Public Image by Public Image Ltd.
It didn't take Johnny Lydon a lot of time to move from punk to post punk. And tbh, for me Never Mind The Bollocks is one of the top 100 albums ever so nothing PIL ever made was going to top that but this first album is a decent although very chaotic beginning.
There are very good songs here like the title track and Annalisa but a spoken word tirade like Religion I is not what you would call an interesting song and of course the long last filler track is always gonna be a laugh and nothing much more.
But this is definitely a landmark album especially if you've got a great guitar player like Keith Levene (who I don't know otherwise) and a great bass player like Jah Wobble (if you don't believe listen to his dub classic How Much Are They) and if you're able to both embrace dub, noise while still maintaining the punk spirit. The album goes from the 58th tot 46th rank; still fairly low because there is too much clutter here.
It's already a bit I introduced a theme in these rounds so I will try to listen to as many PIL albums I can take. I only own the first Issue and Second Edition (sorry I mean Metal Box) and I want to listen to at least two more but I'll see if I can take on more.
An album on my wishlist:
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Bloodbrothers by The Dictators
And now to a band who kept on playing punk also on their third album. While they do play brash sounding punk, the songwriting is a bit subpar here on many of the tracks. Songs like Stay With Me are played so enthusiasticly that they can't be bad but unfortunately this isn't true for others like Baby, Let's Twist or Minnesota Strip. All in all OK but nothing more so it ends up at the 40th rank of the year.
An album I already know (part of my playlist on Apple Music):
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Metal Box by Public Image Ltd.
This is the second album in my listening session to PIL and it already sounds completely different from the first album since it is a lot more dub-influenced while still maintaining its utter weirdness. And in fact The Swan Lake is the best example of that as the band succeeds in completely turning around this classical piece in something chaotic of their own and still sound interesting. But of course again this album is a mixed bag of silliness and genius. Again a must have and it rises from the 58th to the 40th rank but it will never be one of my absolute favorites.
An album from my wishlist:
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A Different Kind Of Tension by Buzzcocks
I already knew most of this album but by listening to it, I more and more realise that this is one of my favorite punk bands although it's clear they're much more than that. The cinematic guitar sound even sounds a bit like Marquee Moon Television from time to time. The band just seems to sound in their greatest form here with numerous positive outliers like the first three tracks, Raison D'être, Hollow Inside and especially I Believe. This album immediately 7th rank and is already a semi-classic to me.
Last edited by dihansse on 01/25/2023 20:52; edited 1 time in total
A Different Kind Of Tension by Buzzcocks
I already knew most of this album but by listening to it, I more and more realise that this is one of my favorite punk bands although it's clear they're much more than that. The cinematic guitar sound even sounds a bit like Marquee Moon Television from time to time. The band just seems to sound in their greatest form here with numerous positive outliers like the first three tracks, Raison D'être, Hollow Inside and especially I Believe. This album immediately 7th rank and is already a semi-classic to me.
Ace Of Spades by Motörhead
One of the quintessential Motörhead albums with at least two quintessential songs: Ace of Spades itself of course which still remains a beast of a track, and We Are The Road Crew (with an even better version on No Sleep...). And two tracks which nearly match that: The Chase Is Better Than The Catch and The Hammer. So no wonder that the album goes from the 5th to the 4th rank of my favorite albums of 1980.
An album on my wishlist:
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Gyrate by Pylon
I didn't find this album on Apple Music so had to revert to Youtube. They're a band from Athens, Georgia but were more the predecessors of the B-52's (the little screams are vintage B-52's, but also the use of those whistles and the dance sound in general) than of R.E.M. (although they covered them on Dead Letter Office). The other great asset of the band is the bass sound. A good one for my top chart of 1980 at the 25th rank.
I didn't find this album on Apple Music so had to revert to Youtube. They're a band from Athens, Georgia but were more the predecessors of the B-52's (the little screams are vintage B-52's, but also the use of those whistles and the dance sound in general) than of R.E.M. (although they covered them on Dead Letter Office). The other great asset of the band is the bass sound....
Interesting... What happens if you click on the Apple Music page for that album directly? Pylon recently signed with New West Records for reissues (i.e., for their Career-Spanning Box Set), and New West's European distribution is handled by PIAS Group, and PIAS Group is based in Belgium, so I can't imagine there would be a licensing problem over there. But who knows, these days!
As for the rest, the B-52's actually predated almost everybody in the Athens, GA indie scene, including Pylon — but Pylon actually claimed to have been inspired more by New York-based "No Wave" bands. I rather doubted that myself, but quite a few people back then did have the No New York album, including me. It might be fair to say they had a "vaguely no-wave sensibility," but also wanted to "sell a few records." Oh, and I agree about the bass sound — some people will tell you that all started with J.J. Burnel of the Stranglers, but a lot of bass players were using compression and distortion pedals back then, and they couldn't all have been Stranglers fans.
Ouch, I clicked the page and found it on Apple Music so I suppose I didn’t look hard enough;
and of course, especially the first album of the B-52’s pre-dated this one I had never heard of. It was a nice discovery and thx for the additional info.
These are the albums I listened to of 1981 (and by the way: I gave up on PIL: I started listening to The Flowers Of Romance and thought it was really worthless to the point that I would be really surprised if they made anything good after that: tell me if I'm wrong).
An album I already own:
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Tin Drum by Japan
Gentlemen Take Polaroids will always be my favorite but this is a good second. Songs like Visions Of China is really good and so are a few others but they can sound fairly boring on tracks like the long Sons Of Pioneers or Canton. But all in a good album which rises from the 43rd to the 33rd rank.
An album on my wishlist:
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Tom Tom Club by Tom Tom Club
Wordy Rapping Hood and Genius Of Love are really good and so is As Above, So Below. The rest is a bit filler but nevertheless an album worth having in my 1981 top chart at the 42rd rank.
...(and by the way: I gave up on PIL: I started listening to The Flowers Of Romance and thought it was really worthless to the point that I would be really surprised if they made anything good after that: tell me if I'm wrong).
Well, they hired John McGeoch in 1986, so starting with the Happy? album they were at least respectable.
New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) by Simple Minds
This is an album I grew up with so very difficult to just shrug off the fact that it is fairly dated. I still love Someone Somwhere In Summertime and the title track and most of the other hits, because this album is full of it and it even goes from the 43rd to the 22nd rank of the year.
An album on my wishlist:
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Shabooh Shoobah by INXS
I can imagine that, as an Australian who grew up with this album, that you might really love it. But I only know them from their latter albums so the only thing I hear is a band which is still looking for its own niche (which they would find later). The only track which is good, and in fact really good, is the very catchy Don't Change but that's not enough to make me want this one in my to chart.
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