PiL's Flowers of Romance: C/D

back dat abyss up

yeah Flowers sounds like it's all up in the abyss's guts IMO

I don't think it's as good as Metal Box...but I think it's close and perhaps even braver.

God, Lydon is so unhinged on this with the weird UK yowl half gone arabic...crazy ass vocal performance....

I know, I know, but can we see it on You Tube?

what, the abyss?

now that you mention it, watching youtube *is* kind of like staring into the abyss

when you stare into the youtube, the youtube also stares into you

youtube comments make the abyss seems like caddyshack

There really should be a DVD of all of JR's TOTP Appearances.

Definitely my favorite PiL album, by a wide margin. I love Wobble elsewhere (like with Czukay) but don't find I miss him with Ltd.

Starts off Classic, but palls after a while, Lydon's melodic limitations are rather exposed

tevs geir jr!

LOL, but it is amelodic and rhythm dominate, to coin a phrase

pulled this out for the first time in a long while cos of this thread, it wails!

all the songs seems like they're a year long even tho they're all ~3 mins, but then the endings all seem very abrupt

Levine's electronics on this record are superb.

I don't know, I think a lot of that has to do with the obvious lack of Wobble -- his bass is 'supposed' to be there, it isn't, therefore it seems unfinished. Taking it on its own terms isn't easy (maybe isn't entirely feasible?).

was thinking about this thread of missing wobble - I love wobble's playing on metal box but I'm not sure if his bass is 'supposed' to be there on the flowers of romance?

always thought both "albatross" and "four enclosed walls" were perfect lead off tracks on their respective albums, laying down the rules of engagement. "four enclosed walls" is just drums + vocals + odd noises, and it's a complete song - when I listen to it and I don't think there's anything missing, in fact it's quite perfect.

I only pull this out every once in a while, but every time I do, it really hits the spot.

35 years old today

So fucking good

35 years old today

Wow, really?! I had no idea when I revived. . .

this is embarrassing, but i scored a cheap copy of flowers of romance yesterday, then got home and realized i bought the 12" single. no wonder it was $8. :(

I saw DJ Shadow do his "pass me a record and I'll mix it" routine at Other Music a few years ago. Somebody passed him Flowers of Romance, and he didn't get anywhere. After a couple minutes of fussing with the crossfader, he handed it back, flustered, and said something like "I'm not into that."

surprised he couldn't do anything with Atkins' drums on "Four Enclosed Walls"...I mean, that bass drum

/I saw DJ Shadow do his "pass me a record and I'll mix it" routine at Other Music a few years ago. Somebody passed him Flowers of Romance, and he didn't get anywhere. After a couple minutes of fussing with the crossfader, he handed it back, flustered, and said something like "I'm not into that."/

surprised he couldn't do anything with Atkins' drums on "Four Enclosed Walls"...I mean, that bass drum

I was thinking the same!!

My mate was looking for a nice phono amp for his system and brought a bunch of records to the store to test out, of which one was this. It was a sweet setup, probably a $20-30k demo system in one of those acoustically treated rooms, no angles, just a couch, etc.

This record sounded ungodly.

As if I had never heard it before, my reaction was "so THIS is what John was going for!"

Not that you need that kind of environment to appreciate it, but it helped reveal a different aspect.

It's not really a good album but I appreciate it as gesture. Context matters too: at last night's Pearl Jam show it played -- LOUDLY -- over the PA system.

it = title track

I remember buying this on the first day and taking it home and playing it.

How to make an album that's minimal, but huge at the same time.

I was marginally disappointed that the "Pied Piper" lineup didn't do more stuff, but then PIL have a whole bunch of "didn't do a lot" about them, up to "Commercial Zone"

It took close to 30 years, but this album finally clicked for me.