Browse by Artist: PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED

Artist:	PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED
Title:	Metal Box
Label:	4 MEN WITH BEARDS
Format:	3x12"
Price:	$43.00
Catalog #:	4M 500LP

"The second album by John Lydon's post-Sex Pistols outing Public Image Ltd. was originally released in the UK in 1979 in a limited edition film canister style metal box containing three twelve-inch 45s. Some managed to float across the Atlantic into the hands of a fortunate few, making the Metal Box a bit of a post-punk collectors' holy grail. Unavailable for almost 30 years, the Metal Box is back with the express permission of John Lydon as an exact reproduction of the original. Remastered for better sound than the 1979 vinyl."

Artist:	PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED
Title:	Paris au Printemps
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	VIR 12183CD

The last document of the quintessential line up of Lyndon/Levene/Wobble/Atkins, originally released in 1980. Recorded in Paris in January of 1980, in front on of many confused French lunks. Seemed somewhat unnecessary at the time, now sounds like an amazing last gasp & quite pleasing to hear. Has never been released in the US. "Lydon says he hates live albums. Paris Au Printemps -- PAP -- the best of two nights recorded in Paris this spring, is consumer service for people that would have shelled out vast sums for low-fi bootlegs of the (currently) extinct species, PiL live. It was cut for the cost of two reels of tape, and edited down in two hours, with none of the overdubbed parts common in live LPs Parisian non-comprehension of PiL in the spring of 1980 seems daft, given the quality of the music. But then, PiL's instinctive suspicion (and frequent rejection) of the way things like music and its means of production generally toddle along means they're disturbing, hence often resented. PiL seem to feel most secure when they're poised over the live wire in the Underground, checking out the noise of the onrushing train for possible recording potential. The bedrock is solid drumming, deliberately straightforward, the least imaginative element. Beyond that, it's Wobble's steady bass, teetering on the brink of the nimble jazz runs that displeased Lydon and Levene. Excellent, actually. Beyond that, it's Levene's extraordinary relationship to music; an obsessive perfectionism that leads him to loathe sounds that do not extend the known boundaries of contemporary Western popular music. Lydon luxuriates in his words, method acting the themes: greed, ignorance, stupidity. The intelligence is fierce, the delivery 3-D. The meaning behind the moaning gets clearer all the time." -- Vivien Goldman/NME 1980. Tracks: "Theme", "Chant", "Careering", "Bad Baby", "Attack", "Poptones", "Lowlife".

Artist:	PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED
Title:	Live In Tokyo
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	VIR 87470CD

Obscure live album, recorded July of 1983. Featuring the line up of Lydon, Atkins (drums), Louie Bernardi (bass), Tom Zvoncheck (keyboards) & Joseph Guida (guitar)! These guys were theoretically members of Westside Frankie and the Inglewood Jerks?? Can't imagine this has ever been released in the US. Decent track listing, sleepy performance. Of note due to the fact that it was an early all-digital live recording. "Particularly appalling is Lydon's call-and-response shtick with the crowd and the soulless versions of the once haunting 'Death Disco' and 'Flowers of Romance.' Only one track, 'Religion,' comes across as adding something to the original version, with a new organ introduction and an astonishingly biting performance from Lydon. Ironically enough, because the group recorded with such sophisticated equipment, the sound is phenomenal, capturing a mediocre band in crisp, rich tones." -- All Music Guide. Tracks: "Annalisa," "Religion," "Low Life," "Flowers Of Romance," "Death Disco," "Solitaire," "This Is Not A Love Song," "Bad Life," "Banging The Door," "Under The House."

Artist:	PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED
Title:	Metal Box
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	CD BOX
Price:	$26.00
Catalog #:	VIR 87473CD

Limited UK version of the 2nd P.I.L. album (a.k.a. Second Edition in the US), reissued in mini-metal film canister, ala the original 3x12" vinyl release from 1979. This came out a while ago and seems to have been repressed recently... "Public Image Ltd. managed to avoid boundaries for the first four years of their existence, and Metal Box is undoubtedly the apex. It's a hallmark of uncompromising, challenging post-punk, hardly sounding like anything of the past, present, or future. Sure, there were touchstones that got their imaginations running -- the bizarreness of Captain Beefheart, the open and rhythmic spaces of Can, and the dense pulses of Lee 'Scratch' Perry's productions fueled their creative fires -- but what they achieved with their second record is a completely unique hour of avant-garde. Originally packaged as a trio of 12" records played at 45 rpm, the bass and treble are pegged at 11 throughout, with nary a tinge of midrange to be found. It's all scrapes and throbs (dubscrapes?), supplanted by John Lydon's caterwauling about such subjects as his dying mother, resentment, and murder. Guitarist Keith Levene splatters silvery, violent, percussive shards of metallic scrapes onto the canvas, much like a one-armed Jackson Pollock. Jah Wobble and Richard Dudanski lay down a molasses-thick rhythmic foundation throughout that's just as funky as Can's Holger Czukay/Jaki Leibezeit and Chic's Bernard Edwards/Nile Rodgers. It's alien dance music. Metal Box might not be recognized as a groundbreaking record with the same reverence as Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols, and you certainly can't trace numerous waves of bands who wouldn't have existed without it like the The Sex Pistols record. But like a virus, its tones have sent miasmic reverberations through a much broader scope of artists and genres." -- Andy Kellman/All Music Guide

Artist:	PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED
Title:	First Issue
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	VIR 87475CD

UK-only issue of the legendary debut Public Image album, originally released by Virgin in 1978. Never issued in the US. John Lydon, Jah Wobble, Keith Levene, Jim Walker, at their 2nd best (1979's Second Edition was their unequivocal masterpiece). "One of the simplest notion in all of rock'n'roll -- repetition -- is what carries this highly combustive LP, fused together brightly with only the extremest elements of Krautrock, dub, and punk all in a 'Space Ritual' type racket. Recorded in September and issued December, 1978, the album was so repetitious and even more in your face than the Sex Pistols, journalists wrote this and subsequent P.I.L. albums off as 'anti-art,' in a futile and utterly misread attempt to explain a sound so downright abrasive and previously unheard -- read as: unremembered. It was in no way, shape or form a prank, but for 1978, it was totally alien in its extremity, fuelled by the precise anger of Lydon's voice that manage to push the whole album at Mach whatever speed through innumerable red lights -- about as much as the rhythm section, graced by the never-ending poise of Jah Wobble's bottomless dub bass and drummer Jim Walker's drum hits that resound like repeated gunshots in the dub-contained, airtight studio." Tracklisting: "Theme," "Religion 1," "Religion 11," "Annalisa," "Public Image," "Low Life," "Attack," "Fodderstompf."

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