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This is PiL
by
This is PiL Image
Metascore
66

Generally favorable reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.2

Universal acclaim- based on 6 Ratings

  • Summary: This is the first album in 20 years for the band led by the Sex Pistol's John Lydon. The line-up includes Bruce Smith, Lu Edmonds, and Scott Firth.

Top Track

Lollipop Opera
You wanna see me my. let's go clean ...can I rock 'cause I lollipop. I take the top, take the top can I rock it the top at the lollipop opera .take... See the rest of the song lyrics
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 25
  3. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. musicOMH.com
    May 25, 2012
    100
    This is Public Image Ltd at its best. This record is good. Outrageously good. Better than a record of an artist of Lydon's vintage has any right to make.
  2. Drowned In Sound
    May 25, 2012
    80
    Both as an album opener after a ten year absence and a spiritual partner to Public Image, This is PiL is pretty much perfect.
  3. Mojo
    Jul 18, 2012
    80
    It's a labyrinthine 64-minute journey, bound together by a group identity that gains clarity with every listen. [Jun 2012, p.80]
    All this publication's reviews
  4. The Quietus
    May 25, 2012
    70
    Lydon's ever-inspiring love of de-dub postulates continually throughout the album – it's such a perfect return.
  5. Rolling Stone
    Jun 18, 2012
    60
    This Is PiL proves that the taunting weaponry of his voice is still a delight, as he drawls out syllables like an over-the-top TV villain.
  6. Beats Per Minute
    Jun 22, 2012
    53
    It's an album that alternates between being rewarding and punishing.
  7. Alternative Press
    May 25, 2012
    40
    The biggest failure of This Is PiL, sadly, is the band's centerpiece: Lydon. As fine as he can be (see again "Deeper Water"), he sounds downright unhinged. Not in the puckish, sinister way that made PiL live albums so bracing, either-no, his work here sounds tossed off, and too often just plain off.

See all 25 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. AlexxTrusc
    May 31, 2012
    6
    The first album in 20 years from Public Image Ltd despite its rock tone is quite strange. We can find both reggeae compositions ("One Drop")The first album in 20 years from Public Image Ltd despite its rock tone is quite strange. We can find both reggeae compositions ("One Drop") and indie rock ("Human") or electronic experiments ("The Room I Am In"). John Lydon on vocals continues experimenting, sometimes giving it a psychedelic character ("Deeper Water "), while the songs are characterized by a somewhat antiquated arrangements - which sometimes can be counted on the bands' plus, but usually causes only a bad impression.… Expand

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