To coincide with Record Store Day, Public Image
Ltd. released their latest adventure - the One Drop extended play. four tracks
of material designs to draw the listeners back, ready for the ninth studio
album. I reviewed the single 'One Drop'
earlier in the year and it grabbed me by surprise at how fresh John Lydon
sounds on the recording. The track is filled with lyrical hilarity in a
simplistic style. Lydon has been labelled as somewhat of a poet, and it's an
understandable claim. He knows how to write a catchy refrain even though his
music is completely experimental and stretches the boundaries of commercial
music. His rhyming is remarkable, "We come from chaos, you cannot
change us. Cannot explain us and that's what makes us" / "We are
the ageless, we are teenagers. We are the focus, of all the hopeless." His lyrics are politically
fuelled and have purity which other artists just cannot match. British culture
is Lydon's favourite topic.
The following track 'I Must Be Dreaming' has a vocal by Lydon which makes him
sound like Cat Stevens on '100 fags a day'. The support vocals add to the
layers and Lydon's vocal does improve as he hits the high notes. This is a
pretty straight forward track, four minutes in total and a heavy electronic
feel with the delayed guitar chords. The reggae influences are ever present and
the melody of the electric guitar work sounds like 80's Happy
Mondays. In contrast to this track is the eerie 'The Room I Am In', with its
whooshing percussion and horrifying electric guitar progression. The bass stays
pretty solid throughout as Lydon reads out his lyrics. These lyrics are far
more poetic and have a political focus again. This would make a great spoken
word piece at a major festival in the 'poetry arena'.
'Lollipop
Opera' is a free formed dub track. It has its moments of genius, but at
seven minutes, it becomes a little extreme. PiL should be used to the long
post-rock pieces on the bands earlier albums, but this synthesizer wobble and
use of electronics is the work of computers. Johnny Rotten does deliver a
brilliant distorted vocal which acts as the chorus, where he talks delightfully
into the microphone creating a childish melody which is sweet. The electric
guitar sounds dated and could have been pulled from a Primal Scream album. The drumming
is great and that's the single instrument that stands out on this track. The
album will no doubt feature more tracks like Lollipop Opera and One Drop. I for
one look forward to listening to the new material, this EP is a nice
introduction for the album.
~Eddie
7.4
