- Audio CD (31 May 1988)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: Virgin
- ASIN: B00000733Q
- Other Editions: Vinyl | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 51,658 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
after the sex pistols fragmented, johnny rotten reverted back to his real name (lydon) and set about carving a pistols-free and lot more experimental musical path. so, along with old pals jah wobble and keith levene, plus newly recruited drummer martin atkins, lydon formed public image ltd, or 'pil' for short.
released in 1978, 'first issue' (or 'public image', i don't know) is part one in the trilogy of pil's best albums (which, coincidentally, are their first three albums).
musically, there are some ties with the past, especially on the bouncier numbers, such as the single 'public image'. but for the most part, the newly-made pil trademarks are already there: lydon's sneering has been replaced by agonizing shrieks and howls and the drums sound like machine gun shots. keith levene's guitar work is all scratches and slashes, razor-sharp riffs. but the true star here (yeah, take a step back, john) is bassist jah wobble. there's a famous quote of his: "nobody listened to the bass in rock music before pil." gone are the times when the bass was just some quiet boom in the background. as soon as you hit play, wobble's signature low-end dub rumble comes at you from all sides, the grooves rattling the walls and shaking your senses.
'first issue' is basically an album of bleak, claustrophobic noise rock, with subtle inflections of dub and even disco (that would become even more obvious on the next album). the journey begins with the nine-minute dirge that is 'theme'- "I WISH I COULD DIIEEEEE!" screams lydon. you'll either become entranced or get bored swiftly. 'religion I & II' is lydon's voice chanting out the evils of religion, first completely solo, then reprised with instrumental backing. the pace picks up for the ever-so-slightly reggae-sounding 'annalisa', signalling for the brutal barrage of the next three songs: the single 'public image' (lydon nags the punk fans for not getting it), 'low life' (lydon mercilessly puts down malcolm mclaren) and 'attack'- well, i dunno what this one's about, but it's still good. the album concludes with it's strangest track, 'fodderstompf', an inkling of what was to come next. keith levene swaps his guitar for synthesizers, creating a disco-esque rhythm track, while wobble's bass pulses away. it's a seven-minute jaunt with the band members trading cynical and frequently very funny snipes and jabs, their voices distorted and high-pitched, repeating their mantra "we only wanted to be loved!". it all ends gloriously with lydon spraying a nearby fire extinguisher into the mic.
the pistols were good, in fact they were great, but pil are the real thing. after you've got the pistols album, get this one and get ready for a shock. it's a great album, and the next one's ('metal box') even better. wobble left after that, and from there everything started to slide a bit (unsurprisingly), but the first album they made without him ('flowers of romance') was still pretty good.
public image ltd- the real john lydon...
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Early PiL is, without a doubt, immensely greater than the mess that became the band in the late 80's, early 90's. Jah Wobble, Keith Levene, Jim Walker and John Lydon never got on splendidly, but they could really put an album together well, and formed the best PiL line-up that there ever would be. Album opener "Theme" is an 8-minute epic that few people have ever heard......you will either lose yourself in the solid wall of hypnotic noise, or very quickly press the skip button. The two Religion songs are interesting, the first seeing Lydon reciting a powerful and cynical prayer, before backing it up solidly with the second song featuring a gritty, bone shaking guitar riff. The bouncy "Annalisa" keeps things moving well, and the tragic "Low Life" (based on the now dead Sid Vicious) adds a more personal side to this album. The roaring classic "Public Image" is a perfect, exciting song that hits home immediately and makes you love it, on-pain-of-death. And finally the grating "Attack" and the pointless "Fodderstompf", which has some nice banter but will not be listened to more than once, the two songs that keep this album from 5/5 status. Altogether though, a thrilling, underated album.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
John Lydon was 22 years old and almost certainly reeling from the media traumas inflicted upon him following the aftermath of the Sex Pistols when he recorded this blistering effort under the moniker of his new band, Pil.
Harrowing and hilarious in turns,from the euphoric trashing of the past in 'Public Image' to the hysterical dub-psychosis of 'Fodderstompf',Pil's first album is often a suffocating and discordant pleasure best sampled with the headphones on or blasting out in the small hours with the neighbour thumping on the ceiling below..Keith Levenes gyroscopic, shrill guitar lines blurred with Jah Wobble's doom laden bass with Lydon's mocking, detatched vocals cutting through the middle make this an unforgettable experience.
Critics claim second effort 'Metal Box' is the superior effort , but Pil's first release acts as a startling statement of intent that resonates today..never mind the bollocks, heres Pil..
Harrowing and hilarious in turns,from the euphoric trashing of the past in 'Public Image' to the hysterical dub-psychosis of 'Fodderstompf',Pil's first album is often a suffocating and discordant pleasure best sampled with the headphones on or blasting out in the small hours with the neighbour thumping on the ceiling below..Keith Levenes gyroscopic, shrill guitar lines blurred with Jah Wobble's doom laden bass with Lydon's mocking, detatched vocals cutting through the middle make this an unforgettable experience.
Critics claim second effort 'Metal Box' is the superior effort , but Pil's first release acts as a startling statement of intent that resonates today..never mind the bollocks, heres Pil..
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Truculent
I've recently been listening to Pil's half-decent The Greatest Hits... So Far. It reminded me that the adjective that perhaps best summarises the back catalogue of this... Read more
Published 1 month ago by S. Bailey
hypnotizing
I believe people overrate this because they know a priori it comes from John Lydon. I am a HUGE fan of the Pistols (I even have been at the Filthy Lucre concert years ago) but this... Read more
Published 8 months ago by F. Panin
Memories; who needs them?
Blasting out an accapella impromptu version of Religion to an assembled mass of born again in 79 Chelmsford. Read more
Published on 24 Mar 2010 by Dr. Delvis Memphistopheles
A new world
In 1979 the Sex Pistols still had singles released on the back of the rock n roll swindle film.I liked them as an impressionable 13 yr old as a kind of cartoon band. Read more
Published on 2 Sep 2009 by D. L. Wilkinson
Simply spiffing old chap!
Frankly the band never did anything better. The occasionally delusional grandeur of 'Metal Box' and the subsequent descent into, err, pop, makes it difficult to look back on this... Read more
Published on 4 Sep 2007 by See Why
PIL's debut offering...
Following his departure from The Sex Pistols, Johnny Rotten became John Lydon and hooked up with Keith Levene (briefly in The Clash), John Wardle (more commonly known as Jah... Read more
Published on 15 Jun 2005 by Jason Parkes
pil
This album is fantastic!
Wobble's bass, Levene's guitar and John's voice!
Check out Low Life, would have made a killer single!!!
Wobble's bass, Levene's guitar and John's voice!
Check out Low Life, would have made a killer single!!!
Published on 26 Aug 2004
rotten returns
Coming straight after the Sex pistols,John Lydons PIL were a different animal altogether.The band wern't interested in the conventional punk noise and instead opted for a more... Read more
Published on 22 Sep 2001
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