Is Not a Love Song” 1983. 12″ single, embossed cover. Nothing says Happy Valentine’s Day like a song by John Lydon mocking the commodification of love (he came up with the title and concept for the single after someone at the record company asked him to write a nice, marketable love song). Two variations of “This Is Not a Love Song” appear on the 12″ – the single version which was PiL’s biggest hit, making it to #5 in the UK, and the remixed version which appeared on their 1984 LP This Is What You Want…This Is What You Get which retains Lydon’s brutal sneer and adds in some jazzy horns and a disco beat. Two other tracks are “Blue Water” (on the 1984 Commercial Zone album, a PiL “lost album” completed by Keith Levene after he left PiL) and one of my absolute favorite PiL songs, “Public Image” which is probably the most Sex Pistoly of PiL’s recordings.

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Public Image Limited “Live in Tokyo”

sfilzen — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 17:52:24 +0000

Public Image Limited “Live in Tokyo” 1983/1986 reissue. Today, January 31st, is the birthday of PiL’s John Lydon (b. 1956). Lydon formed PiL in 1978 after the implosion of the Sex Pistols. PiL was similarly fraught with intraband tension and had a revolving door of members. After losing guitarist Keith Levene and bassist Pete Jones in ‘82, Lydon reformed PiL and toured Japan during the summer of ‘83. Live in Tokyo, originally released as a 2-EP set at 45 rpm, made it to #28 on the UK charts and is thought to be the first digitally recorded live album, the sound of which Allmusic calls “phenomenal, capturing…crisp, rich tones.” However, Allmusic offers a fairly scathing review of the concert album’s content, saying, “the performances…were resoundingly faceless and bland…Particularly appalling is Lydon’s call-and-response shtick with the crowd and the souls versions of the once haunting ‘Death Disco’ and ‘Flowers of Romance.’” That said, I think “Religion” is very strong, “Bad Life” is almost ass-shaking and I really love “(This is Not a) Love Song” despite the “shtick” with the audience.

We have Live in Tokyo on CD as well as vinyl. But it is a complete mis-pressing. The CD cover and the CD itself have all of the Live in Tokyo artwork, track listing, etc. but when you pop in the CD, out comes the jazz sounds of John Coltrane (who also has a similarly titled album Live in Japan but I’m not sure that is what appears on our CD).

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