Discovery -- Rare PiL

[Chris D.]

From www.sex-pistols.net:

Public Image Limited - Rare recordings unearthed 1982/1983

The following informmation has been provided to God Save The Sex Pistols by Glyn Powell, who has recently uncovered the following Public Image Limited material:
Three soundboard shows from 1983, plus three reels of rare studio material from 1982/1983. Glyn takes up the story....

Live shows

1) 8th Nov 1983, Bristol, U.K.
2) 15th Nov 1983 Newcastle, U.K.
3) Unknown 1983 show, UK .

Studio reels

Supposed 10" reel-to-reel > cassette > cassette, mine being the 2nd generation. No lineage on the reel-to-reel, but close to the original source. The story as told to me is: "the UK arm of the American record company that Public Image recorded for had some reels hand delivered from the UK to America sometime in 1983. During that process, the reels were dubbed to cassette, and those were the cassettes that I made copies of." The reels we could assume to be at least 2nd gen, but that's only a guess. I'm unsure if these shows have ever been traded before.

PiL (Labeled Unknown Studio)

The Slab (a.k.a Order Of Death) - DIFFERENT: Lydon breathes into mic at start.
Unknown song - guitar riff sounds a little like "Public Image"
Unknown song - Drums & keyboards
Bad Night - (Rough version, double tracked vocals)
Unknown Song - Saxophone/bass/drums, Sounds like Lydon talking through transposer?
Unknown Song - Acoustic guitar, sounds like Keith Levine, same guitar sound as The Slab.
Bad Night - (Disco Version, lyrics are "This Is Not A Love Song")
Unknown Song - Piano, drums, kinda jazz improvise sounding.
Unknown Song - Persussion / synths , sounds a bit like Devo?
Unknown Song - Similar take to above but some guitars added & more synths.

PiL (Labeled Pk South Session)

This sounds more like a tour rehearsal than demos? Or even a soundcheck for one of the live shows from the other reels?

Weird song. Lydon screaming & messing with vocal effects, band tuning up in background.
Band start jamming, main tune is "Solitaire" with Lydon ad libbing.
Pop Tones.
Flowers Of Romance (hilariously funny improvised version, the highest pitch I`ve ever heard John sing).
Instrumental jam based around "Solitaire". John taking the piss out of "Radio Clash".
Public Image (band stops halfway).
Solitaire (band stops again).
Low Life (2 attempts at run through).
Low Life (run through full song).

PiL (Labeled Outs London 82-83) (More like 82 & 81?)

This is the "Commercial Zone" related stuff, overall I'd say it's probably John Lydon's mix, as they fell out over the mix of this record, and I have both Levene's versions on vinyl, and Lydon re-recorded the whole thing after Levene left.

To my ears they do sound like different mixes, and non-vinyl sourced.

Where Are you Part One (aka Lou Reed part one) - This sounds similar to Commercial Zone version.
Where Are you Part Two (aka Lou Reed part two) - This sounds similar to Commercial Zone version, ending slightly different.
Blue Water - This sounds similar to Commercial Zone version, but there's bass, none on official version.
Solitaire - This sounds similar to Commercial Zone version vocals sound a bit different
This Is Not A Love Song - This sounds similar to Commercial Zone version, sounds a lot heavier/punchy though.
Mad Max (aka Bad Life) - This sounds similar to Commercial Zone version.
Bad Night - This sounds similar to Commercial Zone version
Miller Hi-Life This sounds similar to Commercial Zone version
The Slab (aka Order Of Death) - This sounds similar to Commercial Zone version
1981 - This Track is COMPLETELY unreleased, it's not on the released LP, only Lydon's 1983 PIL LP (different version).

I'm not sure these 2 are the same as the official released versions or not.

Flowers of Romance. I can`t really think why this is here? It was made on the previous record?
Flowers of Romance. Different version to above (instrumental).
Instrumental (sounds a bit like an out-take from the Flowers of Romance, with that heavy tribal drum sound, so maybe the first 2 are from this session?)

This bit sounds as if it should be on the tape marked PiL (Labeled Pk South Session)

Bad Life (band stops halfway).
Solitaire (band stop halfway).
Public Image.

[Jason]

That'll cause an uproar.

[Chris D.]

If they actually release instead of letting the goodies sit around like with Plastic Box, hell yeah.  I hope these things come out.

[Jason]

Anything related to the Sex Pistols is good material, in my opinion. Hopefully they will see release.

[Chris D.]

Anything related to the Sex Pistols is good material, in my opinion. Hopefully they will see release.

Definitely.  I didn't know you were a PiL or Pistols fan.  Good to hear 

[Jason]

I love the Pistols. They're almost geniuses, man.

[Chris D.]

Why almost?

EDIT:

I just don't think musicians are geniuses. Music isn't high art. Einstein was a genius.

Found the answer myself, and I'm not derailing this thread for that.

[Jason]

Yeah, best not to.

[Chris D.]

A good thread topic on its own though.

[Jason]

The Pistols do have my utmost respect. As much as can be given to a band.

[Chris D.]

The Pistols do have my utmost respect. As much as can be given to a band.

Same here.  I'll never get tired of their music, and I've spent enough years only listening to them.

[Jason]

I think the Sex Pistols have one of the most enviable legacies in pop music. One album and lots of legendary demos and live material. The fact that they're even remembered with such a small body of work is amazing.