How to Buy.... Public Image Ltd.

How to buy Public Image Ltd. by Rob H

After the whirlwind chaos & very brief recording career of the Sex Pistols expectations ran high for what John Lydon (nee Rotten) would come up with after departing from the punk icons. With Public Image Ltd. he immediately distanced himself from the Pistols sound and created a band that challenged and evolved before bowing out in 1992 and taking a 20 year break.

Whenever you approach a band like PIL you will get those that believe that the only albums that are "worthy" or "real" are those recorded with Jah Wobble and Keith Levene and everything else is dismissed as "pop" or a sell out to the original ideal. Music opinion is massively subjective and if you follow that mindset you will miss out on some great albums.

So, where to start? Well this depends on you and what you are in the mood for. The undoubted gem in the PIL discography is "Metal Box" (sometimes called "Second Edition") but while absolutely stunning it is perhaps the most challenging listen as Lydon deconstructs his Pistols legacy. Wobble leads the band with his distinctive dub rhythms while Levene provides the guitar foil as Lydon chants over the top of the music with stand outs being "Albatross", "Pop Tones" and "Careering".

If you'd like a more traditional sounding place to start then 1986's "Album" is perfect (remember though the title changed depending on format so look out for "Compact Disc" and "Cassette".....shame they haven't renamed a digital version "Download"!) By then PIL were an assembled collection of guest musicians (a new band would form for the tour and develop from then) and "Album" features many big names such as stunt guitarist Steve Vai, Ryuichi Sakamoto on the Fairlight CMI, dub bassist Bill Laswell (who also produced) as well as drummers Ginger Baker (Cream) and Tony Williams (formerly with Miles Davis). This was a PIL for the MTV age with "Rise" probably being the most well known track but "Album" is one of the most well rounded releases the band have made. It is also notable that both "Metal Box" and "Album" have had strong super deluxe releases for those with the budgets that allow.

From that point then the percussion-centric "Flowers Of Romance" finds the band recovering from the departure of Wobble while still operation outside of the normal expectations. The bands debut will also appeal with "Public Image : First Issue" being a mixture of declaration of intent and a separation from the past, despite "Religion" being a lyric written during the Pistols days. Both albums are essential purchases but are far from perfect.

The revived PIL returned in 2012, mainly financed by the paycheck Lydon received for advertising butter, with the excellent "This Is PIL", the title track even having echoes of the earlier dub fused sound. This was followed up 3 years later with "What The World Needs Now", while both albums are excellent and among the best in the PIL discography "WTWNN" has the edge over the two. It is also worth noting that both albums feature guitarist Lu Edmonds who had left the band in 1988 after suffering with tinnitus.

There is where my "essential" choices end. That's not to say the remaining albums have nothing of worth to offer, far from it in fact! "This Is What You Want...This Is What You Get" is a great album but a real culture shock coming after "Flowers Of Romance" even getting accusations of disco beats (with the record company baiting "This Is Not  A Love Song") but how can you knock tracks like "Bad Life" or "The Order Of Death"?

If you enjoyed "Album" then the subsequent releases "Happy?" and "9" will both be worth exploring. 9" is the more consistent of the 2 but the opening trio of "Seattle", "Rules and Regulations" and "The Body" show why "Happy?" shouldn't be dismissed.

In 1992 that last album before the hiatus was "That Which Is Not" which is probably the album to leave to last, with it's more straight forward rock songs it just doesn't stand up against much stronger releases in the PIL discography.

Of the live releases "Paris Au Printemps" was a hastily and poorly recorded album given to the record company to offset some of the costs in producing the expensive tinned "Metal Box". "Live In Tokyo" is not much better but the various "Alife" releases from 2009 are worth hearing as is the "Isle Of Wight" release with Lydon having a running battle with the sound engineer and finally 2015's "Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire" is a great tour souvenir.

Would you buy differently? Please leave a comment!

1978 Public Image : First Issue
1979 Metal Box
1980 Paris au Printemps
1981 The Flowers Of Romance
1983 Live In Tokyo
1984 This Is What You Want...This Is What You Get
1986 Album
1987 Happy?
1989 9
1992 That Which Is Not
2009 ALife Birmingham O2 Academy December 15th
2009 ALife Leeds O2 Academy December 16th
2009 ALife Manchester Academy December 19th
2009 ALife London Brixton O2 Academy December 21st
2011 Isle Of Wight
2012 This Is PiL
2015 What The World Needs Now
2015 Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire London