Monday's Long Song

 

A couple of years ago Jah Wobble released with Metal Box-Rebuilt In Dub! an unexpected album. 42 years after the first release with PIL he took the songs and reworked them. The result was a reinterpretation of post punk classics. Most of the songs were composed around his phenomenal bass lines and supplemented with sawing guitars and a little piano.

He deliberately refrained from replacing John Lydon's voice, which, in combination with Wobble's monotone, made the original work so incomparable at the time. A highlight of the album is Swan Song, in which he has integrated the music of Tchaikovsky's famous ballet into his sound. Still disturbing but wonderful.

Jah Wobble - Swan Lake

Alone In Fear

The recent days I was informed that The  Lucid Dream, one of the leading figures in UK psychedelic from Carlisle, will release their upcoming fourth album in October. Their sound was always a mixture of Acid House, dub and cosmic Krautrock. Their new single is a techno-punk inspired little monster. Of course you can hear that they learned by Underworld's Born Slippy but you can also find elements of Primal Scream. And the singer sounds like an angry John Lydon in the days of Rise.

Songs From The Heart

John Lydon's post-punk band Public Image Ltd. turns 40 years old these days. The Public Image Is Rotten (Songs From The Heart) is a 5 disc/2 DVD set is a compendium of a self-explanatory of their singles, B-sides, sessions, mixes , dance track and unreleased tracks. It comes also with a live concert from 1989. I didn't have this box yet but I take it for a reason to post some songs by a band that made the most weird sound in the late 70's. The songs from their first albums are still remarkable and worth listening again after all this year. Johnny's crazy voice, Jah Wobble's unbelievable bass lines and a cutting guitar makes this sound so unique.

Public Image Ltd - Public Image
Public Image Ltd - Death Disco
Public Image Ltd - Flowers Of Romance

Holger Czukay 1938 - 2017

Yesterday the news arrived that one more Krautrock-legend passed away. A few months ago we heard that Jaki Liebezeit, probably one of the best drummers of all time passed away and now Holger Czukay passed away as well. As far as we know yet he was found in the rooms of studio after a few days when he died. It is not necessary to talk much about him and his influences to artists like John Lydon, Jah Wobble, David Sylvain, Mark Hollis and even The Edge. He called himself the universal dilettante because he was never trained to master an instrument perfectly although he could played a lot of instruments proper. He was one of those who discovered the possibilities of samplings, adding loops together and always searching for new electronic sounds.

RIP Holger

If you have the nerve and time you can listen to a live concert from 1970 in Soest, Germany with the first appearance of Can's singer Damo Suzuki.

Swan Lake

35! years ago Public Image Ltd. released their second recording, well known as the Metal Box. Sadly I didn't own the original packing with the 12-inches but it is still a classic recording in the post punk era. When the record was released it sounded like nothing compared to past, present and the future. Weired guitars by Keith Levine, a gigantic dub-inspired bass by Jah Wobble and the cryptic lyrics by John Lydon makes this record remarkable for everything before and after.

Public Image Ltd - Swan Lake