So far, so good, so long! - PiL's 'The Greatest Hits So Far' (Public Image Ltd. in general)

Member Name: mo79

Product:	Public Image Ltd. in general
Date:	20/11/02 (333 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An assortment of varied delicacies in PiL form, 14 tracks, nice artwork, has lyric booklet

Disadvantages: Some average/meritable songs, a scarey John Lydon stare on the back of the booklet

Sid is dead. Long live the Queen! As messily as The Sex Pistols and UK punk vomited onto the public eye, as messily had they crumbled away and dissolved. The post-mortem of punk was post-punk, and Johnny Rotten turned John Lydon was one of the pathologists.

In the first carnation (the carnation and period often referred to as most relevant), Lydon joined by Jah Wobble on baloony reggae inspired bass, and *forgot first name, see dave27's general PiL op* Levene from The Clash on guitars with 'some' drummer, formed Public Image Ltd. As a virtual punk super group they first dished out the single 'Public Image'; the lyrics almost an obituary to Rotten & The Pistols and the music being one last dash at basic, but good, punk rock.
Over the years PiL would flirt with twisted artiness and electro-world experimentation, worthy pop and a bit of dance and more rock.

I don't know much about PiL, but it's pretty likely many of you will have heard of their name somewhere as they've inspired artists as diverse as Massive Attack, and run alongside morbid post-punk terrorists Joy Division during the nausea-art rock of 'Metal Box/Second Edition' (which judging by the tracks of that featured here, I wish I'd bought alternatively - maybe in the future).
PiL (having gone numerous line-up changes over the years) was disbanded by Lydon in '93 (after about 10 and a bit years of running) who went on to have a dance-hit with Leftfield and released a solo album. He's now touring old folks homes with his first band. Wobble (who had a hit with Sinead O'Connor) and drummer Martin Atkins are reunited in the band The Damage Manual. Who knows where Levene is now?

It's funny then, that PiL's 1990 release is titled 'The Greatest Hits So Far' when in hindsight the end was nigh. Maybe they'll reform, who knows? Though The Sex Pistols are given more reverence, PiL are not exactly brushed under t
he carpet either. The output is vast, and the music often much more full sighted.

Before I proceed, does anybody know what PiL song features John Lydon sitting on a staircase for the video? That's about all I remember about PiL from my childhood, and I would be interested to know. I liked that video. Send your answers to the comments area, please!

14 tracks adorn PiL's greatest hits album, and whether you like them all or not, it does offer you a range of musical delicacies served up by the band throughout their career. The cartoony artwork is rather nice too!
After opening with 'Public Image' we are greeted with 'Death Disco' featuring lyrics penned towards the passing of Lydon's mother, wailed against wiry-sweet guitars and a reggae beat. Already we are flying away from rabble rousing punk into a twisted artisticness, a uniqueness to early PiL.
'Memories' sounds very similar to the kind of musical sculpting Joy Division created on the 'Closer' LP, whereas here the music portays a kind of sarchastic comedy rather than a cry for help. Helium treated hi-hats spike up the nearest thing to a chorus on this track.
My favourite of the early songs here is 'Careering' with deranged but vivid stream-of-consciousness lyrics over nauseating synthesizer squeals to more reggae grooves. Imagine a disturbed ADF and you may clearly understand the music without hearing it.
'The Flowers Of Romance' caps off their truly innovative period, with a bit of a lull. Though I award points for trying something different, being different isn't always neccesarily good. Bucket percussion of a tribal nature with some scarey Middle Eastern phrases and a cartoon-gothic wail does not make for a classic listen. (The title comes from a band Sid Vicious wanted to form prior to joining The Sex Pistols)

'This Is Not A Love Song' then is a surprise. A clear pop song which wouldn't sound
out of place in a Frankie Goes To Hollywood retrospective album. Unlike Frankie however, this song gets very boring quickly.
Lydon then gets in touch with his Irish roots both lyrically (chorus: "May the road rise with you", an Irish saying) and musically (I can't explain how exactly, but it's in the pace) on 'Rise', which is probably one of the most commercially popular PiL songs ever. Proof then that PiL's foray into pop was not without good points, and if only to be amazed to hear John Lydon nearly singing.
Following up 'Rise' is 'Home' which carries the vision of PiL as an optimistic sounding and colourful pop band. Not a strong favourite of mine, but it's good enough.
I really like 'Seattle', which makes you feel like walking with your hands deep in your pockets, while moving the upper half of your body up and down. There's almost something (barely) Morrissey-like about Lydon's delivery along to the jangly guitars here.

'The Body' which shows more dance leanings is a little bit too long (especially the intro) and repetitive for my liking, and is a poor attempt at fusing somewhat dangerous guitars with an almost old-school hip-hop sound. I had not anticipated a dry resurrection of the breakdance era.
'Rules And Regulations' delivers us some nice cheeky guitar pop with female gospel singers providing backing choruses, perfectly matching the naughty, near Carry On nature of Lydon. The appeal of this track though is extremely limited beyond novelty, after a few listens.
The lengthy 'Dissapointed' entering with another gospel elevation doesn't give in to it's title, and does show Lydon and co. getting by in the late 80's, following on from succesful formulas like 'Rise' and 'Seattle'.
'Warrior' then really is a dissapointing and overly long dance track (echoing almost, East 17's 'House Of Love'; t
hat was a good song though!) featuring Stephen Hague's production talents which were serving New Order more well at the time. Atleast this was rectified by Lydon hooking up with Leftfield later on.

Ending track 'Don't Ask Me' sees us out with a nice smile however. A happy little nursery rhyme like, catchy pop ditty about environmental preservation, delivered as usual by the comical ringermaster tone of Lydon!

I don't normally endorse PiL popping, but if you can find it (cheapest at 101cd.com) you may like to shove it on your CD platter. I can't say I totally love the collection, but neither do I hate it. It took a bit of time to fully grow on me, but as much satisfaction I can glean on most occasions is some ratio between 50:50 with occasional slight negative deviations.
I could say, to be cool, that I only like the early artier stuff, but as a pop band PiL have done better than most aswell. I do however believe that by the tasters and by reviews I've read, that 'Metal Box/Second Edition' may be a better buy for those who wish to avoid the pomp and the pop, and to completely avoid the concise 'Plastic Box' boxset.
'The Greatest Hits So Far' still remains a good enough buy for the curious to get straight into the varied heart of PiL, which is sometimes good, sometimes great, and sometimes passable/meritable.

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