Chant. chant. chant. chant. chant. The Public Image Ltd. album-by-album thread.

Here's both the beginning and the end of PiL to most people:

Metal Box, also known as Second Edition



Released on 23 November 1979 in the UK on Virgin Records, and in a reconfigured form on 1980 in the USA on Warner Bros. Records as "Second Edition"
Lineup: John Lydon/Vocals, Jah Wobble/Bass and drums, Keith Levene/Guitar and drums, Martin Atkins/Drums, Richard Dudanski/Drums, David Humphrey/Drums.
Produced by: Public Image Ltd.

Tracklisting:

A1 Albatross

B1 Memories
B2 Swan Lake

C1 Poptones
C2 Careering

D1 No Birds
D2 Graveyard

E1 The Suit
E2 Big Baby

F1 Socialist
F2 Chant
F3 Radio 4

Related Videos:
Swan Lake
Poptones - The Old Grey Whistle Test
Careering - The Old Grey Whistle Test
Poptones and Careering - The infamous American Bandstand Performance
The Tomorrow Show, Pt.1
The Tomorrow Show, Pt. 2
Chant - Check It Out, featuring Lydon and Wobble's rants at the end.

I remember the first time I ever heard this a few years ago. I was just getting into music and had discovered and fell in love with the Sex Pistols... they were the first punk band that I had ever gotten into. I found out about PiL on wikipedia and decided to check out this album... I was surprised, to say the least, by what I heard and forgot about it, until I came back to it a year later after getting into similar bands like DEVO, Joy Division, Gang of Four, and Magazine.

A true masterpiece of rhythm and tension, and, at times terrifying and harrowing. In my view, one of the most important albums of all time and one of the most criminally overlooked.

Swan Lake and I have a special relationship with eachother... last November, while I was listening to it and driving to a movie theater, a minivan on the right side of the road attempted to do a very wide left turn, and right in front of me, causing me to plow into it with no other option. I don't actually remember the collision... I blacked out for about a minute or so, awaking in my totalled car, full of smoke and broken glass and hearing nothing but John Lydon's screaming about his dying mother. One of the most terrifying moments of my life.

 

really one of the greatest post-punk-albums (along with maybe the joy division-albums, some wire, fall and gang of four's "entertainment")...
not one bad song imho...
never understood why the other albums are so patchy...

 

I'd contend that Flowers is just as consistent the first two, but apart from that, I'd say it's the lack of Wobble and Levene. Just compare This is What You Want and Commercial Zone. We'll be there by the end of the week.

 

Also, here's NME's original review of the album:

"PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED The Metal Box

Open the Box
Take the Money

by Angus MacKinnon

PEOPLE say that Public Image Ltd. should play live more -often. People say that PiL aren't interested in their (or any) audience, that they're selfish and irresponsible, that they abuse their privileges, that they only want to' alienate. People say too much and think too little.

So PiL prefer to spend their time in studios rather than on stages, so the PiL creative process and ensuing recorded noise have no cozy accommodating antecedents, so PiL are not what they were expected to be - s0 what? Did you really expect a repeat performance? Do you really want John Lydon's head on a plate? I didn't and I don't. But even as we drift towards the bitter end of 1979 and the 1970s, pundit persons are compiling retrospectives of the dying decade like there was no today, let alone no Friday week. Maybe Doomsday is ahead of schedule, but they're welcome to their insights, hindsights and overviews, the huffing old windbags.

Past is passed, and I feel moved to say about matters punk and post-punk is that I'm glad John Lydon is no longer Johnny Rotten, that he's somehow managed to crawl from the pathetic wreckage of the Pistols with his dignity if not his self-respect intact, and that I admire the man for displaying a sight more sheer bloody minded integrity during the whole pitiful parade than almost any of his peers or partners in iconoclastic crime.

Just what is the problem with PiL though? I can't see it myself. Lydon never promised anyone an easy ring around the rose garden. You can take PiL or leave them - just don't say they haven't given fair warning. If you haven't enjoyed the story so far, then you won't even want to glance at these chapter headings. . Mind you, I always found the Pistols unbearable except in tiny doses, but then there's no accounting for my taste. The PiL noise is certainly 'different', but hardly 'difficult'. Such flags are subjective and relative, of course, but try and keep the mounting preconceptions arms' length, OK? It might help.

The PiL noise is John Lydon (vocals), Keith Levene (guitar, drums) and Wobble (bass, drums), everybody trebling on electronics, effects and synthesizers.

The PiL noise is a three-way street, a most democratic a co-operative animal that uses the studio as it sees fit, as an additional instrument mostly, that assesses where the limits of the recording technology lie and tends to break beyond them."
PiL produce the most aggressively – and sometimes oppressively – physical sound on record since Can made 'Monster Movie' or 'Tago Mago'. Drawing rigid, restrictive parallels between the two bands is probably pointless, but it's interesting to compare their respective attitudes to music-making.

Part of the point about early Can sound was that it was enthusiastically, guilelessly manufactured by five men whose collective experience of rock was at best minimal. The object of the exercise was simply to proceed with open ears, to somehow un-learn and then learn afresh. Can were playing at being primitivists, scratching the skin off every bone, and they got away with it, only letting their various, very formal musical pasts (Stockhausen, etc.) intrude at odd; unexpected angles.

The resuIts - those two albums in the main - were extraordinary. And yet it all seemed so natural, so uncontrived, so naked, so absolute - PiL seem equally reluctant to make correct, polite gestures, to make music that does all the right things in all the right places. Beginnings and endings seem pretty arbitrary throughout 'The Metal Box'; shapes and sizes seem pretty optional.

The gist of the PiL drift is, I suspect, extremely Cannish. The band are forgetting things, mislaying things, stumbling with things, stumbling on things and then, abruptly, it all clicks, clicks, holds. Don't matter a tawny owl's hoot whether any of this album is accidental or intentional; such distinctions are much too 'nice' to survive in these territories.' Flotsam and jetsam of past endeavours and enthusiasms (Wobble's fondness for the work of producers Lee Perry and Dennis Bovell, for instance) surface from time to time, but they're small fry; sub-atomic particles in a huge, accelerating whole. And yet it all seems so natural, so instinctive, so honest, so absolute.

But time is tight and 'The Metal Box' is the second PiL 'album'. It comes in a plain silver can with the PiL logo stamped in relief on its lid. It's a tracklist and 60 minutes 34 seconds of sound pressed with enviable clarity onto three 12-inch 45s slipped. between four white paper discs (PiL wanted more protective inner packaging, but Virgin said no. It retails at £7.45, a sum that's not nearly as extortionate as it first seems.

And 'The Metal Box' goes like this…

'Albatross': Wobble's mega bass rumbles massively in the mix. Levene's guitar stutters into earshot, a crabbed neural scratch. Rhythm and drums are relentless. Lydon drawls lugubriously about "Slow motion / Slow motion / Getting rid of the albatross / Sowing the seeds of discontent." (for complete lyrics of 'Box', refer pronto to page 39; they're all there*). The syllables are dragged out; Rotten slurs, seems to move through the songlike a deep-sea diver. The final, manic shriek of "Only the lonely" is chilling. A doom dance about responsibility, accounting and atoning (but to or for what or whom?).

'Memories': an electric glide in grey, remixed, bass frequencies diminished and then suddenly pushed right into the red. Levene's guitar is a gliding scale, at times a doppelganger for Michael Karoli of Can's. Another public or private address from, Lydon: "It could be worse / You're losing all the time / I let you stay too long / I could be wrong / It could be worse". It Could? And just who is "you"? The question begs on empty.

'Swanlake': 'Death Disco' remixed. A maelstrom, Levene's Tchaikovsky chords more prominent, more perverse than before. Lydon is almost hysterical: "Watch her slowly die / Saw it in her eyes / Choking on a bed / Flowers rotting dead". I hope this is an exorcism, but can't help but find it unnervingly guilt-ridden. "Words cannot express the vocal trails away, helplessly. The jump on the fade is deliberate.

'Poptones': PiL in King Crimson's clothing, looser and slacker than Crimson's 'Red' album, Lyrics? Check 'em out in your own time. They seem to run very scared; Lydon's vocal, especially the "I don't like hiding in this foliage and peat... " verse,is droll to say the least. Lydon as haunted, hunted fool? Other memories for a man with too much on his mind.'

'Careering': extreme; Discotic, washed with malevolent synthesizing and shattered by electronic gunfire. Lydon's voice constantly mixes sense, sound and metaphor: A face is raining / Across the border / The pride of history / The same as murder..." The references to "the border", "both' sides of the river" and the "military" all suggests " Northern lreland as the song's locale. Later, Lydon identifies with the central character, whose role escapes, me utterly: a gunman, a soldier, a civilian or what? I wouldn't know. Despairing depths, these, mirrored remorselessly by their soundtrack. X-traordinary.

'No Birds': another alternative mix or take.

Guitars are everywhere, scrawling mayhem, vicious graffiti, as Lydon squirms through a tunnel of sound: a full-frontal assault on surburban standards.

'Graveyard': a spooky, scratchy instrumental. Mercifully brief. Levene's chords clamber up a metal ladder to the moon. '

'The Suit': Wobble's bass hum-drums over a spartan rhythm track. Lydon's put-down of a "society boy on social security" is bitter as myrrh. Sheer spleen. Blackest bile. Hope he never hears it.

'Bad Baby': the PiL engine idling nervously. New drummer Martin Atkins hits a hi-hat, does well for himself. Lydon, almost cracking into falsetto, tells a tale of the times: "Someone left a baby / In the car park / Never any reason... Ignore it and it will go away". Inner city anxieties. Anti-social comment.

'Socialist': Telex and / or Kraftwerk spin-dried. Stuttering drums gibbering mini-moogs. The title's significance (if any) eludes me.

'Chant': roughshod and raucous. I think the chant ,goes like this "mob... war… feel... hate". Lydon affects a petulant whine - "It's not important / It's not worth a mention in The Guardian"- but again he's playing hard to get, attitude-dancing as coyly as ever. An ironic idiots' anthem, yes?

'Radio 4': a soft, deep-piled rug of neo-classical synth orchestration. A groaning parody of BBC boredom. Levene's idea apparently, and funny as in ha, ha. Very.

Conclusions: 'The Metal Box' is more complete, more convincing than the first album. As indicated above, Lydon is still the crustacean, all pink and squiggling flesh beneath the outer shell. But for one obvious reason and another, that's his prerogative – for the time being at least. Nerves and tendons and frayed and twisted more often too; Lydon, Levene and Wobble all seem more ... concerned, confident. In terms of impact and effect, 'The Metal Box' is pulverising; incredibly exactly. All this forward flow in twelve months - it's almost frightening. PiL are miles out and miles ahead. Follow with care."

From Fodderstompf, truly the best PiL website on the internet and a great information source.

 

I bought the original "Metal Box" tin when it came out, which wasn't so easy for us USA fans back in the day. Long gone, but I have the 4menwithbeards LP reissue <sealed> and a decent cd. I missed the SP in Atlanta, but drove from Charlotte, NC to Atlanta to see PIL on that short tour they did for this LP. A high point in my concert-going travels, to be sure.

I've posted many times on this forum about that, I'll try to research my posts so I don't have to repeat myself. I met John before the show, and Wobble's bass shook the floor of the Agora, 'nuff said.

Lots of pics to post, if you all want to see them. I took pics myself with a cheap camera, but have never scanned them. I was front row center. I know, I should get the negatives blown up and printed properly before they rot away....

As much as I love this album, I liked the 12" singles better. "Death Disco" and "Memories" are PIL's finest moments, imho. Neither are well-served on the album proper. DD is too short, Memories is remixed <badly> and has none of the majestic power of the 12". The b-side, "Another" is a highlight as well - an instrumental tune on the album <Graveyard?>, it has vocals on the 12" and comes alive.

Does anyone have a rip of the 12" Memories? I own it, but no turntable. It's OOP, masters lost <hence it not being on cd anywhere>, so I don't think this is out of line asking. I've searched EVERYWHERE on the net, and can't find it. They "needledropped" the 12" DD for Plastic Box, but ignored the Memories 12". The biggest hole/missed opportunity on that excellent set.

More later - JS

 

More pics...

 

Not my copy, but I actually owned this and played it often! Boy, those were the days....

 

Watching this video at 1:30am on City Limits (an "alternative" music hour on MuchMusic, Canada's MTV) in the early 90s was my first exposure to this band/album. It made such an impression that the next day I picked up the double Second Edition vinyl and basically wore out the section with this song on it.

Interestingly, whenever I read reviews of this album they tend to single out Bad Baby as the weakest track. Never understood why as it stands as my favorite. I believe I read somewhere that it was improvised in the studio...

This album is on a short list of 5-star, perfect records. That being said, I can't say I throw it on the turntable too often.

 

Ah, the "Gildersleeves" show video. I think it's the only decent video document of that 1st USA PIL tour that I caught in Atlanta, unless you count the historic appearance on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. You'd never know it from the "tinny" sound on that video how very deep and powerful Wobble's bass sounded in the hall, at least in Atlanta.


"...any beers? I'm f**king dying...."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSNMleXX3e0

 

Understood. Thanks for clarifying. Yes, the pics were a satirical take on those glossy mags. It was purposely incongruous to see our young "punks" done up all spiffy in those settings.

Doug

 

I bought the tin in the US, too. I remember I had to return the first copy. I can't remember why - maybe a disc was scratched? Anyway, the shop owner wasn't happy, but he took it back and got another copy for me. I still own it, but rarely play it now.

I have the Memories 12", but no way currently to play or sample it. I want to get a decent turntable and preamp, but family expenses keep getting in the way.

Thanks for posting all the wonderful pics. Those boys sure were skinny back then!

Doug

 

For as much as he's looked at like a cartoonish punk snot, I gotta say, Lydon is one of the most groudbreaking, fearless musicians of the era. To go from the primitive/derivative punk drive of the Pistols to the top of the charts and then to the kinds of things heard on Metal Box, over the course of how much time? I mean, give the guy some credit. And he took the FAR more challenging and experimental PiL stuff into the charts too!

That said, yeah, Metal Box is pretty much a perfect album. I much prefer the original UK track order to the reshuffled US version (though that's the one I've owned for years and years).

Never knew that the version of "Memories" on the 12" was different though! Can you tell me what some of the differences are, jsayers? I think I might need to track that down now...

 

I listened to Second Edition incessantly during the early to mid 80s. I remember reading descriptions of it before hearing it and thinking that it was going to unlike anything I'd ever heard. It was close to fulfilling that. To start off the whole thing with Albatross was a master stroke. Poptones is mesmerizing. I remember hearing the overlapping vocals on Memories and thinking they had a different lead singer join them.

The influence of Can definitely hovers over much of the proceedings. One can listen to Second Edition, Can's Tago Mago and Ege Mamyasi and even Miles Davis' On The Corner and feel like you're listening to a related family of musical styles. Keith Levene's guitar work here (and on First Issue) definitely influenced a bunch of others like Gang Of Four, The Cure and U2.

In hindsight I feel that, as much as I like the Sex Pistols, this is a more enduring work in Lydon/Rotten's career.

 

Although I've never heard the 12" mix of Memories, I've got to say that the full-length 9 minute long monitor mix of Swan Lake from Lydon's Greatest Hits DVD is amazing.

Some more photos. Click for full size:



Does anyone know anything about the backing tracks from this album that Wobble apparently stole for his first solo album? I'll admit that I've never listened to any of Wobble's solo work, but that's mainly because it's impossible to find over here.

Hell, anything PiL related is impossible to find here in Tampa, FL. I'm just surprised that I've been able to put together a near-complete record collection (I've got a copy of the Public Image single in the newspaper sleeve, 2x UK copies of First Issue, 2x copies of Metal Box... original and 4MWB, 1x UK Flowers, 1x UK Paris au Printemps, 1x Commercial Zone, US This is What You Want, 1x album... Rhino reissue, 1x US Happy?, 1x US 9). All I need are Live in Tokyo and That What Is Not...

 

Does anyone know anything about the backing tracks from this album that Wobble apparently stole for his first solo album? I'll admit that I've never listened to any of Wobble's solo work, but that's mainly because it's impossible to find over here.

The PiL-related Wobble solo stuff includes the album "Betrayal," the nearly album-length EP, "VIEP" and three singles, most of which is compiled on the CD version of "Betrayal." There's also an EP done with Keith Levene, Don Letts and some others. The fact is, he never stole anyone stuff - it's almost the other way around, in that he allowed PiL use some of his then-future solo album backing tracks for "Metal Box." Lydon very sheepishly admitted to this "cheap shot" years later, and Wobble himself tells a fuller version of the story is his pretty fab autobiography, Memoirs Of A Geezer," which I believe to be the most honest account of his time with PiL, although it covers much more.

"Betrayal" is a great album, it nfuses the same basic musical ideas as found on "Metal Box" with greater humor and a different kind of insanity.

 

I've had the Metal Box since it was released, the tin has not rusted at all, some slight oxidation, but still all silver.

Have the Memories 12" & 7" too, will have to dig them out for needledrops.

was fortunate to see the original band several times, including a couple of club shows (East Side Club in Philadelphia, & Trenton City Gardens, where I was pushed up on stage due to the crowd crush, & spent the remainder of the show hunched next to John's monitor - Keith Levene had swung his Travis Bean guitar at a stage interloper during the Tower Theater show, so I guess I'm lucky to not have been clonked).

Also saw them at Roseland, where they had advertisements for Commercial Zone as forthcoming.

had tickets for the 2nd night at the Ritz, which was canceled due to the "riot" the night before, when the band performed behind a screen.

 

Lucky... the one that I bought earlier this year is all brown, although I love how it looks.

 

It's been so long since I've heard it!
I do rember the main thing is that if you listen to the Metal Box version, the song switches back and forth between two very different mixes, one with a deep bass groove, the other a tinny, metallic mix. The 12" is soley the deep bass mix, which is vastly superior, imho.

I can't remember the timings on the 7" and 12" - the Discogs site says both are 4 min 50 seconds, the "Fodderstompf" site says both are 7 and 1/2 minutes.
The labels do not say, and I don't have the 7" anymore, just the 12" with no way to play it....

At any rate my favorite slab of vinyl from PIL, not hard to find either, it seems.

 

Sounds interesting, but I've always loved the way how the mix changes in Memories. That surprised the hell out of me the first time that I listened to the album.

 

I think my favorite track for Metal Box is The Suit. Something about the bass and tinny drums on that track really stands out to me. I can't wait till we get to Happy. It is by far my favorite PIL album. I think that the introduction of John McGeoch and Lu Edmunds was nothing short of magic. I feel they created some of the most diverse music I have ever heard. It,s nice to see the band back together. I was curious who would fill in on bass, but I guess old Lydon got some new guy. The last time I saw the band live was for the filming of the Covered video at a bar called Iguanas in Tijuana. What a night.

 

I'll definitely check out "Betrayal" then. I've also wanted to read his autobiography, but I need to get around to ordering a copy.

I have a copy of the new remaster of "Metal Box" coming in either tomorrow or on Thursday. I'll report back with what I think about the sound quality then.

Looks like this thread got a mention on the front page of Fodderstompf. Cool.

 

Second the recommendation on Betrayal, that's a great record.

 

I bought Metal Box when it came out, my tin is really rusty on the outside now though the inside has stayed it's original colour. Great album, must shake it out of the tin for a play soon.

Tony.

 

I've always kept mine in a plastic bag for LPs - perhaps that has helped to keep it looking almost as new. Bought it the week it came out (in the US).
Thought $25 for 3 eps was a lot of cash in those days, felt better after I heard the sound quality.

Have always kept the 3 12"s in record liners like the kind found with some French / Euro lps, so no scuffs.

 

That's my problem... I can't find any sleeves that fit inside the canister very well. I've got some thin plastic sleeves, but they aren't the ones with the rounded edges.

Since I bought mine from someone on eBay a few months ago, nothing could really be done. It's in good enough condition... none of the records skip but there's a bunch of surface noise. To be honest, I love the look of the rusted boxes. Makes it individual.

I'm going to put my copy of "Paris au Printemps" on the turntable tonight for the first time in a few months and then I'll add the listing for it on the thread, unless you all want more time for "Metal Box".