Anarchy?
Methinks not. Irony, probably. There are not many "unofficial" releases about to flood the market 20 years on from the last release by John Lydon's post-Sex Pistols outfit, the abbreviated Public Image Ltd.
The corporate name is no longer a gag: this is Johnny Rotten resuscitating a brand due a commercial revival, apparently using the money he made exhorting us all to consume butter. It is capitalism, captains of industry, and pretty much as we've always known it. The timing of the release – coincident with another Royal Jubilee and as the band leader turns DJ as part of the BBC's Punk Britannia season – is surely far from accidental. Hence the anti-corporate look of the sleeve and Lydon's childlike artwork. It suggests PiL-by-numbers and that is what you get from the opening title track, which echoes the first, self-named Public Image single. Never shy of stating the obvious, John Lydon of London introduces himself and his gauche wordplay, and guitarist Lu Edmonds, bassist Scott Firth and drummer Bruce Smith provide the semi-metal dubby instrumental backing. As someone else said, the difference between being in the groove and in the grave is just a matter of depth.
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