tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post7991602591301218882..comments2024-03-29T00:12:48.217+01:00Comments on Die or D.I.Y.?: Public Image Ltd – "Commercial Zone" (PiL Records Inc. – XYZ-007) 1984Jonny Zchivagohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09859740264284241032noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-71162217615706069122022-12-27T17:45:09.412+01:002022-12-27T17:45:09.412+01:00PS The only thing that ever sounded decent on TIWY...PS The only thing that ever sounded decent on TIWYW, TIWYG was 1981, mainly because it sounded like a Flowers of Romance out-take, and then 30+ years later it was revealed that that was basically what it was (!) Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-89788416113051838482022-12-27T17:13:23.586+01:002022-12-27T17:13:23.586+01:00Great post/comments - excuse me being late to the ...Great post/comments - excuse me being late to the party. Speaking as one of those churlish gits who isn't easily pleased, can I just say for the record that I went to the London 'Metal Box in Dub' show and it was absolutely stunning. I agree that it sounds all wrong in theory but you had to be there, maaaaan! The Lydon soundalike wore a mask throughout so instead of being a visual distraction, his uncanny vocal resemblance simply became part of the instrumental mix. Rather than slavish recreations, most of the renditions stretched out the original songs in fascinating ways and Keef was on fire. RIP.<br /><br />On a separate note, although Commercial Zone sounds a tad insipid now, we should remember that it was unfinished and never intended to be released in that form. TIWYW, TIWYG sounds horrible in comparison but Biba Kopf's hysterical review is ludicrously wrong-headed. It's not that Lydon & co. were being lazy or simply didn't care - on the contrary, they're clearly trying really hard to put a new twist on the Commercial Zone songs. It's just a shame that the end results are vile.<br /><br />As for Kopf's dig: "For one whose chief pride has always been remaining true to yourself, I’m surprised your conscience so readily accepts your feeble reasoning. Just because you write a love song, there must be something wrong with the form? Obviously." Eh? It's called This Is Not a Love Song because it's not a love song. Is he thick or something?<br /><br />SJBAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-38964359875342300342022-12-06T21:24:20.704+01:002022-12-06T21:24:20.704+01:00I think Brian Wilson used those other musicians we...I think Brian Wilson used those other musicians well in the mid sixties, as did Mr. Wall of Sound, among others.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-55003118475724012552022-12-06T18:52:24.273+01:002022-12-06T18:52:24.273+01:00U2 have been dogged for years by claims that they ...U2 have been dogged for years by claims that they ripped off other Irish bands. My impression is that really people were just angry that of all the Irish bands of that era, they were the ones that got big...<br /><br />It must have been soon after that incident that G Ua L ditched that band and joined local rivals Microdisney. They were recorded live in 1980, and this was the result. <br /><br />https://youtu.be/UldHG_J7GDU<br /><br />You tell me if you can recognize that guitar sound...<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-52456410480396497872022-12-06T10:38:43.121+01:002022-12-06T10:38:43.121+01:00LOL!...good story.
People need to realise that hav...LOL!...good story.<br />People need to realise that having a guitar style is a lot different to having the latest effects before everyone else.Seeing those burks with two suitcases full of effects thinking no-one else is doing this moves my bowels...what ever happened to having ideas?...Then i glance down at my set up, a modern echo box permanently on Tape Echo setting, a cheap distortion pedal, and a Wah-Wah...and i laugh.....what are the odds that The Edge has the same set-up as me on the next...and hopefully last...U2 LP.Jonny Zchivagohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09859740264284241032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-25910848622697977102022-12-06T02:03:08.897+01:002022-12-06T02:03:08.897+01:00Ricky Dinneen, whose band played with U2, talking ...Ricky Dinneen, whose band played with U2, talking about nutball Cork guitar player Giordaí Ua Laoghaire: "Giordaí always used to use an echo machine, it had a kind of a spacey sound...We supported U2 and when they came back next time, The Edge was using all these echo effects. Giordaí mightn’t remember it, but I remember it well because we were watching them from up in the balcony…(laughs) ’look at that cunt, he’s taken my effect’." <br /><br />So there you go. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-9859422667558277402022-12-03T18:46:36.462+01:002022-12-03T18:46:36.462+01:00I love CM, its the direction PIL should have gone ...I love CM, its the direction PIL should have gone in, the last great PIL album was sadly Flowers, all since are dirge TBH. PIL were and could have been important without all the ego mania Drstockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17730428992491192285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-88682057583695943692022-11-23T21:51:56.349+01:002022-11-23T21:51:56.349+01:00Can't really add too much except Levene and Ly...Can't really add too much except Levene and Lydon do seem like nightmares to deal with while Wobble seems like a good bloke. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-51192609573692761992022-11-16T13:08:58.622+01:002022-11-16T13:08:58.622+01:00The Un-Pil gigs are something i could see myself a...The Un-Pil gigs are something i could see myself attending as entertainment.I may have even stayed longer than my usual 20 mins....no gig should be longer than 20 mins.<br /><br />The UK music press were rather good in my opinion,not letting pompous pop star twats get away with the shit they always get away with.Held to account for the impressionable public.<br /><br />I'm at a loss as to how on earth 'the Edge' always gets name-dropped as being Levene influenced...can't hear it at all.....maybe a bit of Dave Gilmour' echo response style in there,and the general post punk choppy shit with the same unaffordable, but affordable in 1980 effects that keith used from 1978 onwards....but no actual Keef in there.Jonny Zchivagohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09859740264284241032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-63024005373963893212022-11-16T06:08:52.320+01:002022-11-16T06:08:52.320+01:00I won't disagree that the un-PiL gigs were wro...I won't disagree that the un-PiL gigs were wrong on many levels, but it must have been deliciously satisfying for Levene and Wobble to show the world that Lydon could easily be replaced by a soundalike, just as he did when he sacked them.jonderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17768659223034248624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-16851689927426489662022-11-15T23:41:38.448+01:002022-11-15T23:41:38.448+01:00Thanks for reminding me how vile the UK music pres...Thanks for reminding me how vile the UK music press and its interlocutors in the 'musical' acts back in the day were.Fanny Blancmangehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02964032650365356796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-20540372933935331632022-11-15T23:37:26.804+01:002022-11-15T23:37:26.804+01:00Indeed, thanks to this blog for keeping music jour...Indeed, thanks to this blog for keeping music journalism how it should be *fistbump*:):)RabidRabbithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12588582897679740937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-90701777928220020482022-11-15T23:34:26.148+01:002022-11-15T23:34:26.148+01:00That's a fucking excellent review. I love scab...That's a fucking excellent review. I love scabrous when it's done with wit and inventiveness like that. Specially when the target's a deserving one, which, in hindsight, this one most certainly is.Richie Musternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-91404823849444993462022-11-15T22:14:25.612+01:002022-11-15T22:14:25.612+01:00Lou Reed parts 1 and 2 are the best of song titles...Lou Reed parts 1 and 2 are the best of song titles, especially in light of the lyrics. I was partial to this version of the LP at the time, and never came back to them.....I'm so very clever. Thanks for the postkevinessehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02009393923932953707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-29726340149025763992022-11-15T21:34:59.256+01:002022-11-15T21:34:59.256+01:00Genius? Dunno but Levene did pioneer that chorus/f...Genius? Dunno but Levene did pioneer that chorus/flange chiming guitar that everyone (the Cure, Siouxie etc etc) then copied and which eventually gave us U2 so maybe it wasn't such a good thing but heh Metal Box is a 'masterpiece' and the Flowers of Romance is unrepentantly bleak and half-baked and probably the most experimental thing to chart back then. I just watched some of the un-Pil gigs from the 2000s on YouTube in which Levene effortlessly plays all the guitar parts, Wobble looks a tad bored and some Rotten wannabe snarls along sounding pretty much like the real thing which is a mistake on so many levels. Philip Sandersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00170394572672030557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-20420826849462347222022-11-15T20:34:22.612+01:002022-11-15T20:34:22.612+01:00They do mediocre writing while praising Lester Ban...They do mediocre writing while praising Lester Bangs.northfieldhathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04219971856461258513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-71418715381956884602022-11-15T20:19:54.334+01:002022-11-15T20:19:54.334+01:00Doing "Anarchy In The UK" with a pub pia...Doing "Anarchy In The UK" with a pub piano on The Tube seemed like some kind of nadir of embarrassment in 1983, and nowadays seems quite funny. This stuff, on the other hand... When PiL worked they hit a groove of their own, and it's a pity the three of them couldn't stick together. But in the last few days I've seen at least one reminiscence of the late Levine being called a "cunt" by people who had to work with him.<br /><br />Biba Kopf was an alias for Chris Bohn, who also wrote under his own name for NME and Melody Maker. Maybe it was just for when he felt like insulting someone.Philip Johnsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-64132269123613952352022-11-15T19:05:04.540+01:002022-11-15T19:05:04.540+01:00Yes Rabid Rabbit, music journalism died along with...Yes Rabid Rabbit, music journalism died along with the art of Rock'n'roll.<br />Everything's great innit? In their pointless world.<br />I have yet to hear of a review in yer modern mags that actively slags off an artist,without mentioning a track of the group or album, for the danger of hurting someone's feelings.<br />It needs to be revived. I like to think i do something similar,and i wager no music mag would want me anywhere near it.....or I near IT!Jonny Zchivagohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09859740264284241032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-6786511469972843352022-11-15T15:11:49.035+01:002022-11-15T15:11:49.035+01:00Man, I kind of wish I lived in the days when music...Man, I kind of wish I lived in the days when music magazines could publish stuff like that review. Even Pitchfork now seems to have become rather bland :) RabidRabbithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12588582897679740937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-17017076711791904422022-11-15T14:09:54.107+01:002022-11-15T14:09:54.107+01:00Indeed.....never trust the advice of a professiona...Indeed.....never trust the advice of a professional,my father told me. Anything that depends on sales and sale-ability brings nothing but misery.<br />As for musicians....ergh! Jonny Zchivagohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09859740264284241032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624282421125812337.post-11878487181692238222022-11-15T13:00:02.652+01:002022-11-15T13:00:02.652+01:00I believe what made it worse was the use of
profe...I believe what made it worse was the use of <br />professional musicians. They ruin everything.<br />It's somehow like seeing a comedy performance <br />where you know all the punchlines. No spark.northfieldhathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04219971856461258513noreply@blogger.com