A distinctive
product deserves a distinctive design, so for its second album -- a
wild mutation of postpunk chaos and reggae two-stepping -- Public Image
Ltd. wanted an equally unconventional package. According to guitarist
Keith Levene, the group considered sealing the discs in a sardine can
that could be opened only with a key ("except we wouldn't give
the key") or creating a "sandpaper-type record, which would
fuck up all the other records when you put it n your collection."
Instead, PiL encased a limited edition of Metal Box in a round, embossed
tin can, like those used to protect film reels.
The music came
on three 12-inch records, which were pressed at 45 rpm to bolster the
impact of the bass and drums. The packaging was maddening: The discs
were nearly impossible to remove, and there were no track listings anywhere.
It was also a burden on PiL: "Just to make 60,000 of them cost
the band 33,000 (pounds) and cost Virgin 33,000," says Levene.
"But it was worth it -- I mean, what a laugh." In the US,
Metal Box was released as Second Edition, a standard double album; the
British original currently sells for about seventy-five dollars in New
York record stores.
Last year,
Virgin Records UK created a limited-edition Metal Box CD in a miniature
metal can. By that time, says Charles Dimont, art director of the original
Metal Box, it had become a design cliché: "I can think of,
oh, half a dozen items that have come out in metal boxes since then."
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