This is Not a Love Song: PiL Remasters in U.K. in 2012

It looks like the first major remaster campaign for 2012 is going to be a re-release of the Public Image Ltd. catalogue, coming from EMI in England.

The spectacular flameout of punk legends The Sex Pistols in 1978 wasn’t enough to stop lead singer John Lydon – forever better known as Johnny Rotten – in his tracks. Lydon collaborated with guitarist Keith Levene and bassist Jah Wobble to form Public Image Ltd., a band as noisy and rebellious as the Pistols but with a bit more room for creativity and experimentation. PiL were as much a punk band as they were a world music outfit, adding elements of reggae, krautrock and other eclectic bits. Lydon and a rotating cast of characters carried the PiL name through the ’80s, with six Top 40 hits in their native country. Lydon put the band on hiatus in 1992, briefly reuniting with the Pistols in 1996 and several times in the 2000s, but began touring as PiL in 2009, with a new album reportedly due this year.

Now, on January 16, almost the entire PiL catalogue is coming back into print (the notable exception is 1979’s Metal Box and subsequent reissue Second Edition, remastered and released on CD by EMI in 2009 and 2011, respectively). Seven studio albums from 1978 to 1992, two live albums and 1990’s The Greatest Hits, So Far are included in the campaign, along with Lydon’s 1997 solo album Psycho’s Path. No bonus tracks are included – the albums match their original CD track listings exactly – but they are struck from remasters created for Japanese paper-sleeve reissues last year.

Hit the jump to reacquaint yourself with these albums, and click here to order yours from Amazon U.K.

Public Image Ltd., Public Image – First Issue (originally released as Virgin V-2114, 1978 – reissued Virgin/EMI CDVR-2114, 2012)

1. Theme
2. Religion I
3. Religion II
4. Annalisa
5. Public Image
6. Low Life
7. Attack
8. Fodderstompf

Public Image Ltd., Paris Au Printemps (Paris in the Spring) (originally released as Virgin V-2183, 1980 – reissued Virgin/EMI CDVR-2183, 2012)

1. Thème
2. Psalmodie (Chant)
3. Précipitamment (Careering)
4. Sale Bébé (Bad Baby)
5. La Vie Ignoble (Low Life)
6. Attaque (Attack)
7. Timbres de Pop (Poptones)

Public Image Ltd., The Flowers of Romance (originally released as Virgin V-2189, 1981 – reissued Virgin/EMI CDVR-2183, 2012)

1. Four Enclosed Walls
2. Track 8
3. Phenagen
4. Flowers of Romance
5. Under the House
6. Hymie’s Him
7. Banging the Door
8. Go Back
9. Francis Massacre
10. Flowers of Romance (Instrumental) (12″ B-side to “Flowers of Romance” – Virgin VS-397, 1981)
11. Home is Where the Heart Is (B-side to “Flowers of Romance” – Virgin VS-397, 1981)
12. Another (B-side to “Memories” – Virgin VS-299, 1979)

Public Image Ltd., Live in Tokyo (originally released as Virgin VGD-3508, 1983 – reissued Virgin/EMI C088-0132, 2012)

1. Annalisa
2. Religion
3. Low Life
4. Solitaire
5. Flowers of Romance
6. (This is Not a) Love Song
7. Death Disco
8. Bad Life
9. Banging the Door
10. Under the House

Public Image Ltd., This is What You Want…This is What You Get (originally released as Virgin V-2309, 1984 – reissued Virgin/EMI VCDR-2309, 2012)

1. Bad Life
2. This is Not a Love Song
3. Solitaire
4. Tie Me to the Length of That
5. The Pardon
6. Where Are You?
7. 1981
8. The Order of Death

Public Image Ltd., Album (originally released as Virgin V-2366, 1986 – reissued as Virgin/EMI CDVR-2366, 2012)

1. F.F.F.
2. Rise
3. Fishing
4. Round
5. Bags
6. Home
7. Ease

Public Image Ltd., Happy? (originally released as Virgin V-2455, 1987 – reissued as Virgin/EMI CDVR-2455, 2012)

1. Seattle
2. Rules and Regulations
3. The Body
4. Save Me
5. Hard Times
6. Open and Revolving
7. Angry
8. Fat Chance Hotel

Public Image Ltd., 9 (originally released as Virgin V-2588, 1989 – reissued as Virgin/EMI CDVR-2588, 2012)

1. Happy
2. Disappointed
3. Warrior
4. USLS 1
5. Sand Castles in the Snow
6. Worry
7. Brave New World
8. Like That
9. Same Old Story
10. Armada

Public Image Ltd., The Greatest Hits, So Far (originally released as Virgin V-2644, 1990 – reissued as Virgin/EMI CDVR-2644, 2012)

1. Public Image
2. Death Disco (7″ Mix)
3. Memories
4. Careering
5. Flowers of Romance
6. This is Not a Love Song
7. Rise (New Remix)
8. Home
9. Seattle
10. The Body (Extended Version)
11. Rules and Regulations
12. Disappointed (Extended Version)
13. Warrior (Remix)
14. Don’t Ask Me

Track 1 from Public Image – First Issue
Tracks 2-4 from Metal Box (Virgin, 1979)
Track 5 from Flowers of Romance
Track 6 from This is What You Want…This is What You Get
Tracks 7-8 from Album
Tracks 9-11 from Happy?
Tracks 12-13 from 9
Track 14 is a new track

Public Image Ltd., That Which is Not (originally released as Virgin V-2681, 1992 – reissued as Virgin/EMI CDVR-2681, 2012)

1. Acid Drops
2. Luck’s Up
3. Cruel
4. God
5. Covered
6. Love Hope
7. Unfairground
8. Think Tank
9. Emperor
10. Good Things

John Lydon, Psycho’s Path (originally released as Virgin CDVUS 130, 1997 – reissued Virgin/EMI CDVUSR 130, 2012)

1. Grave Ride
2. Dog
3. Psychopath
4. Sun
5. Another Way
6. Dis-Ho
7. Take Me
8. A No and a Yes
9. Stump
10. Armies
11. Open Up (Chemical Brothers Mix Edit)
12. Grave Ride (Moby Mix)
13. Sun (Leftfield Mix)
14. Psychopath (Leftfield Mix)
15. Stump (Danny Saber Mix)

Film Score Monthly is “Frantic”

It’s a new year, and with that new year comes the knowledge that Film Score Monthly is getting closer and closer to its final release sometime this spring. But before you get frantic about that, enjoy their latest title, released last week: the soundtrack to Frantic.

The 1988 Roman Polanski film featured Harrison Ford as an American doctor in Paris whose wife suddenly disappears from their hotel. His against-all-odds search for her – without the aid of the skeptical French government or U.S. embassy – takes him to the dark side of France, with only a streetwise girl as his reluctant guide through the seedy, terroristic underbelly of the country.

Ennio Morricone’s score was lauded by critics, adding greatly to the suspenseful mood of the film as well as its dark, romantic yearning. But the soundtrack album, while a respective offering of music, utilized alternate and concertized arrangements of the themes rather than what was actually heard in the movie. (There was also one non-LP track by British blue-eyed soul band Simply Red, “I’m Gonna Lose You,” included on the album.)

Now, FSM offers fans both the remastered soundtrack LP and 12 bonus cues that provide nearly the entire score as heard in the film. (One track is cited in the label’s order page as an alternate, but it is not stated which one.) The score, mastered from the remaining source – three and four-track 35 mm dubbing elements – gives a fresh spin on this underrated gem in Morricone’s catalogue. And, best of all, it’s an unlimited release, giving as many fans as possible the chance to get a copy.

You can order Frantic at the link above and hit the jump for a full track breakdown.

Ever Changing Times: Aretha In The 1980s, Anthologized by Legacy

On March 25, 2012, Aretha Franklin will turn 70 years old.  That hardly means she’s ready to slow down, however.  2011 found the Queen of Soul looking trim and sounding vibrant as she returned to the concert stage and released a new studio album.  Surely her landmark birthday will be celebrated with countless airings of her 1960s golden hits like “Respect,” “Natural Woman” and “Chain of Fools.”  But Legacy Recordings and Arista Records are seeing to it that a latter-day hitmaking period for the music icon is given its due attention.

Knew You Were Waiting: The Best of Aretha Franklin 1980-1998 will arrive on January 31.  It spans almost the entirety of Franklin’s tenure at Clive Davis’ storied Arista label, with tracks from every studio album recorded by the singer between 1980’s Aretha and 1998’s A Rose is Still a Rose.  (Only 2003’s So Damn Happy is not represented.)  Its chronologically-sequenced sixteen cuts reveal a still-growing artist sounding revitalized in a modern setting after a string of unsuccessful (and still unavailable on CD) records on the Atlantic label, home to her greatest triumphs.

What’s most remarkable about the selections on Knew You Were Waiting is how simple it is to draw a line from the deep soul of the Atlantic days to the glossy productions at Arista.  The compilation’s lead-off track, 1980’s “United Together,” features Aretha once again backed by the Sweet Inspirations (Cissy Houston, Myrna Smith, Sylvia Shenwell and Estelle Brown).  Atlantic’s legendary producer and arranger Arif Mardin helmed “Love All the Hurt Away,” a 1981 duet with George Benson.  (Incidentally, Benson was recording at Columbia in the mid-1960s under the aegis of John Hammond, one of Franklin’s guiding lights during her time with the label!)  Burt Bacharach, who supplied Franklin with the enduring Atlantic hit “I Say a Little Prayer,” finally got the chance to produce her at Arista on “Ever Changing Times.”  The 1987 song was originally recorded for the film Baby Boom by Siedah Garrett (best known for joining Michael Jackson on “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You”) but Bacharach and co-writer/producer Carole Bayer Sager delivered it to Franklin for 1991’s rather unfortunately-titled What You See is What You Sweat.  Franklin and her duet partner, Michael McDonald, then took the song to the Top 20 of the R&B chart!  It’s presented here in a mix that’s previously unreleased on CD!

Hit the jump for much more, including the complete track listing with discography!