Plastic Box

It was great news when Virgin/PiL announced that 'Plastic Box' was getting reissued in 2009. At that point, the ten-year-old, four-disc compilation was selling for $150-$200 on sites like Amazon and eBay, so it was nice to see that the execs at Virgin Records saw there was still a demand for physical copies of this great set.First, the good news: 'Plastic Box' sounds as great now as it did then. It's worth noting that this release was announced at the same time as the latest reissue of 'Metal Box.' While the press release advertised that 'Metal Box' was getting remastered, no such mention was made for the sound on 'Plastic Box.' To the best of my knowledge, these four discs are pressed from the same masters that were used in 1999. This is actually excellent news. The 1999 release sounded great- no excessive compression or EQing to be found anywhere. It's relieving that The Powers That Be didn't give in to the mp3 generation and brickwall this entire set. As far as my ears can tell, 'Plastic Box' was not re-remastered, and it didn't need it.Unfortunately, the packaging was downgraded this time around. The first edition of 'Plastic Box' was housed in a (you guessed it) transparent plastic box with a unique jewel case that gave the typeface and iconic PiL logo a reflective "mother of pearl" effect. The real prize, though, was a 30+ page booklet featuring an interview with a cranky and spiteful John Lydon that serves as both an oral history of the band, plus an almost track-by-track commentary of the set's contents. But that was 1999, when people still bought CDs. Now that we're in an age when even those who still buy the physical product probably just rip their favorite songs to an iPod and let the discs sit on the shelf for years, the art of cool packaging is all but lost. Gone are both the cool box and expansive booklet; replaced by a standard jewel case and a slim, no-frills insert that features a track listing, credits, and not much else.But chances are, you're buying this for the music. Rest-assured, the music is great. The first two discs serve as an overview to PiL's golden age, complete with some BBC sessions and 12" mixes, while the latter two serve as a second chance to hear PiL's underrated and unfairly maligned late period. Even though they never quite lived up to the standards of 'Metal Box,' (most of) the pop-friendly tunes that Lydon and Co cranked out throughout the mid-to-late 1980s were still really cool and worth hearing, so don't let some music journalist or snooty record store clerk tell you otherwise.Even with the less-elaborate packaging, 'Plastic Box' serves as a great overview to PiL, and there's enough exclusive content to justify the purchase if you already own the rest of the band's catalog. Recommended.

I have to respond to the review that states this collection is a casualty of the loudness wars. I disagree. It's possible the songs are more heavily compressed than earlier versions. From what I've seen and heard, most remastered audio is louder than the old vinyl releases. But I've opened several of the songs in Sound Forge and they have a pretty dramatic dynamic range. Nor are they pushed so hard that they're distorted. Most of the reviews praise the audio quality. I have to agree.I never listened to Public Image when these recordings were current and I was buying records by many of their contemporaries, probably because I detested The Sex Pistols. That was a mistake. I first heard a few of their songs on a greatest hits collection that I bought about 15 years ago. The songs were more enjoyable than I'd expected but not so interesting that I wanted to hear more. A friend recently posted a link to "Albatross", from Metal Box, and I thought this is more like it. I listened to Flowers of Romance and decided I needed to hear more. Since PiL's first few albums are here almost in their entirety and Metal Box seems out of print, it was cheaper to buy this collection than hunting down the original albums. What I prefer in their repertoire are the more experimental songs, which are well represented in this box set. It seems more like Lydon's selection than Virgin's.I'm giving a 5-star review because I find this to be an excellent collection of PiL's work from their Virgin years, having several of the albums almost in their entirety plus a few alternate versions. Still not my favorite band but one of the more interesting groups from that era that I missed at the time.

Loved them back in the day but my now more critical ears find a lot of Lydons vocals plainly annoying .... still love the jah wobble dub bass and the Levine guitar parts and tones but musically a lot of these songs ramble on with no direction and don't sound nearly as cool as they did in the early 80s... the first PIL album remains their best( the most energetic album) but the following two albums are great for practicing the bass to due to the minimal dubby bass heavy mix... I guess its good value for money with the 4 cd 60 track selection for around 20 bucks.. The material gets more focused and poppy as the decade moved on but not in a good way though Seattle is a pretty good song... Some nights when I'm tired and want to chill the early material makes a decent moody listen that reminds me of being young .... that's about it!! However everyone needs to hear Public Image ..Annalisa .. Bad life ... careering... and Flowers of Romance!!

After owning the entire PiL discography I felt kinda foolish buying this, but it turned out to be a good purchase. There are several B sides and mixes that were previously very rare. Also, for example, there are different mixes of the songs from the second album that I had never heard before that sound better than versions I previously owned. The liner notes are interesting to read and have a few things that I've read before, but provide a comprehensive outline of the discs without writing a whole new book. Overall, for a little over 20 bucks for four discs it's well worth it. If you don't already own most of the PiL back catalogue this is an even bigger bargain because it provides almost all the songs I would consider worth owning up through 1992. Not a bad collection at all.

Spent a long time looking for the right collection at the right price. This has everything you'll want. Thought I'd get bored of PIL after the first disc or two--I'm only a casual fan--but this was enthralling until the end. Better, more culturally significant, and much more innovative than the Sex Pistols. Post-punk is the true revolution and Year 0 of pop music. Punk was just retrograde, a return to 1956, and 1966. Eddie Cochran and Chuck berry played faster and louder and sometimes with more anger.

It says plastic box on the front and it was, indeed, a plastic box. Inside were compact discs which I assume were made from some kind of plastic also. The booklet inserts however, were made of paper. To achieve a 5-star review in future, please call this item: "Plastic Box, with 4 CDs, and some paper inserts".I bid you good day.

I sorta lost interest in this band after the flowers of romance ... and hearing this after many years has passed..I gotta say the later stuff still does absolutely nothing for me. .it sounds too damn nice... however I picked this up for the first two disc's which not only give you the first 3 albums remastered..you also get a few extras one of them as in a peel session.. which replaces the metal box versions... for the price I paid I'm happy with this as I needed flowers of romance on cd anyway and with the extras it was worth the money

A must have if you want an introduction to Pil. Contains nearly all the important tracks, only a few missing really. A bit difficult to listen to this all the way through though, a bit of a muchness. The first two CD's are the better, before the introduction of the 80's production sound, i.e sharp drums with little reverb -grating.

LYDON!!!!!

Metal box getting rusty, so plastic box is a great replacement. PIL still sound like a new band amazing!