dce@hammer.UUCP (David Elliott) (08/17/84)
A couple of days ago, while whipping though the channels on TV, I chanced
upon the new Public Image Ltd. video for "Bad Life" on MTV (starring
John Lydon's lips). Well, I figured, if there is a new PiL album, I'd
better find it. I got lucky. There are two new PiL albums: "Commercial
Zone" on Virgin (UK) and "This Is What You Want/This Is What You Get"
on Electra (US).
The albums show two very dictinctive sides of PiL. "Commercial Zone"
is produced by Keith Levene and pretty much stars Keith. John is there
only as the vocalist. The album cover is blank, and the music is very
sparse ("Let's see how many of us can NOT play together").
On the other hand, TIWYWTIWYG is produced by John Lydon and Martin Atkins
and Keith is nowhere to be found. There are horns, synthesizers, lots
of effects, and lots of John's newfound "singing" talent, reminiscent
of the "Live in Tokyo" album released last year. This is the "funky"
side of PiL. The album cover is very garish (John wearing one of those
ties with a girl in a bathing suit on it).
One interesting thing about these two albums is that they have three
songs in common: "Bad Life" (called "Mad Max" on CZ), "(This is not a)
Love Song", and "Solitaire".
Recomendations : If you liked the early PiL albums, get "Commercial Zone".
If you like the new version of "Bad Life" (from the video) or liked
"Live in Tokyo", get "This Is ...". If you aren't sure, buy either,
neither, or both. I don't care, I'm rich.
David