This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get
	Produced by John Lydon and Martin Atkins
	Released on July 1984
	UK CHART POSITION #56
	Find it at GEMM
60365-1 cover

P iL went into the studio to record a fourth album of new material, jettisoned half the band (Keith Levene and Pete Jones) after the sessions, and this is what they were left with. John Lydon and Martin Atkins then remixed the tracks with Louis Bernardi (from their touring band), deleting the parts of their previous partners. (Levene responded in kind by restoring his guitar parts for his own take on the sessions, Commercial Zone.) Amidst all the acrimony is an unfocused album filled with dub experimentation that shares The Clash’s restlessness but none of their genius. Most of the tracks are easily dismissed: “Where Are You,” “Solitaire” and “The Pardon” sound bored and uninspired. Of course, Lydon always sounds bored with his material, but the point of PiL is to match that boredom with revolutionary music. A little of that magic mixture appears on “Tie Me To The Length of That” and “1981,” two songs that are nearly terrifying in effect. However, This Is What You Want is probably their least impressive studio record. The inclusion of last year’s popular club single “This Is Not A Love Song” will attract some, the first appearance of “The Order of Death” (re-treated for the Blair Witch movie in 1999) may draw in others, but this is really the last place to go looking for PiL’s best music. For their loyalty, Atkins and Bernardi were given the pink slip themselves, and PiL emerged with a completely new lineup in 1986. The cross-pollination of punk and dance music was a natural for alternative clubs, but anarchy-in-the-bootay is a hard line to walk (Gang of Four did it better). If you’re someone who doesn’t cringe at the words “dance mix,” then you might want to pick up a used copy of this somewhere. But save the CD money for PiL’s first two records.

60365-1 back cover	60365-1 sleeve (generic Elektra)

TRACK LISTING

1. BAD LIFE    (John Lydon/Keith Levene/Martin Atkins)    5:13
2. THIS IS NOT A LOVE SONG    (John Lydon/Keith Levene/Martin Atkins)    4:11
3. SOLITAIRE    (John Lydon/Keith Levene/Martin Atkins)    3:57
4. TIE ME TO THE LENGTH OF THAT    (John Lydon/Martin Atkins)    5:12
5. THE PARDON    (John Lydon/Martin Atkins)    5:14
6. WHERE ARE YOU    (John Lydon/Keith Levene/Martin Atkins)    4:13
7. 1981    (John Lydon/Martin Atkins)    3:14
8. THE ORDER OF DEATH    (John Lydon/Keith Levene/Martin Atkins)    4:44

CREDITS

MARTIN ATKINS -- drums, percussion, synth bass, keyboards, guitar, bodrahn, arrangements, mixing
GARY BARNACLE -- brass, keyboards
LOUIS BERNARDI -- bass guitar
RICHARD COTTLE -- keyboards
JOHN LYDON -- vocals, synth bass, brass, keyboards, violins, percussion, arrangements, mixing
COLIN WOORE -- guitar
Leigh Mantle -- engineer
Gavin McKillop -- engineer
Charles Harrowell -- atpe op
John Van Hamersveld -- art direction
Norman Seeff -- photography

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