Q Magazine, June 1989
© 1989 Q Magazine
PUBLIC IMAGE LTD:
9
(VIRGIN V2588) LP/Cass/CD ****
PiL's seeping chill
by David Sinclair
For all his wry image-mongering
and cantankerous disclaimers, there is no doubt that John Lydon is now
intent on cutting it on a strictly musical level. The band on '9'
comprises the same line-up which he assembled as long ago as 1986 to tour
the 'Album' album, although guitarist Lu Edmonds, his hearing
completely shot, was forced into early retirement after this recording.
Accordingly, Lydon has developed a more sophisticated rapport with these
musicians than he has with any previous grouping. Instead of simply applying
his voice like a blow torch against the grain of whatever is going on
behind it, which has tended to be his method in the past, his phrasing
and pitching now act in much closer sympathy with the musical environment.
And what an environment these guys provide. Building on the foundations
laid down by the 1987 album Happy?, guitarists Edmonds and John McGeoch,
bassist Alan Dias and drummer Bruce Smith have welded together an intricate
framework of sprightly rhythms and brooding post-Gothic rifferama that
glides past with all the poise and menace of a battleship slicing through
choppy seas.
Lydon continues to give the songs blunt comic-speak titles - Disappointed,
Warrior, Spit, Worry, Armada and Happy (no question mark) - and to construct
Iyrics that hang together like snippets of conversation overheard in a
milling crowd. The texts of these sinister litanies are peppered with
dense clusters of sneering cliches: 'Why does the devil have all the good
tunes?", "I take no prisoners", "Pride goes before
a fall", "Beggars can't be choosers", 'What are friends
for?". During one of the standout tracks, the sketchy, neurotic USLS
the phrase "The bomb is planted in the luggage hold" suddenly
pops out of nowhere, and a seeping chill sets in.
People say that Lydon has sold out, but that is to confuse the cleaner
textures of the music with a sweeter intent. On the contrary, he has picked
up a scalpel where once a kitchen knife would do.
© n/a