Public Image Ltd.* – The Flowers Of Romance

Strip away Wobble's dubby bass - the very backbone of PiL- leave in Lydon's voice over heavy beats with guitar and synth shadings. Except for Atkins' bass drum, TFOR is almost all treble. Banging The Door comes closest to more familiar PiL territory, with a bassline and Levene's synths. A stark, bold album informed by nascent hip hop and electronic doings. But you really gotta be in the mood.

outstanding pressing ! punchy and good sound stage and instrument separation !

Ever heard the adage, "a band can only be as good as it's drummer"?. Well this one is a genius. Let him steer the ship, and put John Lydon's voice and couragous vision on top, and you've got a unique, nighmarishly brilliant disc.

I found this for a song in a 2nd hand bin with a slightly scuffed/worn cover (no obi) but not a click or pop on the disc. My goodness this Japanese pressing is fantastic - the pressing is dead quiet and the music is bright, dynamic and punchy. The drums are immense. A masterpiece of creative, experimental music.

Who ever bought this 4 men with beards Piece of trash for $80 is a complete sucker.

Imidiately in my TOP records of all time - 10 out of fat 10.

You've got to deliver an album to the record company, but your "band" consists of only two people: one a vocalist with no formal musical training, the other a guitarist who apparently is losing interest in the guitar. Solution? Get creative, and that's exactly what the remnants of PiL did on "The Flowers of Romance." John Lydon, Keith Levene and occasional guest star Martin Atkins (who would soon become a full-time member of the group as Lydon froze Levene out) cobbled together bits of synthesizer noodling, digital samples and relentless drum rhythms into a coherent, if not always listener-friendly, whole. There's one track on which PiL almost sound like a band again ('Go Back,' which has a live-in-the-studio ambience but was actually tracked, with Levene playing both guitar and drums) and another that's a pretty good facsimile of the dark, claustrophobic "Metal Box" vibe ('Banging the Door')...but the album's masterpiece, and the track most representative of its strange, challenging sound, is 'Under the House.' Layers of frantic percussion topped with a haunted-house lyrical chant, it's four and a half minutes of unrelieved tension that every fan of avant-garde postpunk should hear.

Three stars for listenability; five for making the best use of limited resources.

If I knew how to drive I'd love to blare this on my car stereo with my windows down just to prove a point.

Listening to this on a Pro-Ject Essential III through two Sonos Play5s w/sub and it sounds fantastic. Am curious now to hear the 1st press for comparison, but copies are scarce in the US.

According to Rate Your Music, the Disky pressing of the CD (VI 646422) was released in 2001.