Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Public Image Ltd. - First Issue


 I have always preferred the first record from John Lydon's Public Image Ltd. much more than anything that the Sex Pistols ever recorded.  Its not so much that I have something against the Sex Pistols, I own Nevermind the Bollocks.. but I think its just that I really like Public Image Ltd.'s early records.  The Sex Pistols were one of the first punk bands I had ever heard of when I was a kid and in the nineties John Lydon was completely irrelevant in terms of music so I didn't have that high of expectations for whatever he did in between.  I guess as a kid I also felt that when "punk" musicians tried to experiment too far, in the case of Public Image Ltd. including reggae and kraut rock influences, they sometimes loose what made them great in the first place.  Obviously I was wrong, at least in this case because First Issue is probably one of the best "punk" albums ever recorded and still stands the test of time like a lot of their contemporaries didn't.  Although the music on First Issue probably sounds less like the cliche that "punk" has come to represent at this point in time it really is a much better representation of what it should mean.  First Issue was never originally released in 1979 due to Warner Brothers feelings that it wouldn't move enough units because it sounded weird.  It is still not available for purchase in the United States which is a shame.


1 comment:

  1. Love your take on the tunes you love. Thanx for the posts. I can't unzip this though. Any ideas?

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