First Issue (Special Edition) vinyl

It's not without very good reason the debut album from PiL is considered one of the pioneering milestones in post punk. Hit play now and it takes very little time at all to understand why, John Lydon leading the charge in a group that would cement his status as an alternative icon, along with the other members. In some ways split into two halves, fittingly it's the almost-self titled track 'Public Image' that represents the first vivid sign of a musical style being born. Not that songs such as 'Theme', 'Religion' and 'Religion II' - the opening triplet here - aren't also a clear step away from punk as was. Nevertheless, the further down the track list we go the more we are immersed in something that was very new at the time, combining the ferocity and bold ideas of preceding sounds with more spine-tingling atmospheres and relentless grooves.