Public Image Ltd. ‘First Issue’ (Light In The Attic)

John Lydon was just a few months past the Sex Pistols breakup when Public Image Ltd.’s 1978 debut, “First Issue,” wrote the stylistic talking points for the post-punk movement. If the Sex Pistols reacted to rock’s more progressive-minded tendencies by reducing it to short, sharp shards of filth and fury, “First Issue” tacitly acknowledged that punk was possibly too reductive and that artful music and brutality could go hand in hand. Deemed too noncommercial for an American release by Warner Bros., the band’s domestic label, “First Issue” finally gets a proper issue after 35 years thanks to archive specialists Light In The Attic, complete with a long, unedited October 1978 interview with BBC Radio One.

Coming from a provocateur who stirred up the establishment by ripping on Led Zeppelin and the Beatles, the former Johnny Rotten’s opening “Theme” was shockingly epic, a howling, swirling dirge powered by drummer Jim Walker’s Bonzostyle bashing. The snarl that Lydon employed so devilishly in the Pistols had become a wail. Lydon, bassist Jah Wobble and guitarist Keith Levene get to the serious business with a triad of classics: “Annalisa,” “Public Image” and “Low Life.”

The original pressing of “First Issue” ended with “Fodderstompf,” which lives up to its name, featuring Wobble and Lydon shrieking “We only wanted to be loved!” for nearly eight minutes over a tinny disco beat. It was an act of deliberate, time-wasting provocation, which also describes much of Lydon’s tone in the included hourlong, unexpurgated BBC Radio One interview. But then Lydon starts swinging late in the conversation, taking huge swipes at former manager Malcolm McLaren and especially Jimmy Savile, the notorious “Top of the Pops” host who was posthumously investigated for sexual abuse after his 2011 death. Lydon’s insinuation about Savile was not broadcast at the time, which makes the interview a haunting and essential addon.

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