| Metal Box 1979 Virgin Records Ltd All words and music by Public Image Ltd. Published by Copyright Control Virgin Music (Publishers) Ltd Tracklist 1 - Albatross (10.34) 2 - Memories (5.05) 3 - Swanlake (4.11) 4 - Poptones (7.46) 5 - Careering (4.32) 6 - No Birds (4.41) 7 - Graveyard (3.07) 8 - The Suit (3.29) 9 - Bad Baby (4.30) 10 - Socialist (3.09) 11 - Chant (5.01) 12 - Radio 4 (4.24) |
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| Metal Box... it was PiL's idea that the album be packaged in a metal container. The three 12'' singles came out in a metal film cannister type design, with the PiL logo embossed on the lid. Fantastic to look at, but the 12''s are rather difficult to remove from the container, and they are only seperated by thin circular paper not sleeves so the records can be damaged quite easily. Metal Box was released on November 14, 1979 and was limited to 50,000 copies. With cost over runs in production the lyric sheet was scrapped, so John insisted on a full page advert in the NME with all the lyrics. Tear it out and stuff it in the can! The sound of this album is the absolute best, with the original vinyl release having a far superior sound to 'Second Edition' and the later CD reissues due to it's 12'' 45rpm design.The insert card was changed at the minute to state PiL are, John Lydon, Keith Levene, Jah Wobble, Jeanette Lee and Dave Crowe - Richard Dundanski is not mentioned although he only left the band 4 weeks prior. |
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| John Lydon,Jah Wobble and Keith Levene. |