Customer Reviews

Metal Box (Vinyl Replica Edition)

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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.

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.

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."

The classic PiL album, this is essentially John Lydon moaningover the top of avant-garde dub reggae, and it's fantastic, andunique. A mixture of synthesisers, Jah Wobble's bass lines and some stuttery beats combine to make something that sounds like being sick, but musically, and yet it works as music to listen to. It's alien and strange, and sounds as fresh today as then. The music was re-released as 'Second Edition.'

This is the better choice over 2nd Edition because of the remastered sound and of course, yes, it comes in a metal box. For a while I was annoyed at P.I.L. for creating so many current bands that slavishly imitate them (I remember one not so memorable warm up group at a show in Williamsburg saying, "This next song is by P.I.L.", as if the audience would swoon in appreciation). However, after listening to it, I realized Metal Box for the post punk masterwork it is. From the first song The Albatross (perhaps "getting rid of the albatross" refers to the previous band Lydon was in and having full creative control of the music) to Careering (a more subtle take on English capitalism than say Gang of Four) to Poptones (perhaps a stab at the music industry, who knows, its a great song) to Radio 4 (dark ambient before its time). P.I.L. took krautrock, 70's Miles (Lydon himself was in awe of Dark Magus in particular) and of course dub and created something that leaves you with a feeling of uneasiness as if something terrible had happenned but you are not sure what as opposed to the Sex Pistols sucker punch to the stomach (both effective approaches). Take your pick. But the Pistols' anger and cynicism transformed into P.I.L.'s (especially Metal Box) total nihilism and despair that would put many a goth band to shame (and yes I did begrudgingly accept the Williamsburg scene).

Metal Box is revered by many, and rightly so. There is this continuity with Lydon and that is simply being himself. He is gloriously misunderstood. A true working class hero. In his book 'No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs' he mentions that he was a shy boy who became the most notorious rock star in the history of rock and roll (or words to that affect). Simple psychology however, will reveal that the man is still shy. That is what is so endearing about him. Apart from his intelligence and cutting remarks, he is an extremely sensitive human being. This is why this album works. There is no 'knowingness' to it.

Metal Box is a heartfelt album. It is not just the ramblings of an angry young man, but a sacrifice. Cynics are probably the most sensitive people in the world. They want the truth, that is all. Lies bug them (Read 'Conversations With Kafka' by Gustav Janouch. Maybe then, people will see how important Lydon is). Lydon himself refuses to be seen as an intellect. His habit is to destroy myths. There are no heros.

Pil are more relevant to me then the Sex Pistols will ever be. Morbidly, it is because I find them less fun. They are a wry smile rather than a good laugh. Listening to this album is like being with a best friend. Why is Jah Wobbles bass playing so celebrated? It is the heart beating in expectation.

Stop Making Sense and don't accept the madness which everyone accepts as the norm. Be gloriously misunderstood!

I have the original vinyl, the black grooves worn gray, in the metal film cans. I didn't know what to think when it first appeared way back when, but I couldn't stop playing it over and over. It's a worthy replacement to my weathered vinyl. The Metal Box may have lost a little of the sheen over the years because so many bands have copied the style. But it hasn't lost any of its power. Love that the CD comes in a metal box. Turn it up to 11 and let the walls throb and the china rattle. PiL was never better than the Metal Box.

RECENTLY RECEIVED THE METAL BOX(VINYL REPLICA EDITION) AND ASIDE FROM THE PACKAGING BEING A CONVERSATION PIECE, THE REMASTERED DISCS INSIDE MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE THE BAND IS PLAYING IN YOUR LIVINGROOM.
JAMIE

Metal Box is an album as impenetrable as the case in which it comes... a fifty-minute swirling bombardment of Kraut-rock rhythms, dissonant keyboards, jagged guitars and Lydon's bitter lyrics and screaming vocals. It follows on nicely from their first album, which took the sound of the Sex Pistols and fused it with disco, Kraut-rock and the kind of guitar music that would later become known as "post-punk". As a listening experience there is little else to rival it, with Metal Box offering up twelve tracks filled with a pain and anguish that can seemingly only find true catharsis through the screaming angular music found within. This is the sound of a band falling out of love with each other... and with the world around them.
The opening song, the near-legendary Albatross (which is almost eleven minutes of Beckett-like lyrical ruminations, over screaming guitars, a heavy and monotonous bass-line and some trance-like percussion) picks up where Theme (the opening track of their first album) left off, giving us more of Lydon's existential anguish and torment, as he screams about death and all manner of other related-horrors that infuse the album with a bleak, gothic and claustrophobic sound. Unlike the first album, the emphasis here is more on sound rather than song, so there's no real standout singles like Annalisa or Public Image, instead, we get longer tracks with much reliance on layered instrumentation. This is very much a precursor to those Radiohead classics, Kid A and Amnesiac, with PiL creating a landscape of cold synthesisers, an aching violin and that great integrated sound of Keith Lavene's scratchy, distorted guitar and the dub pounding bass of Jah Wobble.

This is dark music, as bleak as albums like Tilt, OK Computer, Regeneration, Blood on the Tracks and The Final Cut... although it has a sound that is unlike any of those albums, or indeed, anything else you've ever heard. The album progresses on from the epic Albatross onto the dark Memories, which sets Lydon's grating vocals and doom-laden lyrics against a backdrop of distorted, echoed guitars and a funky monotonous bass-line, which is further complemented by an Eastern-tinged and somewhat alien violin (or possibly keyboard) refrain wailing away in the background. It leads us perfectly into my favourite song on the album, the mesmerising Swan Lake.

Enough said, in the late 70's, PIL is unique with this punk Funk : only the bands Siouxsie & the Banshees and Wire offer a music as original as theirs. Inspired, Lydon makes psalmodies on the breathtaking " Careering" which with " Poptones" is enough to justify the acquisition of this precursor recording

When Ian Curtis died, Joy Division quite sensibly changed its name to New Order. Bernie and friends understood that they were suddenly in a different band. When the Lydon/Levene collaboration ended, the name PiL should have been retired. Whatever one chooses to call the music that Lydon perpetrated after "Flowers of Romance," one shouldn't call it PiL. But the Metal Box is genuine PiL in its purist form. This is one of the classic--perhaps THE classic--antirock albums. The tracks, with their loping rhythms, tuneless melodies, and nasal North London wails of irritation and pain, sound as if they were written intentionally for the tone deaf. A peculiar consequence is that this is one of the few records that can actually teach you to hear music differently. Absolutely essential.