Album review: John Lydon and Public Image Ltd impress with End Of World
John Lydon and Public Image Limited (PiL) have just released End Of World.
- Public Image Ltd
- End of World
- ★★★★☆
John Lydon’s 11th album with Public Image Ltd (PiL) was preceded by 'Hawaii', his downbeat Eurovision Song Contest entry critiqued by Jedward for being insufficiently sparkly.
It was a lament for his wife Nora, whose long battle with dementia ended with her death in April, a couple of months after the Late Late Eurosong special.
Yet if gut-punching and sorrowful, 'Hawaii' is also an anomaly on the vigorous and cathartic End of World.
Lydon had been through a great deal even before he had to listen to Jedward pass judgement on his music.
But, as with much of his best output back to the Sex Pistols, he has channelled the pain around his spouse's illness into a rollicking fury.
That this is going to be an LP with sharp teeth is announced with opener 'Penge' – named after an old Scandinavian word for booty and plunder, with lyrics that feel like a farewell to his late wife (“I’ll see you there/You’ll be seeing me”).
It’s a raucous triumph that draws a direct line back to PiL staples such as 'Public Image', thanks to former Mekon Lu Edmonds’ pedal to the floor guitar.
Lydon doesn’t let up. The title track comes rattling through like a steam train bashing into a level crossing. And on 'Car Chase', Lydon expresses his need for catharsis with smash-and-grab imagery (“They let me out on the weekends/They kick me out in the dark”).
'Hawaii' arrives at the end, as heartbreaking as when it flunked out of Eurovision.
The song is as raw a depiction of grief as you’ll hear, with Lydon positioning himself on the shoreline as his wife slowly drifts away (“Remember me, I remember you…”). It’s not very Eurovision, but it is breathtaking in its honesty.
Pushing through the fog of bereavement, punk’s one-time angry young man has made a stunning evocation of growing old, one final emotional blow at the end of a record brimming with them.
