Metal Box

Description

On 28th October, PiL will reissue the seminal albums Metal Box and Album. Metal Box was the bands second album, originally released on 23rd November 1979 and Album was their 5th studio album and was originally released on 3rd February 1986, marking 2016 as its 30th anniversary.

The albums will both be issued as 4 vinyl LP super-deluxe box sets. The editions will include rare and previously unreleased material along with a live disc. The vinyl edition will include a download card for all tracks on the CD versions. Metal Box will be issued in a square metal tin (the 1979 original was issued in a round metal film canister) with an embossed PiL logo. Album will be issued in a square card box with de-bossed artwork. Both super-deluxe editions will include a 72 page booklet together with an exclusive poster, art-prints.

With all lyrics written by John Lydon Metal Box was recorded with original PiL members Keith Levene and Jah Wobble. Original drummer Jim Walker had left, to be replaced by a succession of drummers. Metal Box came out less than a year after PiLs debut Public Image: First Issue yet it was nothing like its predecessor. Things had changed, and so had PiL. While outside pressures mounted PiL channeled their energies (negative and positive) into a record that would set them apart back in 1979, and indeed today in 2016. Whether it be Johns powerful and passionate vocals; Keiths wailing guitar and melodic synths; Wobbles sub-disco reggae basslines; or the crashing rhythm that holds it all together, Metal Box has many strengths. The album was originally released as 3 x 45rpm 12 singles, housed in a metal film canister. As made by The Metal Box Company in Londons East End; hence the name. The deluxe edition includes rare and unreleased mixes from the recording sessions, along with B-sides and BBC sessions, plus a live recording from a now legendary unplanned show at Factory Records Russell Club in Manchester arranged on the day of a Granada TV appearance.