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elcome to the Digital Meltd0wn Music Blog. The aim of this blog is to introduce the readers to music that is out of print, commercially unavailable, released under a creative commons license, or with approval by the featured artist. The majority of the music posted here would be considered underground. Don't let that fool you into thinking that the music featured here might be any less enjoyable than that of the mainstream artists you hear on the radio, as this couldn't be further from the truth. Please keep in mind that the majority of the artists that appear on this blog, along with their respective record labels, are not wealthy and need your support. If you enjoy the material that you find here, please support the artists/labels by purchasing their material afterwards. If you are an artist/label that would prefer to have your material removed from this blog, simply leave me a comment, and I would be more than happy to promptly remove the offending post. In addition to running this blog, I also work on a few other projects during my spare time. You can find links to those, as well as a few other important links associated with Digital Meltd0wn in the menu bar above.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Public Image Ltd. - Metal Box


This one is for you Phibes, as requested.

Public Image Ltd. is a band that went through so many mutations throughout it's career that you really can't compare one era with another. Their first three albums, with the Wobble/Lydon/Levene line up, were dark and brooding, as dissonant as they were brilliant.

PiL's later work (essentially as Lydon's solo vehicle) can be spliced into two eras: '84-'87 and '88-'92. Albums like 1986's "Album" were hard rock with an artistic, commanding attitude while 1989's "9" LP saw Lydon reveling in dance-pop while maintaining a lyrical depth unseen in mainstream pop music.

For all PiL's artistic swings, however, it is Metal Box that stands out as their Crowning Glory. After showing signs of uncertainty with their debut, Metal Box delivered the promise PiL had spouted off about in press interviews: one hour of original, challenging and commanding, forceful proof of life after rock `n roll.
From the first thunderous bass notes of "Albatross" to the guitar-as-weapon assualt which drives "Chant," PiL were making sounds never before heard in the context of popular music, all the while setting this hell-fire blaze of chaos to almost-disco power beat of Martin Atkins' drums and Wobbles devilish dub-like basslines. In fact this entire album is dub like; vocals, sythesizers, and other sounds float in and out of the mix, bass and drums always in front and at their deepest.

This is music both jarring and beautiful, impenetrable and addictively listenable. This is the album that made PiL heroes to generations of kids who believe there can be more to music than top-40 aspirations; there are still new places in sound to be discovered. (Year of Release: 1979)

Track List:
1. Albatross
2. Memories
3. Swan Lake
4. Poptones
5. Careering
6. No Birds
7. Graveyard
8. The Suit
9. Bad Baby
10. Socialist
11. Chant
12. Radio 4

Download: Public Image Ltd. - Metal Box (69.4MB)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very good choice. Thanks to Phibes, thanks to you zerO_II !

Anonymous said...

i've never actually heard this - shame on me :(
thanks for the opportunity to "right that wrong" :)

Turk said...

thanx not just for this but many posts (a lot i have, like this, but are stored as i decorate (decorate ='s put in new floor, so more rebuild) Soooo thanks for enabling me to bash stuff with a hammer to some great music :) (that i'm missing lots...)

n thanks to Fulhamx (Fulham UK?) for the info on the PILs vinyl of this...

hey did anyones Metal Box set get a bit 'rusty'? mine did inside, so if you buy it wrap it in something (cling film?) cos it ends up looking shit after 3 months :/

peace all..

Anonymous said...

i bought my copy of metal box when it came out, and i never saw any rust on it.

btw i heard that when lydon was asked why he put the disks in that awkward container, he said 'to make it fuckin hard to get the records out.'