Metal box
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| Studio album by Public Image Ltd. | |||||
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Virgin Records Island Records Warner Bros. Records |
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Title (number) |
10/12 |
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running time |
60:29 |
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Studio (s) |
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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Metal Box is the second studio album by the British rock band Public Image Ltd. and was launched on November 23, 1979 in the eponymous film canister in Great Britain. The international release took place as a double album in the gatefold cover under the title Second Edition .
publication
In Great Britain Virgin Records released the album in 1979 as a metal box on three 12 ″ singles (45 rpm ) in a gray tin can with a circulation of 60,000 copies. The international sales partners Island Records and Warner Bros. Records dispensed with this expensive packaging and delivered the album with the title Second Edition as a double LP (33⅓ rpm) in a conventional record sleeve. On February 22, 1980, the Second Edition followed for the British market. In 1986 the album was first released on CD. In 2006 it was reissued as a limited collector's edition with 3 LPs in a replica of the metal can, followed by the Metal Box with 3 CDs in 2009 . In 2016 Virgin Records released the album as a "Super Deluxe Edition" with 4 CDs in a metal box. In 2015, Second Edition appeared in Japan as an SACD .
background
Public Image Ltd. combined influences from Krautrock (especially the German band Can ) and avant-garde with elements of punk , dub , industrial , funk , ambient and noise on Metal Box . The album is characterized by Jah Wobble's deep bass lines and Keith Levene's metallic sounding guitar. For singer and songwriter John Lydon , the experimental album meant the definitive departure from his media image as the front man of the Sex Pistols .
“A restlessness that is difficult to explain fills the whole album. In “Careering” a bass line fought hard against an almost unbearable pile of electronic screams. “Radio 4” sounded like ' Muzak ' from across the grave, and “Bad Baby” told a strange, exciting story amid heavy limbo drums, bass and the roar of Casio synthesizers. Most disturbing was the horrific drama of "Poptones" with its endless, cyclical guitar sequence, the effect of which was a nightmarish déjà vu . "
Metal Box was recorded between March and October 1979 with changing drummers. David Humphrey was replaced early by Richard Dudanski, who in turn left in September 1979 and was replaced by Martin Atkins.
The original single format of the album refers to popular releases in the disco and dub scene.
Swan Lake is based on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake . As an alternative version of Death Disco , the song was released as a single .
Track list
All songs are penned by Public Image Ltd.
Metal box
page 1
- 1. Albatross - 10:34
Page 2
- 2. Memories - 5:05
- 3. Swan Lake - 4:11
Page 3
- 4. Poptones - 7:46
- 5. Careering - 4:32
page 4
- 6. No Birds - 4:41
- 7. Graveyard - 3:07
page 5
- 8. The Suit - 3:29
- 9. Bad Baby - 4:30
page 6
- 10. Socialist / Chant / Radio 4 - 12:34
Second edition
page 1
- 1. Albatross - 10:34
- 2. Memories - 5:05
Page 2
- 3. Swan Lake - 4:11
- 4. Poptones - 7:46
- 5. Careering - 4:32
Page 3
- 6. Socialist - 3:09
- 7. Graveyard - 3:07
- 8. The Suit - 3:29
page 4
- 9. Bad Baby - 4:30
- 10. No Birds - 4:41
- 11th chant - 5:01
- 12. Radio 4 - 4:24
reception
| source | rating |
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| Allmusic |
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| Rolling Stone |
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| Pitchfork |
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| New Musical Express |
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| Uncut |
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| Music Express |
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The album is one of the most important releases in the genre of post-punk and received consistently positive reviews. Rolling Stone ranks it # 461 of the 500 best albums of all time and Second Edition # 76 of the 100 best albums of the 1980s. Metal Box ranks 229th of the 500 best albums of all time in the New Musical Express selection . Pitchfork voted Second Edition # 19 on the 100 best albums of the decade.
“Some tracks drag on until the almost industrial grooves penetrate the listener while the baffles move closer and closer. But in the middle of this cacophony there are wonderfully unusual sounds - the weird “Careering” and the urgent “Poptones”. First and foremost, however , Metal Box is a record whose atmosphere is dictated by the title: cold, damp, relentless, underground. This reflects the mood of the musicians: falling into ever deeper drug addiction, burned out from chaotic tours. It was actually the sound of a band with no future, although the harsh structures and powerful tones that they discovered on their way down should influence experimental music for decades. "
Metal Box was included in the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die .
Web links
- official homepage
- Metal Box / Second Edition at Discogs
- Metal Box at Allmusic (English). Retrieved June 9, 2020.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Public Image Ltd .: Full Official Chart History on Official Charts Company (accessed June 9, 2020)
- ↑ Metal Box: Lifting The Lid On Public Image Ltd's Seminal Second Album on UDiscoverMusic.com (accessed June 9, 2020)
- ↑ a b Review by Andy Kellman on Allmusic (accessed June 9, 2020)
- ↑ Schmidt-Joos, Siegfried u. Kampmann, Wolf (Ed.): Rock-Lexikon 2, 2nd edition, Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag Hamburg 2009, p. 1406.
- ^ Buckley, Peter (ed.): Rock Rough Guide, 2nd edition, Verlag JB Metzler Stuttgart / Weimar 2004, p. 637.
- ↑ PiL's sonic sorcery can't work without Levene and Wobble on The Guardian (accessed June 9, 2020)
- ↑ Review by Rob Sheffield on Rolling Stone (accessed June 9, 2020)
- ↑ Review by Simon Reynolds on Pitchfork (accessed June 9, 2020)
- ↑ Review by Keith Cameron on NME ( Memento October 15, 2000) (accessed June 9, 2020)
- ↑ Review by Neil Spencer on Uncut ( memento September 15, 2017) (accessed June 9, 2020)
- ↑ Review by Harald Inhülsen, in: Musikexpress 03/1980, Edition 290, p. 46/47.
- ↑ 500 Greatest Albums of All Time on Rolling Stone (accessed June 9, 2020)
- ↑ 100 Best Albums of the 1980s on Rolling Stone (accessed June 9, 2020)
- ↑ The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time on NME (accessed June 9, 2020)
- ↑ The Top 100 Albums of the 1980s on Pitchfork (accessed June 9, 2020)
- ↑ Dimery, Robert (ed.): 1001 albums - music that you should hear before life is over, 8th edition, Edition Olms Zürich 2015, p. 442.