The Flowers of Romance Public Image Ltd.

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Vinyl LP - Reissue

  • Release Date: 06/09/2009
  • Original Release: 1981
  • Sales Rank: 76,934
  • Label: 4 MEN WITH BEARDS
  • UPC: 646315151817

Listener Rating: (2 ratings)

Detailed Rating: "Stimulating" See All

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CD$8.09
 
  • Overview
  • Tracks
  • Editorial Reviews
  • Customer Reviews
  • Details & Credits
Track List
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The Flowers of Romance

1LISTENFour Enclosed Walls 4:45
2LISTENTrack 8 3:14
3LISTENPhenagen 2:40
4LISTENFlowers of Romance 2:51
5LISTENUnder the House 4:32
6LISTENHymie's Him 3:18
7LISTENBanging the Door 4:49
8LISTENGo Back 3:46
9LISTENFrancis Massacre 3:32
10Flowers of Romance Instrumental 2:51
11Home Is Where the Heart Is 7:33
12Another 3:51

About this Artist

Editorial Reviews

As opposed to the axis of throbbing bass and guitar slashings of Metal Box, The Flowers of Romance is centralized on razor-sharp drums and typically haranguing vocals. No dubwise grooves here -- bassist Jah Wobble was kicked out prior to the recording for ripping off PiL backing tracks for his solo material. And growing more disenchanted with the guitar, Keith Levene's infatuation with synthesizers was reaching a boiling point. His scythe-like guitar is truly brought out for only one song. Stark and minimal are taken to daring lengths, so it's no surprise that Virgin initially balked at issuing the heavily percussive record. "Four Enclosed Walls" opens with something of a mechanical death rattle and John Lydon's quavering warble, framed by backwards piano and Martin Atkins' spartan, dry-as-a-bone drumming. His rapier-like drums seem to serve a similar purpose to Levene's guitar on Metal Box. An unsteady drum pattern and fragile, wind chime-like guitar from Levene shape "Track 8," a bleak look at sexual relationships. Lydon adds color with pleasant imagery of Butterball turkeys and elephant graves. "Under the House" and "Francis Massacre" are the most violent tracks due to Atkins' machine gun firing and Levene's chilling atmosperics. Lydon lashes out at zealous fans on the only bottom-heavy tune, "Banging the Door": "The walls are so thin/The neighbors listen in/Keep the noise down." Perhaps the band's most challenging work (in the avant garde sense), it's just as "love it or hate it" as Metal Box; it'll either go down a treat or like a five-pound block of liverwurst. [The UK version adds three bonus tracks: an instrumental version of "The Flowers of Romance," "Another," (essentially "Graveyard" with vocals) and "Home Is Where the Heart Is." The latter two can be found on Plastic Box.] Andy Kellman, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

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  • Ratings: 2Reviews: 2

The Record Company "Hated" Itby Ivan-the-Terrible

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August 10, 2009: Spring 1981. The music world evolved quickly at the dawning of the decade. Punk was all but dead. New Wave had taken over the "alternative" side of music, riding a crest of popularity and creativity that was never again to be matched. Some of the best of these new bands, like Talking Heads, were striking that ever-elusive double payoff in the music business: breaking deeper into the pop mainstream, while at the same time taking huge creative leaps (and risks).

Not Public Image Ltd. The band's future was in doubt through much of 1980, when they struggled to record FLOWERS OF ROMANCE. Expectations had been high, after the worldwide success and acclaim that followed the landmark double LP METAL BOX in late 1979. However, squabbles over money, missing master tapes, and departing band members, were all huge distractions for a band already infamous for its laziness (they played only three shows in 1979). By late 1980, with original bassist Jah Wobble, and drummer Jim Walker gone, PiL faced a stark choice: it would either fold into the dustbin of rock history, or reincarnate into another creature altogether.

1981's FLOWERS OF ROMANCE was Lydon's first (of many) attempts to soldier on with new band members. Martin Atkins takes over the drum kit, and does it very well. Where METAL BOX was anchored around Jah Wobble's unforgettable basswork, FLOWERS OF ROMANCE is all percussion. "Four Enclosed Walls" opens with a pounding beat, and goes on that way for a full five minutes, without any other instrumentation save Lydon's caterwauling to "Allah". There's no way it should work, and yet, it does.

In that way, FLOWERS OF ROMANCE is a record oozing with it's own dark atmosphere. Many bands have tried their best to sound as foreboding and daring as this (listen to the haunting undercurrents on "Track 8" or "Under The House"), but only PiL could pull off a sound at once so antimusical and at the same time so compelling.

Guitarist Keith Levene, who had proved himself so capable on METAL BOX and FIRST EDITION, spends much of the record on the keyboards (save for a staggering, stumbling guitar solo at the end of "Track 8"). The chilling chords, with Atkins' precise drum work, and Lydon's wailing, all come together in nightmarish cohesion. It's not just that Lydon's lyrics for the record were misanthropic, or nihilistic, it's that, coupled with the horror-movie backing sound, the finished package is one of the darkest and most totally unique entries in the annals of rock and roll.

The sound of the record is a step up from METAL BOX, and certainly from the garage-like sound of FIRST EDITION. The drum sound is especially compelling, driving every song forward with an inexorable will. Lydon's voice will never be considered a "singer's", but his work here could not suit FLOWERS OF ROMANCE any better.

After months of delays, FLOWERS. . . was released in the spring 1981, to almost totally negative reviews. It's a brief album, at only 33 minutes with nine songs (three bonus tracks on the British version). This brevity adds to the record's overall potency.

This was PiL's last classic record. Levene would depart in 1983, and Atkins a year later, leaving only Lydon and his thrown-together backing band to go on. By that time, circa 1985, PiL was a mere nostalgia act reduced to performing old Sex Pistol's songs. The dream/nightmare was over.

This review was written about the CD edition.

Deliciously Apocalypticby Anonymous

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October 18, 2006: This is an often over-looked and under-rated album from John Lydon's 2nd band. Though previous efforts from the group were driven by Jah Wobble's throbbing bass grooves -- he has been excised here. Not to worry, since this is perhaps their darkest, heaviest release. Lydon's lyrics are at their most sinister and the tracks are uniformly characterized by their loud, apocalyptic drums. Not always the easiest album to listen to but rewarding if you're brave enough to give it a shot.

This review was written about the CD edition.