Friday, 17 November 2017
733 Goodbye Public Image Limited - Cruel
Chart entered : 22 February 1992
Chart peak : 49
After their initial hit with "Public Image", PiL became the post-punk group par excellence veering off into experimental music with the knowledge that John Lydon's name ensured it would sell. "Death Disco" and "Flowers of Romance" remain landmarks of avant-garde weirdness in the history of the chart nearly forty years later. The band was very volatile though and drummer Jim Walker left after the first album. David Humphrey and Richard Dudanski , who'd been in the 101ers with Joe Strummer, were brief replacements before Martin Atkins became settled in the seat. In 1981 Jah Wobble left the group so their album that year "Flowers of Romance" contains few bass parts. Peter Jones replaced him in 1982 and they began recording a new album but the group split in two and there were effectively two versions of the album "Commercial Zone" released under Keith's name, supported by Peter and "This Is What You Want.. This Is What You Get " by PiL , now just John and Martin. Out of this chaos came their biggest hit "This Is Not A Love Song" in 1983. Martin left two years later and for 1986.s "Album" the band was just John with session musicians. He recruited John McGeoch ( Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Visage, The Armoury Show ) , Lu Edmonds ( The Damned ) , Bruce Smith ( The Pop Group, The Slits ) and bassist Allan Dias ( Uropa Lula who released a decent single "Our Love Has Just Begun circa 1982 ) to tour the album and they stayed on to record the next. Lu left due to ear problems in 1989. Bruce left in 1990 and was replaced by American Kurt Bisquera. Since "Album" , public interest in the band had steadily declined. In the first of a series of appearances on The Word in 1991, he admitted he was feeling the pinch through lack of sales
"Cruel" was the trailer single for their eighth album "That What Is Not" . It seems to be a celebration of female power with references to Cleopatra and the suffragettes. The music is fairly conventional guitar rock with a bright sheen from producer Dave Jerden. John flits between his trademark atonal wail and Mark E Smith-style declamations. The chorus consisting of dog-like yelps of the title is the only real hint of their experimental past. It's acceptable leftfield rock but they weren't kicking over the statues anymore.
It's actually one of the weaker tracks on the album that followed. "That What Is Not" . Apart from the demented synth-pop of closer "Good Things" it's an out and out rock set. "Luck's Up", a song which must at least be partly about Sid is the closest they came to revisiting the Pistols' sound and is actually preceded by a sample from God Save The Queen. John L's anger is still intact on songs like "Think Tank" , a riposte to punk historians particularly Jon Savage but there are times when John M's music is so melodic and attractive that you wish John L would try and sing a few lines for once. Throughout the album there's an underlying sense of melancholy, notably on "God" where he takes stock of his standing, a resigned acceptance perhaps on John L's part that it was time to wind up the operation . The commercial performance of the album reinforced this, just two weeks in the chart peaking at 46. There were no more singles and PiL shut up shop.
The following year he reappeared as the guest vocalist on a dance track "Open Up" by the electronic duo Leftfield. They let John write his own lyric , a diatribe against the film industry, and it was credited to Leftfield Lydon. It reached number 13. He also published his autobiography up to the demise of The Sex Pistols, No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs. It was well received although that couldn't be said of some of his TV appearances around this time. His last appearance on The Word sporting a ridiculous hairstyle was a complete embarrassment and he was skewered by Terry Christian's acid comment "It's sad when your punk heroes turn into pantomime dames".
Three years later the original line up of the Sex Pistols reunited for the Filthy Lucre Tour in a blaze of publicity ( can it really be over two decades ago ? ) with John not denying it was for the cash. A live version of "Pretty Vacant" reached number 18. They toured again to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002. "God Save The Queen" charted again but didn't get anywhere near Number One that time round. There've been subsequent tours in 2003, 2007 and 2008.
On the back of the Filthy Lucre tour, John released his only solo album "Psycho's Path" in 1997. The jaunty "Sun", a song about missing Britain which sounds vaguely similar to Paul Simon's Boy In The Bubble made number 42, his last appearance in the chart with a new recording. The album itself , made in his own basement studio, is a lo-fi electronica set of songs evoking a muted discontent. Despite Virgin appending a set of remixes , largely by Leftfield , to the album it failed to chart.
With interest in his music at an all-time low, John settled into being a media personality. He had a radio show in the US for a time. He appeared on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here in 2004 eventually being ejected for describing the audience as "fucking cunts " an incident which at least wiped the smile off those two smug gits' faces for a moment. Despite that he got to front a number of wildlife programmes on the back of it. He appeared on Judge Judy when a tour drummer sued him for unpaid earnings. In 2008 he appeared in a series of ads for Country Life butter.
John used the earnings from that to resurrect PiL. Lu and Bruce answered the call along with session bassist Scott Firth. After 18 months touring, they went into Steve Winwood's Cotswold studio to record a new album "This Is Pil" released in 2012. It's not classic PiL by any means , far too long for a start . The opening title track wastes four minutes reminding you whose record you've just purchased and the closer "Out of the Woods" puts a nursery rhyme chant about Civil War General Stonewall Jackson to what sounds like the Psycho Killer bass line for nearly ten interminable minutes. The other thing that immediately strikes you is how much time has eroded the power of John's voice, leaving him sounding strangely like Goodie-turned-birdwatcher Bill Oddie. His inability to recreate those trademark howls is not necessarily a bad thing forcing him down interesting avenues like a Jamaican accent on "One Drop" and, at long last, a genuine attempt at singing on "Fool", not entirely successful but a brave effort. There are some good tracks such as "Deeper Water" and "Terra-Gate" and the nostalgic reverie for England that suddenly erupts from nowhere in the middle of the dreary "Human" is probably the most affecting thing he's ever recorded. It got to number 35 here and 50 in the States.
John became a US citizen in 2013.
In 2014 , John was slated to appear as Herod in a US tour of Jesus Christ Superstar but his presence didn't prevent it being cancelled due to poor ticket sales.
2015 saw the release of another PiL album "What The World Needs Now" which is a weaker effort than its predecessor. What songs there are, as opposed to repetitive chants, are tepid and dreary. All the bad language in the world - and "Shoom" consists of little else - isn't going to compensate for a shortage of ideas. The closer "I'm Not Satisfied" has some power as a defiant howl against the decline of his physical powers but on this evidence his creative powers are going the same way.
John M largely withdrew from the music industry after PiL split up and tentative projects with Heaven 17's Glenn Gregory and Spandau Ballet's John Keeble failed to get off the ground. In the mid-nineties he re-trained as a nurse though he also did some occasional music for TV. He died in his sleep in 2004 aged just 48. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the post-punk era and having hits with five different bands must be a fairly unique achievement.
Allan was having problems with drugs and drink. He returned to the USA , got clean and was last heard of as a club DJ in New York.
Kurt picked up his career as a session drummer and remains much in demand.
Jah's had a varied career since leaving the band. He got back together with Jim in a band called The Human Condition who toured in 1981-2 but never got a record deal . He collaborated with ex-Can members Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezit on the former's solo albums in the early eighties. He released an album of lo-fi indie music "Bedroom" in 1982. The following year he got together with Czukay and U2's The Edge to release the mini-LP "Snake Charmer" on which he stepped up to the mike as lead vocalist, sometimes doing a fair impersonation of his former employer. It's an eclectic, uncommercial record to say the least mixing world music.,Japan's oriental funk and on "Sleazy", which Jim co-wrote and played on, eighties electrofunk.
By the mid-eighties, Jah was a skint alcoholic. He was forced to dissolve his band , Invaders of the Heart , give up the booze and take up a series of day jobs including an announcer for the London Underground where he is alleged to have declared "I used to be somebody" over the tannoy.
Jah reformed Invaders of the Heart in 1987. They toured in 1988 and started releasing albums in 1990. Jah's long standing interest in world music started to pay off and in 1992 he had a minor hit with the slinky Indian -flavoured funk of "Visions Of You" helped out by Sinead O' Connor . He signed with Island in 1993. His success with 1994's album "Take Me To God" was one of the most unlikely comebacks of the decade. It yielded two minor hits "Becoming More Like God" which is in the same vein as the previous hit and "The Sun Does Rise" a jolly Afrobeat number sung incongruously by The Cranberries' Dolores O'Riordan. The lengthy album reached number 13 in the charts. He followed it up with the experimental "Heaven and Earth" which brought both his time on Island and his acquaintance with the charts to an end. He set up his own label 30 Hertz and has followed his own muse since then including an album of Celtic poetry, English folk , collaborations with his Chinese wife and a reunion with Keith. He declined to rejoin PiL in 2009.
Keith moved to L.A. in 1985 and worked as a producer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ice T. He soundtracked the movie Hollywood Vice Squad in 1986. Various Peppers helped him record his first solo LP "Violent Opposition" . Keith's not much of a songwriter so it consisted of early industrial instrumentals and perplexing covers including Double Barrel and Cold Turkey. It didn't sell. He came back to London and worked with Glen Matlock for a while in The Mavericks but realised he didn't want to be in a band situation again. Keith has sporadically released music since then most notably the EP "Yin & Yang" in 2012 after reconciling with Jah and playing some gigs under the name Metal Box in Dub. The EP is a decent attempt to recreate the classic PiL sound.
Martin initially resurrected Brian Brain, a project he'd started during a temporary absence from the line up in 1980, with ex-Go Go bassist Margot Olivarra and her husband Geoff Smyth. They released the mini-LP "Fun With Music" in 1985, comprising four tracks of tuneless drum-heavy chant songs. Their LP "Time Flies When You're Having Toast" in 1987 is more of the same its mix of Talking Heads and Shriekback punk-funk being hard on the ears at album's length. He packed up Brian Brain in order to join Killing Joke in 1988, playing on one album, 1990's "Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions" before leaving in 1991.
Martin also toured with Ministry in 1989 as a second drummer. While on the tour he teamed up with their regular drummer William Rieflin to form the industrial duo Pigface featuring a revolving cast of guest musicians. Pigface have so far released six albums of uncommercial industrial music. Rieflin bailed out after the first one Gub leaving Martin in charge.He has also made records with various offshoots from Pigface such as The Damage Manual, Rx and Opium Jukebox and dabbled in bhangra and Chinese music. In the noughties he has set himself up as something of an expert on touring and has given lectures at music colleges on the subject.
Richard helped out The Raincoats on their 1981 Album "Odyshape" and played with the reggae punk fusion band Basement 5 before they got a record deal. In 1988 he married a Spanish girl and emigrated to Granada.Richard has played in local bands and organised a charity concert after the death of Joe Strummer. A couple of years ago he published his memoir Squat City Rocks.
David went on to play with Mike Oldfield and Sparks then left the music business for a considerable time. He is now a drum tutor running his own school, Blue Drums.
After his collaborations with Jah, Jim went to university in the States and did a course on film making. He is said to have done documentary and soundtrack work but there isn't much of a footprint until a film called Dark Journey earlier this year.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Wobble apparently (may well still do) live just down the road from me in Bramhall. Not sure of the truth of that!
ReplyDeleteFor me, Pil's finest moment is "Album", which I mainly put down to producer Bill Laswell. Without that firm hand at the wheel, Lydon often veers too much to produce a consistently satisfying album, and I include "Metal Box/Second Edition" in that - as sublime as it can be in places, there's a couple of duff moments in there too.