Public Image Limited

[laxman]

Okay, short answer is that you won't feel ripped off.

The really curious thing about this is that the notable change in style is less in a dub direction, as the title would suggest, than something more obviously rock or dance. Drums are heavily foreground and powerful. Guitars are similarly loud and proud. In that, this is making Metal Box more conventional (tho not conventional by any means). If Metal Box is cold, spooky, scary, this is mostly joyous and energetic, a lot of it ready for the clubs. Only a few tracks get serious reworking, the most obvious being "Fodderstompf" (it and "Public Image" are added on bonus tracks), which is now a fully realized song. ("Careering" is also significantly re-interpreted, so less successfully from my first listen.) I think only four songs get vocals (from Wobble) and the surprising thing is that the loss of Lydon or his words really don't lessen the effect.

It's not an album that needed to be made, but it's cool when Wobble does drop something that is quite accessible. I suspect most people here would dig this.

Great thanks for the review. Yes I've always felt it would work brilliant as an instrumental album as well. Lydon's vocals and lyrics are great but then the music is a great foundation. Looking forward to getting this.

It is on Amazon Music already. I'm listening now. Powerful is definitely a good description.

[Dr. Medulla]

Okay, short answer is that you won't feel ripped off.

The really curious thing about this is that the notable change in style is less in a dub direction, as the title would suggest, than something more obviously rock or dance. Drums are heavily foreground and powerful. Guitars are similarly loud and proud. In that, this is making Metal Box more conventional (tho not conventional by any means). If Metal Box is cold, spooky, scary, this is mostly joyous and energetic, a lot of it ready for the clubs. Only a few tracks get serious reworking, the most obvious being "Fodderstompf" (it and "Public Image" are added on bonus tracks), which is now a fully realized song. ("Careering" is also significantly re-interpreted, so less successfully from my first listen.) I think only four songs get vocals (from Wobble) and the surprising thing is that the loss of Lydon or his words really don't lessen the effect.

It's not an album that needed to be made, but it's cool when Wobble does drop something that is quite accessible. I suspect most people here would dig this.

Great thanks for the review. Yes I've always felt it would work brilliant as an instrumental album as well. Lydon's vocals and lyrics are great but then the music is a great foundation. Looking forward to getting this.

It is on Amazon Music already. I'm listening now. Powerful is definitely a good description.

"Albatross" is now something that can be described as ass-kicking.

[laxman]

Okay, short answer is that you won't feel ripped off.

The really curious thing about this is that the notable change in style is less in a dub direction, as the title would suggest, than something more obviously rock or dance. Drums are heavily foreground and powerful. Guitars are similarly loud and proud. In that, this is making Metal Box more conventional (tho not conventional by any means). If Metal Box is cold, spooky, scary, this is mostly joyous and energetic, a lot of it ready for the clubs. Only a few tracks get serious reworking, the most obvious being "Fodderstompf" (it and "Public Image" are added on bonus tracks), which is now a fully realized song. ("Careering" is also significantly re-interpreted, so less successfully from my first listen.) I think only four songs get vocals (from Wobble) and the surprising thing is that the loss of Lydon or his words really don't lessen the effect.

It's not an album that needed to be made, but it's cool when Wobble does drop something that is quite accessible. I suspect most people here would dig this.

Great thanks for the review. Yes I've always felt it would work brilliant as an instrumental album as well. Lydon's vocals and lyrics are great but then the music is a great foundation. Looking forward to getting this.

It is on Amazon Music already. I'm listening now. Powerful is definitely a good description.

"Albatross" is now something that can be described as ass-kicking.

The first 2 or 3 minutes of Public Image too.

[Dr. Medulla]

Can't help but think this record is going to piss off Lydon coming on the heels of The Great Betrayal from Cook, Jones, and Matlock.

[Kory]

Can't help but think this record is going to piss off Lydon coming on the heels of The Great Betrayal from Cook, Jones, and Matlock.

Especially since he was already excommunicated for stealing backing tracks.

[Marky Dread]

Can't help but think this record is going to piss off Lydon coming on the heels of The Great Betrayal from Cook, Jones, and Matlock.

Especially since he was already excommunicated for stealing backing tracks.

That's all a very long time ago. Lydon has spoken highly of Wobble long since.

[Marky Dread]

Okay, short answer is that you won't feel ripped off.

The really curious thing about this is that the notable change in style is less in a dub direction, as the title would suggest, than something more obviously rock or dance. Drums are heavily foreground and powerful. Guitars are similarly loud and proud. In that, this is making Metal Box more conventional (tho not conventional by any means). If Metal Box is cold, spooky, scary, this is mostly joyous and energetic, a lot of it ready for the clubs. Only a few tracks get serious reworking, the most obvious being "Fodderstompf" (it and "Public Image" are added on bonus tracks), which is now a fully realized song. ("Careering" is also significantly re-interpreted, so less successfully from my first listen.) I think only four songs get vocals (from Wobble) and the surprising thing is that the loss of Lydon or his words really don't lessen the effect.

It's not an album that needed to be made, but it's cool when Wobble does drop something that is quite accessible. I suspect most people here would dig this.

Great thanks for the review. Yes I've always felt it would work brilliant as an instrumental album as well. Lydon's vocals and lyrics are great but then the music is a great foundation. Looking forward to getting this.

It is on Amazon Music already. I'm listening now. Powerful is definitely a good description.

I've got it on order so I'm waiting. Usually I get downloads with stuff from Amazon but hey I'm happy to wait. It will never diminish how I felt on hearing it on the day of release all those years ago. But I'm glad it's sounding good.

[Dr. Medulla]

Can't help but think this record is going to piss off Lydon coming on the heels of The Great Betrayal from Cook, Jones, and Matlock.

Especially since he was already excommunicated for stealing backing tracks.

I thought of that as I was listening. "Another" isn't revisited here, but the record is a statement, once again, that these songs are mine as much as yours, Johnny.

BTW, seeing as you're on this thread, what's your view of Wobble as a bass player? When I read Pete Jones' memoir, he was pretty dismissive of Wobble as a musician, yet it's hard to deny the guy's huge body of work with a diverse array of collaborators, so there has to be something to him even if he's not, I guess, technically impressive.

[Kory]

Can't help but think this record is going to piss off Lydon coming on the heels of The Great Betrayal from Cook, Jones, and Matlock.

Especially since he was already excommunicated for stealing backing tracks.

I thought of that as I was listening. "Another" isn't revisited here, but the record is a statement, once again, that these songs are mine as much as yours, Johnny.

BTW, seeing as you're on this thread, what's your view of Wobble as a bass player? When I read Pete Jones' memoir, he was pretty dismissive of Wobble as a musician, yet it's hard to deny the guy's huge body of work with a diverse array of collaborators, so there has to be something to him even if he's not, I guess, technically impressive.

I like him. As a bassist, it's impressive to me when someone is technically virtuosic. But as the years have gone on, it means a lot less to me than their general sense of timing, articulation, and note choice as it relates to the song. There's genres for which a higher level of technique is potentially required for the feel rather than for the sake of showing off (like funk, for example—although there's plenty of showing off there too), but for what he does, he's right on the money.

One of the virtues of the bass is that while it's difficult to be a virtuoso, it's pretty easy to be perfectly serviceable. And if you have good musical intuition, you can make being perfectly serviceable sound pretty damn cool.This isn't as true with other instruments.

[Dr. Medulla]

Can't help but think this record is going to piss off Lydon coming on the heels of The Great Betrayal from Cook, Jones, and Matlock.

Especially since he was already excommunicated for stealing backing tracks.

I thought of that as I was listening. "Another" isn't revisited here, but the record is a statement, once again, that these songs are mine as much as yours, Johnny.

BTW, seeing as you're on this thread, what's your view of Wobble as a bass player? When I read Pete Jones' memoir, he was pretty dismissive of Wobble as a musician, yet it's hard to deny the guy's huge body of work with a diverse array of collaborators, so there has to be something to him even if he's not, I guess, technically impressive.

I like him. As a bassist, it's impressive to me when someone is technically virtuosic. But as the years have gone on, it means a lot less to me than their general sense of timing, articulation, and note choice as it relates to the song. There's genres for which a higher level of technique is potentially required for the feel rather than for the sake of showing off (like funk, for example—although there's plenty of showing off there too), but for what he does, he's right on the money.

One of the virtues of the bass is that while it's difficult to be a virtuoso, it's pretty easy to be perfectly serviceable. And if you have good musical intuition, you can make being perfectly serviceable sound pretty damn cool.This isn't as true with other instruments.

It sounds like you've gone "backwards" to more of a punk attitude—the feel being more important than technique and virtuosity. Sid forevah!

[Marky Dread]

Can't help but think this record is going to piss off Lydon coming on the heels of The Great Betrayal from Cook, Jones, and Matlock.

Especially since he was already excommunicated for stealing backing tracks.

I thought of that as I was listening. "Another" isn't revisited here, but the record is a statement, once again, that these songs are mine as much as yours, Johnny.

BTW, seeing as you're on this thread, what's your view of Wobble as a bass player? When I read Pete Jones' memoir, he was pretty dismissive of Wobble as a musician, yet it's hard to deny the guy's huge body of work with a diverse array of collaborators, so there has to be something to him even if he's not, I guess, technically impressive.

I like him. As a bassist, it's impressive to me when someone is technically virtuosic. But as the years have gone on, it means a lot less to me than their general sense of timing, articulation, and note choice as it relates to the song. There's genres for which a higher level of technique is potentially required for the feel rather than for the sake of showing off (like funk, for example—although there's plenty of showing off there too), but for what he does, he's right on the money.

One of the virtues of the bass is that while it's difficult to be a virtuoso, it's pretty easy to be perfectly serviceable. And if you have good musical intuition, you can make being perfectly serviceable sound pretty damn cool.This isn't as true with other instruments.

It sounds like you've gone "backwards" to more of a punk attitude—the feel being more important than technique and virtuosity. Sid forevah!

I guess Kory prefers the guy who knows how to turn his amp on.

[Kory]

Can't help but think this record is going to piss off Lydon coming on the heels of The Great Betrayal from Cook, Jones, and Matlock.

Especially since he was already excommunicated for stealing backing tracks.

I thought of that as I was listening. "Another" isn't revisited here, but the record is a statement, once again, that these songs are mine as much as yours, Johnny.

BTW, seeing as you're on this thread, what's your view of Wobble as a bass player? When I read Pete Jones' memoir, he was pretty dismissive of Wobble as a musician, yet it's hard to deny the guy's huge body of work with a diverse array of collaborators, so there has to be something to him even if he's not, I guess, technically impressive.

I like him. As a bassist, it's impressive to me when someone is technically virtuosic. But as the years have gone on, it means a lot less to me than their general sense of timing, articulation, and note choice as it relates to the song. There's genres for which a higher level of technique is potentially required for the feel rather than for the sake of showing off (like funk, for example—although there's plenty of showing off there too), but for what he does, he's right on the money.

One of the virtues of the bass is that while it's difficult to be a virtuoso, it's pretty easy to be perfectly serviceable. And if you have good musical intuition, you can make being perfectly serviceable sound pretty damn cool.This isn't as true with other instruments.

It sounds like you've gone "backwards" to more of a punk attitude—the feel being more important than technique and virtuosity. Sid forevah!

The times when I was most interested in virtuosity were 12th grade and then again around 2010–2012. Once you've heard the upper limits of virtuosity, there's not much left to impress you.

[Dr. Medulla]

Especially since he was already excommunicated for stealing backing tracks.

I thought of that as I was listening. "Another" isn't revisited here, but the record is a statement, once again, that these songs are mine as much as yours, Johnny.

BTW, seeing as you're on this thread, what's your view of Wobble as a bass player? When I read Pete Jones' memoir, he was pretty dismissive of Wobble as a musician, yet it's hard to deny the guy's huge body of work with a diverse array of collaborators, so there has to be something to him even if he's not, I guess, technically impressive.

I like him. As a bassist, it's impressive to me when someone is technically virtuosic. But as the years have gone on, it means a lot less to me than their general sense of timing, articulation, and note choice as it relates to the song. There's genres for which a higher level of technique is potentially required for the feel rather than for the sake of showing off (like funk, for example—although there's plenty of showing off there too), but for what he does, he's right on the money.

One of the virtues of the bass is that while it's difficult to be a virtuoso, it's pretty easy to be perfectly serviceable. And if you have good musical intuition, you can make being perfectly serviceable sound pretty damn cool.This isn't as true with other instruments.

It sounds like you've gone "backwards" to more of a punk attitude—the feel being more important than technique and virtuosity. Sid forevah!

The times when I was most interested in virtuosity were 12th grade and then again around 2010–2012. Once you've heard the upper limits of virtuosity, there's not much left to impress you.

Snobbish punk!

[Dr. Medulla]

Listened to the record again on my walk. "Albatross" is like it came from the Album sessions. Those Bonham-like booming drums just and hard rock guitar turn it into such a bad-ass thumper. If we could count this record as an official PiL album, that "Albatross" might be in my top 5 PiL songs.

[sonnyburnit]

I honestly had higher hopes after hearing Poptones a month ago. I guess I was hoping for more “dub”. It’s solid, maybe a little underwhelming and not a world changer but a cool listen nonetheless.