"You
are now entering a PiL zone",
affirms John
Lydon on the self titled opening track 'This Is PiL'. The lyricism is
limited to a few variations, "This is PiL" / "Public,
Image, Limi~ted" / "Welcome to PiL" / "We
are PiL" and my favourite, "And we're quite
appealing", with a little pun there. 2012 has seen the return
of Public
Image Ltd. in studio form, releasing the funky One Drop EP, their
first studio release since 1992. And now Public Image Ltd delivers their ninth
studio album, This Is PiL. Three years have passed since John Lydon organized
the bands reunion, completely funded by his controversial 'butter commercials'.
Which is also completely understandable, faced with crippling finance issues
and 'no future', the only reasonable option for a famed musician and public
figure is to indulge in money for old rope, commercials. Thus, we wouldn’t
be gazing upon this album without Country Life butter.
The
opening track has an ethnic orientated instrumental. Guitars are spacious and
stretch beyond the basic chords. Noting the acoustic guitar, this has a
simplistic two chords progression and has effects which make it sound like a
Sitar and like several past PiL tracks, Raga. The soaring electric guitar
towards the end of the track wasn’t expected and is designed for opening
tracks. Lydon's monstrous vocal opening is partially a put off; fortunately the
following instrumental and subliminal reverberation brightens the track as
Lydon adds his 'poetic' touch. 'One Drop'
has been circulating for a few months now, and is simply the
'single' on the album. PiL have always been in-tune with their bass, and it
never fails to surprise/steal the show. Lydon's energetic vocal mixed with the
politically fuelled lyrics add a homey touch on a standard instrumental, "We are the ageless, we are teenagers. We are the
focus, of all the hopeless." This sound is quite
common, even if the bass and guitar sound different to previous PiL recordings,
it still has that bog standard stark sound which is unavoidable by the
musicians, and falls on the production team.
Reggae
has always been an influence on PiL's sound. In fact, PiL has always been the
answer to sub-categories and genre defining bands. PiL are quite simply PiL,
with no affirmative genre and no standard background, just the way John Lydon
wants it, and arguably the decisive way to present yourself. Because of this,
PiL are not grouped or herded among other sheep falling under the label.
'Deeper Water' brings the 2-tone intonation into focus yet again. The
guitar layers are amazing and add that extra bit of spice and characteristic
exempt from the pedalling bass and routine drumming. The support vocals prove
effective and give the track a band sound, compared to the number 10, the one
man, the Johnny Rotten show. 'Terra-Gate' has fantastic lyrics, with Lydon
delivering the vocal with pure dominance and confidence. The delay does Lydon
justice, with his speedy vocal and ever-changing vocal style. The listener will
eavesdrop "What you hate, you probably fake" / "Mad
as you are, you probably fake." The guitar work is phenomenal
and the overall sound is surprisingly compact compared to many of the other
tracks on the album.
'Human'
features some exquisite guitar work and a metal-esque solo which blows my mind,
due to the 'Why?' factor. It’s not really needed as the heavy guitar drone
plays its part nicely. Lydon speaks his mind, "I think, England's
died" / "I miss those roses, those English
roses" / "Of cotton dresses skipping across
the lawn. Of happy faces, when football was not a yawn." Lydon
is characteristically angry, and his views and opinions are
thoroughly shared by many Britons, he's not on his own this time - No
future. 'I
Must Be Dreaming' is one of the tracks featured on the One Drop EP. This track doesn’t capture the full essence of
PiL. It has more of the standard and less of the abnormal. Lydon does deliver
an incredibly aged vocal and the reverb on the guitar works efficiently, but
the support vocals are dreary and the drumming definitely doesn’t hit the right
mark. 'It Said That' has a rather unusual instrumental... Scrap the Lydon vocal
and you have something designed for a James Bond film / Dynasty Warriors game.
The studio effects are becoming handy for the band members, using reverb and
delay extensively and taking control of electronics minimally. Lydon is in a
league of his own when it comes to lyrics because his subject matter changes
and varies with no repercussion and no warning.
The
following two tracks 'The Room I Am In' and 'Lollipop
Opera' are featured on the One Drop EP. The EP was specifically
for record store day and gave an insight to 'what to expect' from the new PiL
album. It’s fair that these tracks are included on the album; however one third
of it is taken up by the EP tracks. The Room I Am In being the egotistic Lydon
spoken word track with a horrifying instrumental and a western theme with the
slide guitar and dissonant drum pattern. Lollipop Opera turns heads with the
fresh drumming and even fresher bass work. The child-like introductory vocal by
Lydon makes good use of effects yet again and the bass takes full control and
takes the listener on an adventure with wobbles and electrifying guitar pieces.
It is, however, a shame that Jah Wobble isn’t creating these wobbles, and Keith Levene isn’t designing these
guitar pieces. Some would say Public Image Ltd. isn’t, without 'Wobble &
Levene', a re-occurring phrase. In contradiction, This Is PiL, as the album is
purposely entitled. It still, well and truly is a John Lydon project. And it
was a John Lydon project in the late 70's and the 80’s; it’s just a matter of
personal differences that create friction between the PiL fans. That being said,
the line-up is completely new, except for the sophisticated post-punk
drummer Bruce Smith, who played with none
other than The Pop Group of course. Guitarist Lu Edmonds main contribution was
on the seventh album 'Happy?'. He later had to leave the band due to a serious
case of tinnitus. Wrapping up PiL is bassist Scott Firth, described by Lydon as "A
genius at work!" Lest we forget the death of PiL's previous guitarist... The legend that is John McGeoch, who played on the final few PiL albums.
'Fool'
is rather enduring. The guitar sounds extremely computerized and 80's. Lydon
discovers that he's not the most liked person in the world, and fans realize
that this new reincarnation isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. This track is
definitely my least favourite from the album because it’s predictable and
pretty obtuse, when Lollipop Opera swiftly comes before it. The bass riff is
crawling and the drums ponder on to the point of insanity. The guitar work
eventually improves; as does the percussion which includes a symbol for it's
climax, yeah, hardcore. The track comes to a thankful end with Lydon reciting
his lyrics which are among the most 'out there' and distorted on the album.
'Reggie Song' has a spectacular guitar solo and an even better vocal harmony,
which is new for PiL. Lydon delivers his best vocal on the album with a mass
amount of layers, and just enough reverb to raise his vocal. He mentions Finsbury
Park, as he did in
Lollipop Opera. It’s as if he’s focusing his lyrics on one person,
say a random Los Angeles resident, who may have asked 'Where on earth are you
from??' and John replies.. "I am from Finsbury
Park." Bruce
Smith delivers his best drumming session on this track, whilst the bass,
unfortunately just fills the gap.
We
come to the end of the album, PiL's first album release in 20 years. This is
no First
Issue or Metal Box, it's an album designed for 2012, and in 2012 it
will stay. 'Out of The Woods' is just shy of 10 minutes and is filled with
harmony, melody, rhythms and rave textures. Synthesizers come into action as
nightlife seems to takeover. The drumming becomes increasingly repetitive as
the track stumbles on with Lydon rhyming easily. This track has lovely
soundscapes and one of the best guitar sounds I’ve heard all year, which can be
heard in the final few moments of the track, when the sudden excitement comes
to a sympathetic end.
This
Is PiL finds itself at 002 on the Public Image Ltd. discography. Lydon has
spent years with Virgin Records, and took the awareness and freedom to fund his
band, recycle the profits from live shows so they could record this album, and
fundamentally begin a new period of PiL with the formation of 'PiL Official' (PiL's record label). By the time you listen to the final
tracks, One Drop and Deeper Water appear distant. It's one long process and at
64 minutes long, becomes the most time consuming Public Image Ltd. album to
date. It doesn’t need all of its 64 minutes, a few songs could have been
scrapped and the listener would be none the wiser, but it's that bit of extra
material that makes PiL. The 'singles' were already laid out with the One Drop
EP, and to add to those future crowd pleasers, PiL deliver a range of touring
material which is a major improvement on their later discography post-1990.
It's not ground-breaking and it's not average, it’s Public Image Ltd. doing
what they do best, just making an album, and at the end of the day, this is an
album, This is PiL.
~Eddie
7.8