PiL
managed to avoid boundaries for the first four years of their existence, and
Metal Box
(issued in the U.S. as
Second Edition
) is undoubtedly the apex. It's a hallmark of uncompromising, challenging
post-punk
, hardly sounding like anything of the past, present, or future. Sure, there were touchstones that got their imaginations running -- the bizarreness of
Captain Beefheart
, the open and rhythmic spaces of
Can
, and the dense pulses of
Lee Perry
's productions fueled their creative fires -- but what they achieved with their second record is a completely unique hour of
avant-garde
noise
. Originally packaged in a film canister as a trio of 12" records played at 45 rpm, the bass and treble are pegged at 11 throughout, with nary a tinge of midrange to be found. It's all scrapes and throbs (dubscrapes?), supplanted by
John Lydon
's caterwauling about such subjects as his dying mother, resentment, and murder. Guitarist
Keith Levene
splatters silvery, violent, percussive shards of metallic scrapes onto the canvas, much like a one-armed
Jackson Pollock
.
Jah Wobble
and
Richard Dudanski
lay down a molasses-thick rhythmic foundation throughout that's just as funky as
's
Czukay
/
Leibezeit
Chic
Edwards
Rodgers
. It's alien
dance
music.
might not be recognized as a groundbreaking record with the same reverence as
Never Mind the Bollocks
, and you certainly can't trace numerous waves of bands who wouldn't have existed without it like the
Sex Pistols
record. But like a virus, its tones have sent miasmic reverberations through a much broader scope of artists and genres. [
was issued in the States in 1980 with different artwork and cheaper packaging under the title
; the track sequence differs as well. The U.K. reissue of
on CD boasts better sound quality than the
CD.] ~ Andy Kellman