Customer Reviews

Best of British (Bonus CD)

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Spanning three decades and featuring singles from the Sex Pistols, Public Image Limited, Lydon's post-PiL solo career and a couple of collaborations with other artists, "The Best of British One Pound Notes" is a must for any John Lydon fan--particularly if you want to hear the highlights of PiL's spotty later albums. (Yes, this collection is very PiL-intensive, but that's only natural since the group was around from 1978 to 1992, and since they had so many first-rate songs.) Very nice single-disc career retrospective! My only complaint has to do with the edits necessary to fit all this music onto one CD. The "fools and horses" verse has been cut from the conclusion of 'Disappointed', one of my all-time favorite PiL songs, and I'm...well, disappointed :( Otherwise, "Best of British One Pound Notes" is a pleasure to hear from start to finish.

The 2-CD version of this album may cover mostly familiar terrain for fans - there is one new solo track, Rabbit Song - but it is an interesting overview of John Lydon's career, with a heavy emphasis on Public Image Ltd.

The first disc - also released as its own album - has a trio of tracks from the Sex Pistols (Anarchy in the UK, Holidays in the Sun, God Save the Queen), while loading up on PiL (13 tracks), with two songs as a solo artist (Sun, Rabbit Song) and a pair of collaborative efforts (with Leftfield and Time Zone). Disc two also provides a healthy dose of PiL - 10 tracks, including four remixes - and a remix each of Open Up (w/Leftfield) and the punk classic from the Sex Pistols, God Save the Queen.

Though the collection lacks the unearthing of previously unreleased tracks from a dusty vault, it is a solid set when taking into account that a number of albums in the PiL catalog are out-of-print, which makes many songs virtually impossible to find on CD.

Surprisingly consistent, but for completists, redundant

I was warned by reading an interview with Mr. Lydon himself that this compilation with the bonus disc was a situation where longtime fans had most of the material already and despite my hopes on the contrary, I did have most of this already having been a PiL fan since fourth grade (1984) and Sex Pistols fan thereafter (1985).

If you followed both bands, bought everything they ever put out and Lydon's solo stuff and projects with Afrika Bambaataa (aka TimeZone) and Leftfield, then yeah, this is of no use to you outside of the one new song, which is the oldest trick in the book to pull on completists when releasing a best of (I happily fell for it). If you are just dipping your toe in the water and want to see what all the fuss is about over some middleaged bugeyed Irish singer with goofy hair, welcome to the party but at the same time, what took you so long, ya tosspot?

That said, it's not a chronological best of. Pistols/PiL/Solo material mingle freely. This is like what you might make if you did a John Lydon career spanning mix disc (or, if you prefer, technowhore, uploaded into your MP3 player) and no surprise here, it's better than 99% of the dross out there on FM, XM, BBC, CBC, or however you get your music. An already genre-stretching performer, thanks to the running order of the tracks, throws all boundaries out the window and the world is a better place for it, you'd better believe it.

It's a fine place to start, unless you're a fatty oldie like me, then you've been born too soon, matey.

Signed,
epsteinsmutha

There are two CD versions of the album, which is a retrospective of John Lydon's recording career, and this is the single disc collection of 20 tracks which leans heavily on the material from Public Image Limited.

There are 13 numbers from PiL, a trio from the Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK, Holidays in the Sun, God Save the Queen - a pair of Lydon collaborations (with Leftfield and Time Zone) and two solo recordings - Sun and the new Rabbit Song).

While the selection is solid, it is the same disc that is part of the 2-CD release (which includes a number of remixes on disc two), hence it becomes either redundant or a must purchase only for those seeking a complete library of Lydon's authorized releases. By cutting the PiL in half, the "taste" is ultimately bittersweet.