Metal Box [Import]

Public Image Limited | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 15, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 1979
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Emi Int'l
• ASIN: B00005YE8F
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,544,613 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The second album by John Lydon's post-Sex Pistols outing Public Image Ltd. was originally released in the UK in 1979 in a limited edition film canister style metal box containing three twelve-inch 45s. Some managed to float across the Atlantic into the hands of a fortunate few, making the Metal Box a bit of a post-punk collectors' holy grail. Unavailable for almost 30 years, the Metal Box is back with the express permission of John Lydon as an exact reproduction of the original. Remastered for better sound than the 1979 vinyl. 4 Men With Beards. 2006. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lydon/Wobble/Levene's Greatest Moment, February 16, 2003

By 

M. Aranda "noisemonger" (planet earth, dimension 4) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Metal Box (Audio CD)

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 (to varying degree).
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 whichs 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.
There is virtually no mid-range on this album; drums and bass are strictly at their lowest whilst Levene's guitar is pure treble.
This was John Lydon's idea of volatile music, and it works perfectly for his voice. He give his most virulent, violent deliveries ever, as well as some of his best lyrics.
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!
Buy this today, hear it now.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars UK Metal Box Vs. US Second Edition, July 16, 2007

By 

zphage - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Metal Box (Audio CD)

UK Metal Box was remastered in 1996 under John Lydon's direction, all the songs are 1-2 seconds longer than US versions. Surprisingly, these longer seconds seem to be apparent in the songs intros; little jangles, noises, and voices.

The track/song listing is different No Birds and Socialist are reversed.

Overall, the UK Metal Box is punchier, and feels more musical. If you are a Second Edition fan I think you will enjoy Metal Boxes nuances.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Box Rocks, September 7, 2005

By 

The Drainpipe (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Metal Box (Audio CD)

How can PiL's second album be best described? It's the most evil disco album ever made. It's arguably the single most powerful post-punk musical statement. It's PiL's best album and it's one of the finest and most influential albums ever recorded. Generally speaking, "Metal Box" gets more respect than your average album (certainly more so than any other PiL album) and perhaps the fact that it's completely uncompromising is the reason why it still sounds like a remarkably contemporary record today. As a Sex Pistol, John Lydon's vocal was almost exclusively in attack mode: in "Metal Box," he's as direct as he ever was, but he screams, he chants, he wails, he howls, he sneers and can conjure up an entirely different mood for every song - not bad for such a famously "one-note" singer. As Johnny Rotten, Lydon sang from the head and at times it was difficult to gauge the genuine outrage from Lydon's warped sense of vaudeville. On "Metal Box," Lydon's anguish comes from the soul and he allows himself to sound vulnerable. However, it's the music that makes this album, and musically, "Metal Box" runs the gamut: disco dub, electronica, world music, punk, funk, melodic, non-melodic, fluid, static, music you want to dance to, music you want to die to. By its ominous nature, "Metal Box" exposed the comatose, non-threatening nature of post-Pistols Punk/"New Wave." The impressive ten-and-a-half-minute opener, "Albatross," continues the theme of the previous album's "Public Image," with Lydon still doing his best to cast off the shackles of public perception of him as Johnny Rotten ("Getting rid of the albatross..."). "Memories" is the perfect amalgam of Jah Wobble's bouncy bass and Keith Levene's withering Arabic guitar line. "Death Disco" is Lydon's decidely non-sappy tribute to his mother (who was dying of cancer at the time), set to a six-note bass motif from Wobble and Levene murdering the melody of "Swan Lake" on guitar. The heartbreaking "Poptones" is arguably the best PiL song ever, "Careering" is terrifying, Lydon sneers his best on "The Suit," the sinister piquant notes of "Bad Baby" make for one of PiL's most unnerving moments on record, and the instrumental numbers ("Graveyard," "Socialist," "Chant") are effective and avoid pretention. "Metal Box" is a beast of an album, an ugly force of nature that boiled over from a "band" beset by egoism, drugs, money shortages, and drummers changing right and left. Listening to it, you can't help but feel the misanthropy that eventually split the Lydon/Levene/Wobble triumvirate. It's a great album to listen to - but you wouldn't have wanted to been there when they were making it. NOTE: "Metal Box" was originally released as three 12'' singles encased in a metal cannister. The American edition, and subsequent 1980 UK re-release, was packaged as a conventional double-LP under the title "Second Edition."