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Metal Box

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Untitled
Metal Box opened


Metal Box is the second album by Public Image Ltd. and released in 1979 by Virgin Records. The title refers to the album's original packaging, which consists of a metal 16mm film canister embossed with the band's logo and containing three 12" records. The album was reissued in 1980 as a double album titled Second Edition.

The production of Metal Box was key to the highly abstract, avantgarde nature of this album, characterized by a huge low-end bass sound inspired by dub music, a unique, "metallic" guitar sound (guitarist Keith Levene played aluminium-constructed guitars), and amplified by the sonic impact of the original release format as 12", 45rpm records. Template:RS500

Recording Sessions

  • March-May 1979: "Albatross" and "Death disco" were recorded with new drummer Dave Humphrey at The Manor Studio in Shipton-on-Cherwell. Additional tracks were recorded at Townhouse Studios in London, namely "Beat the drum for me" (which later turned up on Wobble's first solo album) and a new version of "Fodderstompf" (which became the b-side of PIL's "Death disco" 12" single). Drummer Dave Humphrey left the band around mid-May 1979.
  • May-June 1979: "Memories", "No birds", "Socialist" and "Chant" were recorded with new drummer Richard Dudanski at Townhouse Studios in London.
  • summer 1979: the instrumental "Graveyard" was recorded at Rollerball Rehearsal Studios in Bermondsey, PIL's rehearsal studio, with drummer Richard Dudanski. For the b-side of PIL's "Memories" single vocals were added at The Manor and the track re-titled to "Another". Dudanski left the band around mid-September 1979.
  • summer(?) 1979: "The suit" was recorded as a solo track by Jah Wobble at Gooseberry Sound Studios in London, vocals and some overdubs were added at The Manor.
  • September-October 1979: "Pop tones" and "Careering" were recorded without a drummer at The Manor and Townhouse Studios, with Levene playing drums on "Pop tones" and Wobble on "Careering".
  • October 1979: "Bad baby" was recorded with new drummer Martin Atkins at Townhouse Studios.
  • October or November 1979: "Radio 4" was recorded as a solo piece by Keith Levene at Advision Studios and an unknown second studio. According to Levene this was the last recorded track.

Packaging

The Metal Box packaging was innovative and surprisingly inexpensive, costing little more to the label than the cost of printed sleeves for equivalent 12" releases (although Virgin did ask for a refund of 1/3 of the band's advance due to the cost[1]). After an initial release of 60,000 units, the album was re-released in 1980 as Second Edition, a double LP with a gatefold sleeve.

The original metal canister idea caught on a few years later during the compact disc era. By the late 1980s a number of CDs were packaged in metal canisters, including Prince's special edition of the Batman soundtrack. In 1990 the concept came full circle, with the compact disc release of Metal Box employing a smaller version of the original metal canister, containing a single disc and a small paper insert.

The Second Edition sleeve art consists of distorted photographs of the band members, achieving a funhouse mirror effect. (The front cover is a photo of Keith Levene.) The lyrics are provided on the rear cover; these were originally printed in a magazine advertisement and not included with Metal Box. The band initially wanted the album released with a lyric sheet but no track titles; the United Kingdom version of Second Edition appears as the band intended, with lyrics on the back cover, but no titles, and "PiL" logo labels on all four sides of the vinyl. The American edition of Second Edition has track titles both on the back cover and the labels.

Personnel

A paper insert lists PIL's members as "John Lydon - Keith Levene - Wobble - Jeanette Lee - Dave Crowe," though the latter two individuals were the band's videographer (though no videos were produced for the album) and accountant, respectively.

PIL didn't have a permanent drummer at the time of recording, so the drummers are uncredited. Later interviews with the people involved have established the drummers to be: David Humphrey (tracks 1 and 3), Richard Dudanski (2,6,7,10,11), Keith Levene (4,12), Jah Wobble (5,8), Martin Atkins (9).

Levene played all instruments on "Radio 4".

Track listing

Metal Box

The track listing for the original release is as follows:

  1. "Albatross"
  2. "Memories"
  3. "Swan Lake"
  4. "Poptones"
  5. "Careering"
  6. "No Birds"
  7. "Graveyard"
  8. "The Suit"
  9. "Bad Baby"
  10. "Socialist"
  11. "Chant"
  12. "Radio 4"

"Swan Lake" is an alternate version of the earlier PiL single "Death Disco".

"Graveyard" is an instrumental version of "Another", the B-side of the "Memories" single.

Second Edition

The track order is slightly different from that of Metal Box ("Socialist" and "No Birds" are swapped). Also, this configuration inserts pauses between some tracks, whereas Metal Box did not.

Second Edition employed a gatefold sleeve.
  1. "Albatross"
  2. "Memories"
  3. "Swan Lake"
  4. "Poptones"
  5. "Careering"
  6. "Socialist"
  7. "Graveyard"
  8. "The Suit"
  9. "Bad Baby"
  10. "No Birds"
  11. "Chant"
  12. "Radio 4"

Notes

  1. ^ Reynolds, Simon: "Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984", page 216. Penguin Press, 2005.
  • Fodderstompf (fan-based site with extensive discographical information)
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