DESPITE THE neat packaging, which unites the twin peaks of PiL's career - the seminal new-wave industrial-dub epic Metal Box and the solid, generic Album - there's something about the band that remains fundamentally ill- suited to the retrospective box format. It's the antithesis of the rebellious spirit they once personified. In the way it smoothes the group's spiky iconoclasm with historical pomposity, it's like a turkey voting for Christmas.
This four-CD set does, however, illustrate the classic trajectory of all rock groups, the way that inspired enthusiasm erodes over time into formulaic obligation - a process John Lydon satirised by recording 1984's dismal This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get album with session hacks.
Notwithstanding the later lapses into drab proto-grunge riffing, the demeanour is, for the most part, pleasingly prickly and abrasive - mostly courtesy of Lydon's voice, which remains impressively idiosyncratic. It's hard to think of another artist in any field (apart from maybe Francis Bacon) who has operated at such a pitch of aestheticised disgust for so long.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments