9
	Produced by Stephen Hague, E.T. Thorngren, Public Image Ltd.
	Released on June 1989
	UK CHART POSITION #36 . . . US CHART POSITION #109
	Find it at GEMM
91062-2 cover [high resolution scan]

F inally, a PiL album I feel cool listening to. 9 sounds like Siouxsie and The Banshees with balls: Eastern elements intertwined in a rich sonic atmosphere with steady beats and Lydon’s atonal catcalls. This Is What You Want wasn’t, That What Is Not was, and so I’m left to mine 9 when I’m in a rotten mood. The tracks on here are strong: “Happy,” “Disappointed,” “Warrior,” “U.S.L.S. 1.” It’s a good ride. The uncredited female backing vocalists sweeten the mix nicely, underscoring Lydon’s insistently over-the-top vocals. He manages to wail and sing at the same time, floating over the arrangements like an angry god. 9 should have been the second coming, but instead PiL remained a peripheral blip on the commercial radar. All this music about revolution and the end of the world, played out like the last days were upon us, sends a clear message: Get on the bandwagon on go in the pit. Producer Stephen Hague seems to understand that Rotten needs a sumptuous setting to sell his rusty wares, and he gives it to him. (Ironically, he was a last-minute replacement.) E.T. Thorngren is equally gilded in his approach, making it difficult to tell who produced what without the liner notes to go by. Speaking of liner notes, though Lu Edmonds is given songwriting credits, he’d left the band prior to the recording of the album (tinnitus), so the credit is more of a kindness for past services rendered. Some might find 9 unduly fussy and overproduced, but I always felt PiL were worth fussing over. It’s the intensity of the record that wins me over every time, luxuriating in its own opulent decadence like a thief made king. Which is a role Rotten was made for.

91062-2 back picture booklet

TRACK LISTING

1. HAPPY    3:58
2. DISAPPOINTED    (Allan Dias/Lu Edmonds/John Lydon/Bruce Smith/Stephen Hague)    5:34
3. WARRIOR    4:17
4. U.S.L.S. 1    5:38
5. SAND CASTLES IN THE SNOW    3:45
6. WORRY    3:55
7. BRAVE NEW WORLD    4:20
8. LIKE THAT    3:42
9. SAME OLD STORY    4:18
10. ARMADA    4:43
    
    All songs written by Allan Dias/Lu Edmonds/John Lydon/John McGeoch/Bruce Smith unless noted

CREDITS

ALLAN DIAS -- bass
JOHN LYDON -- vocals
JOHN McGEOCH -- guitars
BRUCE SMITH -- drums, percussion and programming
Stephen Hague -- mixing
Dave Meegan -- mixing
Nellee Hooper -- mixing
Jeffrey Ayeroff, Mick Haggerty and Public Image Ltd. -- art direction
Mick Hagerty -- art & design
James Faulkner, Rod Dyer Inc. -- computer manipulation
Ross Halfin -- original photography

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