Public Image – First Issue (1978)

Public Image: First Issue is the debut studio album by the English rock band Public Image Ltd, released on 8 December 1978 by record label Virgin. The album took 35 years to be released in the United States, following a canceled release in 1979.

Coming off of lead vocalist John Lydon's work with Sex Pistols, the album was a significant deviation from that band's straightforward punk style. While still featuring elements of punk rock, particularly on the song "Public Image", the album features excursions into dub, reggae, and Krautrock.

Upon its release, it reached number 22 in the UK Album Charts. Despite its modest commercial success, it was met with largely negative feedback critically, but received acclaim in retrospective reviews and is now considered one of the pioneering records in the development of post-punk, and is additionally regarded as a forerunner of post-rock music. It received Silver certification in the UK.

Background

John Lydon had helped popularize and pioneer Punk rock in the United Kingdom with his previous band, Sex Pistols. However, after releasing their debut album, Lydon became disillusioned with the band and the movement, famously saying at the end of their last concert, "Ever get the feeling that you've been cheated?"

Upon leaving the band after this concert, Lydon would search for musicians to form a new band, eventually recruiting Jah Wobble, Keith Levene, and Jim Walker.

Recording

"Public Image", the debut single, was recorded first. Recording started on a Monday in mid-July 1978 (most probably 10 or 17 July) at Advision Studios with engineer John Leckie and assistant engineer Kenneth Vaughan Thomas. For mixing and overdubs, the band then went into Wessex Studios with engineer Bill Price and assistant engineer Jeremy Green.

According to engineer John Leckie, "I [...] came down Monday morning from The Manor after a few hours' sleep to Advision Studios, a studio I hadn't worked in before [...] I engineered the session [...] Keith Levene took the multi-track tape home that night and came in the next day having forgotten it and accused me of stealing it! The track was pretty much a live take with Levene's guitar double-tracked. John Lydon did his vocal through a Space Echo, dub-style. I did a rough mix and went home. The next day the band never showed up and my rough mix was the record. I got no credit but Richard Branson did give me £250! It wasn't stressful, just a lot of fun!"

The other engineer, Bill Price, said something similar: "They'd recorded it and he wasn't quite happy, so he came to me to mix and do overdubs. Johnny was nominally in charge but he would look over his shoulder and ask Jah 'Is this the right direction?'"

On Saturday, 22 July 1978, the music press reported that the band had been in the recording studio; the following week, Virgin Records announced that PiL's debut single would be released on 8 September 1978.

After Public Image, the entire first side of the record was recorded in the autumn of 1978 at Townhouse Studios and The Manor Studio with engineer Mick Glossop.

The last three songs on the second side were recorded at Gooseberry Sound Studios, a cheap reggae studio used because the band had run out of money, with engineer Mark Lusardi and assistant engineer Jon Caffery. Lydon knew the studio from the recording of Sex Pistols demos in January 1977.

By late September 1978, the recording of the album was finished. The band had briefly considered including an alternative version of "Public Image" with different lyrics on the album, a plan that was finally rejected.

In November or December 1978, Wobble and Levene returned to Gooseberry Sound Studios to record a 12-inch EP, Steel Leg V. the Electric Dread, with guest vocalists Vince Bracken and Don Letts.

Release

The album was released on 8 December 1978. The album saw modest commercial success, peaking at No. 22 on the Official Albums Chart in the UK, and would later be certified silver in the UK. It would also chart in Australia and New Zealand.

In 1979, NME reported that a court in Malta had halted sales of the album because the lyrics of "Religion" offended public morals and decency.

Cancelled American release

On 9 February 1979, Warner Bros. Recording Studios in North Hollywood manufactured a test pressing of the album for PiL's American label, Warner Bros. Records. The album's sound was considered too non-commercial for an American release, and PiL were asked to re-record parts of it. Although the band recorded new versions of some tracks between March and May 1979, the album was never released in the USA. However, in 1980 Warner Bros. released the song "Public Image" on the compilation album Troublemakers, the only album track released in the USA until the 2013 release of the entire album.