Public Image Limited - Commercial Zone

Public Image Limited is difficult to explain even when you know the facts. Started with John Lydon, after leaving the Sex Pistols, and his buddy Keith Levene, an early member of The Clash, PiL, as it was abbreviated, was said to be a company, not a band. Despite this statement, they nonetheless performed and toured as a band and wrote songs which were released for public consumption. Jah Wobble, a childhood friend of Lydon's, was brought on as the bass player despite lacking any knowledge of how to play the instrument, although he did rather well for himself. Martin Atkins later became the drummer and blew people away on a regular basis. Jeanette Lee was also a member of PiL, although she worked with visual aids rather than writing music or performing. Eventually, everyone got fired or left on their own volition leaving Lydon the sole active member. PiL went from being corporate minded to being what would generally be identified as a late-eighties and early-nineties alternative rock-band. The band, or company, or Lydon, depending on how you like to think of PiL, hasn't recorded or released any new material since the early nineties, leading many to believe that it is over and finished, although Lydon has went on record to state that PiL is on "hiatus" and may eventually return. Since said "hiatus", he has released one solo album, in which he played just about every instrument and wrote every song, and is working on a second one when he's not doing whatever he normally does.

I hope I didn't come off rough about Lydon in my brief history of PiL as I actually like the guy. I think he's genuinely creative, interesting and intelligent, despite what many people say or what his "public image" says about him. That said, as obvious as it may be that PiL would never have existed without him, the participation of ex-members Keith Levene, Jah Wobble and Martin Atkins is just as important and should not be discounted. Keith is just as essential, if not more so, to the origins of PiL than Lydon, and his playing and use of then-new technologies like samplers inspired a lot of the post-punk and post-rock sounds coming out of the early eighties. He is also the party responsible for the existence of "Commercial Zone" as we know it.

In 1981 and 1982, PiL had reconvened to begin recording a new album. Lydon had a role in a film called "Copkiller" starring Harvey Keitel and began writing a piece named "The Slab" which was later renamed "The Order Of Death" to possibly be used in the film, or at least that's what is commonly accepted at the truth. During this period, Lydon and Atkins were doing more of the writing and production on the new recordings, leaving Levene out or removing his contributions. Levene, understandably, was not happy with this and decided to leave the band, but not before making off with a copy of the masters for the then unfinished album. He tried to get Richard Branson, head of Virgin Records, to release the material as the new PiL album, but Lydon intervened and Branson refused, leading Levene to move back to the US and release it there as "Commercial Zone". Lydon and Atkins were furious, claiming they owned the rights to the recordings which they probably did. Levene didn't seem too bothered by it and, when the then-current PiL lineup decided to release their new album, "This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get" in 1984, Levene reissued "Commercial Zone" as a limited edition release with a slightly altered track order and at least one song shortened. PiL successfully forced "Commercial Zone" out of print permanently shortly after it's reissue, but it became fodder for bootleggers and mythical to anyone interested in the band, Lydon or Levene.

What I'm posting here today is a copy of the original issued version of the "Commercial Zone" album. I quite enjoy this album and feel it's a shame it most likely won't ever see an official release, but there are high quality copies floating around so at least we have those. I am also posting a collection of unreleased recordings from this same period of time that showed up online in 2006. Initially, this collection consisted of a live show from an unknown date, a rehearsal for the 1983 lineup's tour, and the aforementioned unreleased recordings which are clearly from the same era as the recording of the "Commercial Zone" album. Some of the tracks are alternate versions of the CZ tracks, many of them are untitled instrumentals. There has been speculation that these CZ tracks and instrumentals may have been intended for the "Copkiller" film, but this has never been verified. There is an alternate version of the "This Is What You Want..." track "1981" and the full "Flowers Of Romance" single despite it having been officially released. I've also included a track generally identified by fans as "Vampire", an instrumental featuring Martin Atkins' percussion with sound effects described by him as sounding like "dinosaurs". These sounds were achieved by Atkins recording the sound of him drinking bottled water and then slowing it down significantly. Also, this track was, for reasons unclear, included on the rehearsal recording, but is definitely a studio recording and actually dates from the "Flowers Of Romance" sessions. So calling this second collection "Commercial Zone Demos" or outtakes isn't quite accurate, since while the majority of them are from that period, several of them have nothing to do with that album, but the name sticks since that is what it is commonly referred to as online.

If you want to learn more about Public Image Limited, Lydon, Levene, Atkins, Wobble and anything else related to the PiL universe, I suggest you visit the astoundingly detailed Fodderstompf site. I'm sure you will find their details of the "Commercial Zone" debacle far more detailed than my own, but as I'm not running a PiL-specific site I think I can be forgiven. Enjoy!

Public Image Limited - Commercial Zone

01 Love Song
02 Mad Max
03 Bad Night
04 Solitaire
05 The Slab
06 Lou Reed Pt. 1
07 Lou Reed Pt. 2
08 Blue Water
09 Miller Hi-Life


Public Image Limited - Commercial Zone Demos and Outtakes

01 The Slab
02 Instrumental #1
03 Instrumental #2
04 Bad Night
05 Instrumental #3
06 Instrumental #4
07 Bad Night/Love Song
08 Instrumental #5
09 Instrumental #6
10 Instrumental #7
11 1981
12 Flowers Of Romance (Single Version)
13 Flowers Of Romance (Instrumental)
14 Vampire