PiL* – Metal Box
Label: | Virgin – METAL 1 |
|---|---|
Format: | |
Country: | UK |
Released: | |
Genre: | Electronic, Rock |
Style: | Post-Punk, Dub, Avantgarde, Experimental |
Tracklist
| Metal 1.1 | |||
| A | Albatross | 10:32 | |
| Metal 1.2 | |||
| B1 | Memories | 5:05 | |
| B2 | Swan Lake | 4:19 | |
| Metal 1.3 | |||
| C1 | Poptones | 7:45 | |
| C2 | Careering | 4:32 | |
| Metal 1.4 | |||
| D1 | No Birds | 4:43 | |
| D2 | Graveyard | 3:07 | |
| Metal 1.5 | |||
| E1 | The Suit | 3:29 | |
| E2 | Bad Baby | 4:30 | |
| Metal 1.6 | |||
| F | Socialist/Chant/Radio 4 | 12:31 |
Companies, etc.
- Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Virgin Records Ltd.
- Published By – Warner Bros. Music Ltd.
- Published By – Virgin Music (Publishers) Ltd.
- Lacquer Cut At – CBS Studios, London
- Pressed By – CBS Pressing Plant, Aston Clinton
Credits
- Band [Public Image Ltd...] – Dave Crowe, Wobble*, Jeannette Lee, John Lydon, Keith Levene
- Design [Uncredited] – Dennis Morris
- Lacquer Cut By – TY* (tracks: A to B2, D1 to E2), Tim* (tracks: C1, C2, F)
- Music By, Words By, Producer – Public Image Ltd.*
Notes
"Public Image Ltd...John Lydon.Keith Levene.Wobble.Jeannette Lee.Dave Crowe..." were the members of PIL at the time of the release. However, Jeannette Lee and Dave Crowe as non-musical band members are not featured on the record.
Packaged in a 12" film can-style metal box. Includes an A5 size sheet with tracklist and line-up.
Side B ends with a locked groove which repeats the last few seconds of "Swan Lake" endlessly until the needle is lifted from the record.
Edition of 50,000 copies (plus an extra 10,000 for export).
In runouts, the main strings and Tim Young/CBS credits are etched, additional characters are stamped.
Packaged in a 12" film can-style metal box. Includes an A5 size sheet with tracklist and line-up.
Side B ends with a locked groove which repeats the last few seconds of "Swan Lake" endlessly until the needle is lifted from the record.
Edition of 50,000 copies (plus an extra 10,000 for export).
In runouts, the main strings and Tim Young/CBS credits are etched, additional characters are stamped.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
- Matrix / Runout (Label side A): Metal 1-A
- Matrix / Runout (Label side B): Metal 1-B
- Matrix / Runout (Label side C): Metal 1-C
- Matrix / Runout (Label side D): Metal 1-D
- Matrix / Runout (Label side E): Metal 1-E
- Matrix / Runout (Label side F): Metal 1-F
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, variant 1): METAL.1-A-1 TY-CBS A 3
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, variant 1): ·METAL.1- BA̶B-1 TY-CBS A 0
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side C, variant 1): ·METAL-1-C-2 tim-cbs A
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side D, variant 1): ·METAL-1-D-1 TY-CBS A 2
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side E, variant 1): METAL-1-E-1 TY-CBS B
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side F, variant 1): METAL-1-F-2 tim-cbs A
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, variant 2): METAL.1-A-1 TY-CBS A
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, variant 2): ·METAL.1- BA̶B-1 TY-CBS A 4
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side C, variant 2): ·METAL-1-C-2 tim-cbs A
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side D, variant 2): ·METAL-1-D-1 TY-CBS B
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side E, variant 2): METAL-1-E-1 TY-CBS B 7
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side F, variant 2): ·METAL.1-F-1 TY-CBS B 13
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, variant 3): ∙ METAL∙1-A-1 C 1 3 TY-CBS
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, variant 3): ∙METAL∙1-BAB-1 C TY-CBS
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side C, variant 3): · METAL-1-C-1 C TY-CBS
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side D, variant 3): ·METAL∙1-D-1 A TY-CBS
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side E, variant 3): ∙ METAL-1-E-1 C TY-CBS B
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side F, variant 3): ∙ METAL-1-F-1 C TY-CBS 5
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, variant 4): ∙ METAL∙1-A-2 tim-CBS A
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, variant 4): ·METAL.1- BA̶B-1 TY-CBS 21 C
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side C, variant 4): · METAL-1-C-2 tim-CBS E
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side D, variant 4): ·METAL∙1-D-1 5 TY-CBS C
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side E, variant 4): ∙ METAL-1-E-1 20 TY-CBS C
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side F, variant 4): ∙ METAL-1-F-3 12 tim-CBS A
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, variant 5): · METAL-1-A-2 1 C tim-cbs A
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, variant 5): · METAL∙1-B-2 1 2 tim-cbs A
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side C, variant 5): · METAL-1-C-1 1 C TY-CBS C
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side D, variant 5): · METAL∙1-D-1 ., ., TY-CBS A
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side E, variant 5): · METAL-1-E-2 1 tim-cbs A
- Matrix / Runout (Runout side F, variant 5): · METAL∙1-F-1 A TY-CBS
Other Versions (5 of 90)
View All| Title (Format) | Label | Cat# | Country | Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Recently Edited | Second Edition (2×LP, Album, Quality Records Pressing, Gatefold) | Island Records | 2WX 3288 | Canada | 1979 | ||
Recently Edited | Metal Box (Cassette, Album, Stereo, Grey Cassette w/ Corner Screws) | Virgin | MBCAS 1 | UK | 1979 | ||
Recently Edited | Second Edition (2×LP, Album, Gatefold, White Text) | Virgin | VD 2512 | New Zealand | 1979 | ||
New Submission | Second Edition (2×LP, Album, Gatefold) | Island Records | 2WX 3288 | US | 1979 | ||
New Submission | Second Edition (2×LP, Album, Gatefold, Jacksonville Pressing) | Island Records | 2WX 3288 | US | 1979 |
Recommendations
Reviews
If anyone has the inserts for this (without the vinyl or box itself) and is interested in selling, I'm interested.- Henry Hopkins and Charlie found each other in my perfect world.
Today I almost bought the recent US edition as "Second Edition", luckily I read the comments ( thanks discogs! )... so I will wait for the metal box, hopefully not forever.
Previously Virgin reissued the metal box version on 2016 and later a second run in 2020, if they are doing it every 4 years, 2024 is the year, fingers crossed!
Came across a copy recently for £5 at a carboot, insane find. NM records too, any ideas how to clean the tin, there must be something to do to clean it up a bit.- I had this for Christmas 1979.. I still have it. Slightly oxidised tin but i love it still.. Poptones!!
- Zigzag magazine published an insert (effectively) with all the lyrics (I do remember one "correction" where "you are unbeatable" had been modified to "you are unbearable") - you could prize it out of the centre of the magazine. Also, it didn't ruin the magazine itself as it effectively had printed the inner pages twice!
This didn't happen often as there are "music copyright clearance" issues with printing lyrics (Smash Hits would pay a lot of money to do what they did), but as ZigZag was somewhat of a high production values 'fanzine', I'm guessing they "got away with it" (unless you know different...) 
Any UK seller with just the tin in reasonable state they want to sell? Please message me. Though I kind of love my version - the three original vinyls in handmade filthy worn sleeves with the lyrics and other annotated pictures glued to exteriors. Car boot in Cornwall some years ago. Still sounding as fresh as ever. (As a tender 16 yr old saw them at Futurama in Sept 1979, and they blew my mind...)
For information. I bought this the week it was released. It did NOT have the printed sheet inside. However, this must have happened to many of the initial batches which went out for sale. I remember getting a copy of the insert in one of the music papers a few weeks later (either NME or Sounds). This might explain why a lot of copies appear to be missing the insert.
Still loving my copy. Very little of the tin remains untarnished, but I like it that way. The inside has faired better, but has tarnished where greasy fingerprints have been (possibly due to salt in sweat). Again, I don't mind this.
Any suggestions for how to store this? Something about keeping these in the tin, separated by the paper dividers, makes me feel like they will be damaged. Maybe I'm paranoid but I feel like keeping the vinyl in poly sleeves with the tin kept separate... is this ridiculous?- Hi all! What sort of value would you give to just the tin?
Many thanks,
Henry
Release
For sale on Discogs
Sell a copy54 copies from $103.12
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