NC. I love early PIL more than I love my parents.

Schaal wrote:Only to be beat by "Religion"!

And now that I think about it, that entire album has no weak moments. Unusual.

I think everyone knows where I stand on this issue.

"Second Edition" is the perfect drug.

why, oh why does that have to sound so ridiculously self-referential?

all bullshit aside, I still haven't heard any album coming close to resembling this, and I know I never will.

Best non-LP moments from PiL:

Death Disco (12" Single) - Simply some of the most psychotic guitar shredding ever laid on tape. Keith Levene owns this track, even though everyone else really gives it their absolute all. From a production standpoint, the sound is truly astounding. You haven't heard this song until you've heard this version, all 6:48 of it.

1979 BBC Sessions, Maida Vale, with John Peel - Christ on a plate. "Poptones," "Careering," and "Chant," all in better versions than the ones that made it to "Second Edition." Highlights of each track: "Poptones" is far shorter, in a different key, and somehow manages to be even more hypnotically horrific than the original - maybe it's the massive reverb on Levene's guitar, which never sounded glassier. Check Lydon's handling of the ending. "Careering" is terribly intense, far longer than the original, with again some of the absolute finest playing Levene ever laid down on tape - on synthesizer this time. Allen Ravenstine would shit his shorts. "Chant" is exactly the same length as the original, but again, far more intense than the original was, due to the fact that Wobble's bass sounds like Gigantor's mating dance over Dresden and that Atkins takes the tempo at twice the original tempo. Overdubs were used, so I guess that ain't really live-in-the-studio, but who gives a shit when you get quality of this magnitude?

Home Is Where The Heart Is - One of PiL's Top 5 songs ever, probably at their most hypnotically dub-depressive. A masterpiece driven by one of the hugest bass sounds the band ever got in the studio - but, in a moment of supreme irony, Levene played the bass on the track; Wobble had already left the band at that time. Makes you wonder about "Flowers of Romance", don't it?

SecondEdition wrote:Best non-LP moments from PiL:

Death Disco (12" Single) - Simply some of the most psychotic guitar shredding ever laid on tape. Keith Levene owns this track, even though everyone else really gives it their absolute all. From a production standpoint, the sound is truly astounding. You haven't heard this song until you've heard this version, all 6:48 of it.

dammit. i saw this in the record store the other day but got the stooges self titled record instead.

krakabash wrote:
PIL ran out of musical ideas after 2 albums.

The Banshees just got better and better.

After the departure of John Mcgeoch,the Banshees started getting much worse.
McGeoch joined PIL in 1986.

242sumner wrote:After the departure of John Mcgeoch,the Banshees started getting much worse.
McGeoch joined PIL in 1986.

These are correct statements.

242sumner wrote:
After the departure of John Mcgeoch,the Banshees started getting much worse.
McGeoch joined PIL in 1986.

I agree as well. McGeoch was the main force holding the Banshees together as a serious musical outfit. With him, the band was far more than just a vehicle for Siouxsie to go crazy with her vampire girl shit.

However, I must say PiL did not benefit from his presence as much as the Banshees did. Just throw on "Happy?" if you need some evidence of that.

Why did John have to pinch musicians from his former followers?
Because their bands were better than his.

Yes, I'm reviving this topic.

This evening, I was in a bar waiting for my friends to finish getting hammered so we could finally leave and I could drive them home. I played pool and listened to the first three PiL records on my iPod all night.

It was a good night.

One of the greatest little groups, EVER.