#461 – Public Image Ltd., ‘Metal Box’

Metal Box (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Released: March 23, 1979
Label: Virgin Records (UK), Warner Bros. Records/Island Records (USA)
Genre: Post-punk, experimental rock
Producer: Public Image Ltd

If recent past experiences were anything to go by, I shouldn’t have liked Metal Box, but happily I do. Comparing it to Bunnymen’s Heaven Up Here, there’s more of a point to this album, more anger, more grit, more punk and less self-indulgent nonsense, and this is a much better listen. Don’t get me wrong, this is a dense, self-indulgent, moody, wanky record, but it’s hard not to love the sheer fuck-you of it all. The synth sounds are interesting, the bass is deep and the guitars crash like all hell. John Lyndon/Johnny Rotten’s voice is brilliant – what a sneer.

The fuck-this attitude extends to the concept of the original packaging (ergo the record’s title): a three-record vinyl set, coming in a metal canister, à la a film reel, the records’ so tightly packed that you’d scratch them taking them out, and each side containing only 10 minutes of music so you’d have to constantly change the record to listen to it. There was talk of the album being presented in a sandpaper case, which would wreck anything it was stored next to but this was shelved. Absolute gold.

Top tracks: The opening “Albatross”, all 10 minutes it, and I like “Socialist” with it’s randomised space sounds, and the contemptuous “The Suit”. But “Radio 4” is gorgeous: a diamond in the rough, it’s so British somehow, a bit ageless, sweeping and mournful but still uplifting and a little bit perfect.

This week: Christmas parties have come and gone and it’s days not weeks until Christmas and a short break. New Year’s resolutions will be next. Did I make any this year? How’s my year been? Methinks a retrospective is called for. Oh, and that’s thirty forty albums done!

#463 – Echo and the Bunnymen, ‘Heaven Up Here’

Released: May 30, 1981
Label: Korova
Genre: Post-punk
Producer: Hugh Jones, The Bunnymen

I have a dear friend who loves Echo and the Bunnymen. In fact, from what I’ve heard, it’s probably her favourite band. So it’s with trepidation I write this. It’s easier to dumbly criticise music when no one who you really like really-likes it.

To my friend, and to anyone, know this: this project is as much about learning about music than it is about anything. I used the work criticise before, but that’s the wrong word. Being critical infers an authority, and that I don’t have when it comes to music. But I did preface it with ‘dumbly’… So maybe it’ll be the right word for my writing when we get to the pointy end of this list, but it’s not right now and it’s not right yet.

Now, perhaps this just wasn’t the right time for this kind of music (and so I wonder what thats says about my mental health when I was listening to The Smiths..) but this record is a monumental drag, and unless you need to come down from a massive high or you’re looking for something to play alongside your suicide, then I’d say avoid this like the plague. Stylistically I can see where this came from, but man, this is really, really depressing stuff. Don’t expect anything that you can sing along with or much that you’ll want to remember.

Sorry friend!!