band: public image limited.

[krakabash]

I saw the Banshees headline at the same ampitheatre that PIL opened for New Order at.

Your point being?

My point being that success is good and the Banshees are successful and that's good.

None of this I'm indie and sell 3 records to my best friends and am more famous for being a producer...,I mean "engineer", for them, thank you.

[BadComrade]

My point is that it doesn't matter if they sell out a 60,000 seat venue; you can't really use that as an argument as to what makes them "better".

Most people would have realized that from my last post. Hope you understand now...

[krakabash]

Ok then.

10 great to good albums for the Banshees, compared to 2 1/2 for the Limited.

Still active and in their prime, compared to way past their prime and not even doing anything like their original vision but still calling it the same band.

Proof enough.

Siouxie never had to reform anything, nor marry an heiress, and has always had better hair.

[ctrl-s]

PiL sure weren't any kind of crap when I saw 'em several geological eras ago with Levene and Wobble; then again when I saw them about six years later in an arena-ish setting with the Sugarcubes and New Order, my friend's remark pretty much said it all: "Oh look, somebody spray-painted Rod Stewart." Still, their first 3 or 4 records -- I'm counting Paris Au Printemps, the fantastic and often overlooked live album -- effectively obliterate all their later ultra-crap (along with about 98% of all other music) as far as I'm concerned, so duh, Not Crap.

Betcha Didn't Know!: Wobble, not Lydon, sings "Albatross" until the "Only the loooonely!" bit at the end.

[rocker654]

I saw them with Levene (not sure if Wobble was still involved). There was some astonishment over the cover price (about $8.00), but they were great. I believe that Brian Brain (Martin Atkins) was their drummer at the time.

[Ishmael]

Egyptian Lover did more in one record than the entire recorded works of Mr. Albini put together.

[krakabash]

Egyptian Lover did more in one record than the entire recorded works of Mr. Albini put together.

The evidence is everywhere.

[AAAAAAAARGH]

PIL almost single-handedly created the post-punk sound, completely shifted the direction of post-punk one year later, two years after that created a record completely devoid of genre and easily identifiable precedent, and continued making an effort to play new and different music throughout the rest of its existence -- no matter what you think of the material that came after FoL.

PIL is responsible for some of the most innovative, influential playing and recording techniques among any art music group of the last 30 years. They put these techniques to use by creating arguably the most inventive, free-spirited, often beautiful, and always enjoyable music out of anybody active in music in the five years they were active as a "corperation."

PIL aimed to create a new order of creating, recording, publishing, and performing music that would radically change the way record labels and bands functioned. In attempting to destroy the punk movement, they subsequently became one of the most punk groups ever to form.

PIL changed the way I thought (and think) about music, society, and art. In doing so, PIL changed my life, and without hearing Metal Box my freshman year of high school, I would be a completely different person today in almost every aspect of my personality, outlook, and goals.












Crap.

[BadComrade]

Crap.

It's never too late to start listening to Level 42 or Duran Duran.

[glynnisjohns]

Crap.

It's never too late to start listening to Level 42 or Duran Duran.

I'm pretty sure it is dude.

Lessons in love? I shudder.

[CJMcG]

The song "Public Image" is hands down the best punk/post-punk song ever.
NOT CRAP

[tallchris]

I actually prefer the first record to Metal Box, but the first three records are all essential.

[same]

Jonny's a prankster.
Siouxie's an artist.

That's the difference.

John Lydon wasn't why PiL was great. That much is clear by the band's post-Levene output. But still, I'll take Lydon's "pranks" over Siouxie's "art" anyday.

The song "Public Image" is hands down the best punk/post-punk song ever.
NOT CRAP

Almost. Annalisa is better.

[a. james]

The song "Public Image" is hands down the best punk/post-punk song ever.
NOT CRAP

Almost. Annalisa is better.

agreed.

[rocker654]

The song "Public Image" is hands down the best punk/post-punk song ever.
NOT CRAP

Almost. Annalisa is better.

agreed.

They are both good musical songs. They tie.

[Schaal]

Only to be beat by "Religion"!

[mega therion]

NC. I love early PIL more than I love my parents.

[rocker654]

Only to be beat by "Religion"!

And now that I think about it, that entire album has no weak moments. Unusual.

[SecondEdition]

I think everyone knows where I stand on this issue.

"Second Edition" is the perfect drug.

why, oh why does that have to sound so ridiculously self-referential?

all bullshit aside, I still haven't heard any album coming close to resembling this, and I know I never will.

[SecondEdition]

Best non-LP moments from PiL:

Death Disco (12" Single) - Simply some of the most psychotic guitar shredding ever laid on tape. Keith Levene owns this track, even though everyone else really gives it their absolute all. From a production standpoint, the sound is truly astounding. You haven't heard this song until you've heard this version, all 6:48 of it.

1979 BBC Sessions, Maida Vale, with John Peel - Christ on a plate. "Poptones," "Careering," and "Chant," all in better versions than the ones that made it to "Second Edition." Highlights of each track: "Poptones" is far shorter, in a different key, and somehow manages to be even more hypnotically horrific than the original - maybe it's the massive reverb on Levene's guitar, which never sounded glassier. Check Lydon's handling of the ending. "Careering" is terribly intense, far longer than the original, with again some of the absolute finest playing Levene ever laid down on tape - on synthesizer this time. Allen Ravenstine would shit his shorts. "Chant" is exactly the same length as the original, but again, far more intense than the original was, due to the fact that Wobble's bass sounds like Gigantor's mating dance over Dresden and that Atkins takes the tempo at twice the original tempo. Overdubs were used, so I guess that ain't really live-in-the-studio, but who gives a shit when you get quality of this magnitude?

Home Is Where The Heart Is - One of PiL's Top 5 songs ever, probably at their most hypnotically dub-depressive. A masterpiece driven by one of the hugest bass sounds the band ever got in the studio - but, in a moment of supreme irony, Levene played the bass on the track; Wobble had already left the band at that time. Makes you wonder about "Flowers of Romance", don't it?