Melody Maker, February 1992
© 1992 Melody Maker
PiL:
Cruel
(Virgin)
OH, gawd. PiL have been a negligible musical force since Jah Wobble left them way back in the Middle Ages or whenever it was, and it always surprises me that they continue to bother. Over a mildly pleasant but unsurprising tanned and bleached riff, Lydon does his cabaret turn, lurching sarcastically between mock-operatic, elongated falsetto and a sudden, snide baritone. A couple of years back, John Lydon told The Maker "I'm a threat to the majority and always will be". It's difficult to imagine in what world this record represents a disturbance, or what preconceptions it challenges. Lydon still seems to address us all as if we're Bill Grundy though, as his current round of interviews will doubtless show, he s grown up into as shrewd and charismatic an old darling as ever bagged a two-page colour spread.
Perhaps he should retire and set up a consultancy service for aspiring, post punk ironicists. As it is, this is more Carry On Johnny. Did Sid die for this? (Sid James, that is).
© n/a