PiL Box (Metal Box - Public Image Ltd.)

Name: I Like Blue

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Product:	Metal Box - Public Image Ltd.
Date:	07/02/05 (1952 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: PiL arguably at their best, Jah Wobble on bass guitar, the whole album

Disadvantages: Jah Wobble left after this album

Whilst in his ‘Johnny Rotten’ persona with the Sex Pistols, John Lydon, with the obvious assistance of Sid Vicious, Paul Cook and Steve Jones, gave the music scene a much deserved slap round the face. It was getting very bland and extremely dire. You only have to look back to the music of the early 70’s to see that. However if you look around the time the Sex Pistols were in existence you can quite clearly see how the music scene changed, for the better.

Aside from the tragic death of Sid Vicious punk as a music phenomenon was in decline. John Lydon became somewhat disenchanted with it all because seemingly on the back of the success of the Sex Pistols there were a lot of ‘punk wannabe’ bands sprouting up everywhere which rather diluted the punk ideal. Then of course there was the start of the long running legal battle between Lydon and Malcolm McLaren.

John Lydon decided it was time for something different.

Public Image Ltd was very different, very different indeed.

After the relative success of their first album ‘First Issue’ John Lydon continued to drag music into another direction and in ‘Metal Box’, PiL’s second album, he did just that, brilliantly.

To enjoy PiL’s music though you have to forget John Lydon was Johnny Rotten. PiL has to be separated completely from that era and looked on and listened to on its own merits. However in saying that whilst many of the songs on ‘Metal Box’ are social, political and class commentaries there are a few which refer to his days in the Sex Pistols and more specifically how they were exploited and the way they were all expected to ‘perform’ not just on stage but off it too like some kind of circus act.

John Lydon wasn’t having any of that with PiL.

I suppose some of that can be found in the first track [1] Albatross, which, for me, does allude to Lydon’s former days in the Sex Pistols.

Now, what really makes this album really appeal to me is its uniqueness. Not just because of the music style but in 3 other ways; John Lydon’s distinct and unique voice, Keith Levine’s ‘metallic’ sound on guitar and finally Jah Wobble (real-life name John Wordle) on bass guitar. In fact most of the album is driven by Jah Wobble’s bass guitar work and for me Jah Wobble, as a bass guitar player, comes a close second to JJ Burnel of The Stranglers.

This uniqueness becomes unified somewhat, if you can understand that, in [2] Memories, [3] Swanlake (also known as Death Disco), which was written by Lydon for his dying mother, and [4] Poptones.

The next track [5] Careering is more bass guitar and drum driven (not to be confused with Drum & Bass) with an accompaniment of some rather ‘alien’ sounds from the keyboard that wouldn’t be that out of place on a science fiction movie. Mind you I suppose it does compliment Lydon’s singing style too, which some could argue also sounds rather alien at times, and is evident in Lydon’s vision of the future in [6] No Birds.

We get a rest from Lydon’s singing in [7] Graveyard, an atmospheric instrumental track totally driven by Jah Wobble’s bass, Keith Levene’s ‘metallic’ guitar sounds and simple drumbeat. Talking of the drums, I have tried on many occasions to find out who the drummer was for this album as the original PiL drummer, Jim Walker, had left the band after the first album. So it’s a mystery who actually drummed on Metal Box.

The next 2 tracks are probably my favourites on the album. First up is [8] The Suit, a song again mainly driven by bass guitar and simple drumbeat but with Lydon ‘nearly’ singing in an almost monotone voice but what gives this song character is the way Lydon delivers it; dark and menacing.

Then there’s [9] Bad Baby. Still mainly on the bass guitar and drum ‘theme’ there’s also the return of those science fiction sounds from the keyboards. For me, this track brings it all together. Referring back to what I was saying about the band’s uniqueness, on this track everything is in harmony and synchronised, even Lydon‘s singing!.

The next track, [10] Socialist, is another instrumental but it’s more up-tempo and a near dance track, which is in complete contrast to the near disjointed sounding [11] Chant which sees Lydon almost slipping back into his Johnny Rotten persona, ranting on to the accompanying and repetitive line “love, war, kill, hate”, but then this song blends into the final track [12] Radio 4. Again a complete opposite and during the transition between [11] Chant and [12] Radio 4 you would be forgiven for thinking it sounded like a classical orchestra ‘tuning-up’ for a recital. It’s hard to describe [12] Radio 4, it just has to be heard to be believed. If you can, try to imagine classical music but PiL style! I think it’s a good track and ends the album brilliantly.

Whilst writing this review I’ve been trying to see if I could classify the music style of PiL, and in particular this album, but I can’t. It doesn’t really fit into any kind of genre although it has been likened to somewhere between ‘dub-reggae’ and Krautrock, but I’m still dubious about that too. If I were to put my own take on it then I’d say ‘Metal Box’ could be pre-dance (techno) with more than a hint of ‘anti-disco’, a point I’d like to elaborate on.

You see originally ‘Metal Box’ was purposely packaged in a, limited edition of 60,000, metal, circular canister and contained 3 x 12” 45rpm vinyl records. The album was later re-released in ‘conformist’ vinyl album version and called ‘Second Edition’. To explain further at about the time of the release of ‘Metal Box’ also saw the rise in 12” dance mix of chart songs and this is where I draw my comparison from.

Then to support my view that PiL’s music doesn’t fit into particular genre consider this - imagine you have an extensive collection of vinyl albums and you may have them sorted either in alphabetical or genre order, where the hell are you going to put a metal canister? It won’t ‘fit’, it won’t sit right amongst the row(s) of your already assembled vinyl collection. Therefore, just like PiL’s music style, ‘Metal Box’ can’t be ‘pigeon-holed’.

I consider myself one of the lucky ones to have one of these 60,000 metal canisters, and in my vinyl collection it sits, proudly, at the front.

Just to reinforce the uniqueness of ‘Metal Box’ when it was first re-issued on CD in 1990, guess what? It was packaged in a CD-sized metal canister! Yes, I have this version too. Again though, like its metal canistered vinyl ancestor, the CD-sized canister doesn’t fit into the common everyday CD rack.

Finally, by not being able to classify properly this album into any particular genre it’s hard to make a comparison that would help you, the reader, to search this album out unless you are already familiar with PiL. I suppose if you enjoyed Lydon’s collaboration with Leftfield then you’ll have some idea of what to expect in ’Metal Box’.

An album I definitely recommend and still readily available, in CD version. Amazon currently have it on offer for just under £6, Tesco have it for just under £7 which is considerably cheaper than HMV who have it priced at £12.99! However if you are curious then if you go to HMV.co.uk and then the ’Metal Box’ album page you can listen to samples of every song on the album.

Metal Box *has* to be played loud (with or without headphones) because then you’ll get the full effect of Jah Wobble’s phenomenal bass playing; it’ll make the floor and walls shake and if you’re wearing headphones it’ll just reverberate around your body and through your bones. Definitely an experience not to be missed!

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