Customer Reviews

Paris in the Spring

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

John Lydon cursing the audience, the audience responding with hoots and catcalls; Jah Wobble and Keith Levine screwing around
in between songs--the hate is palpable. The songs and action is standard PIL, rickety and dour, the recording starting and ending abruptly; sound quality is very good. Not a place to start listening to PIL,but considerably better than "Live In Tokyo", the sound and performance of which makes me think of HBO specials and Las Vegas acts.

I bought the vinyl when it was first released. Hadnt listened to it in years, but dusted it off after having done the same with metal box. At high school (79/80) I was slagged off by the Stranglers fans in particular for liking PiL, not to mention the other factions. PiL upset people at the time even other punks. A guy sold me Metal Box for £5 at the time cos he hated it so much. Atmosphere is dripping off this recording with mutual fear & loathing between band and audience. The negative energy seems to push the band to greater things. Keith Levene's work on Careering, esp the synth (Sequential Circuits Prophet 6 I think..I'm a guitarist) is mind boggling, Similar is Theme, where these industrial sonic landscapes are equally compelling. I think this is Poptones, fully evolved and unique. If you want to learn the guitar part, this is the version to play along. The natural genius of Jah Wobble is all over this album. He and John Peel pushed my teen brain to Dub/Reggae too. I'm still getting kick from this 30 years later!! I wish they could have stayed like this just a wee bit longer. Buy it.

Great album but it is sad to think this is the last piece of music we will ever get from the Lydon/Levene/Wobble team. Sometimes life just isn't fair.

What's not to like??? A truly original band at the apex of their power. This is the real deal, not for the casual listener, but if you feel as I do that PIL is one of a handful of great bands of the last 30 years, this is a must-have......

The album - which captures the "best" performances from two nights in Paris in Spring 1980 - is an audio depiction of the problems confronting Public Image Ltd. at virtually every venue on these early tours; the wannabe punk rockers were out in full force and itching for a battle, with Lydon baiting the trap and the incredible work of guitarist/keyboardist Keith Levene, bassist Wobble and drummer Martin Atkins suffering mightily.

Lydon as performance artist - when given a chance - is outstanding; his lines of spoken words run the gamut of greed, ignorance and hate, while battling with any number of forces to take the past and toss it into a landfill. And as with the number of bootlegs from concerts at that time, this is PiL absolutely live and without any studio overdubs.

This lineup had unlimited potential to drive the post-punk scene to incredible heights. It is too bad that tension in the studio and the impossibility to perform on stage - as heard on this album - caused the implosion of the band, which soon found it as essentially a solo project by Lydon, with session musicians.

This is the early edition of PiL, with Lydon accompanied by Wobble (bass) and Levene (still playing mostly guitar). This is not fun music -- Lydon's vocals drip with dread and loathing. The bass *sounds* incredible, although it seems like Wobble is straining against severe limitations. Levene spews out shards of lethal noise. A low point in their career, and for anyone willing to follow them to these depths, rewarding without being especially enlightening. You should already know if this is for you or not. Not for the faint-hearted, but perfect if you're in that mood.