"Careering", by Public Image Ltd. I have started to actually read, as opposed to merely dipping my toes into, Simon Reynolds' big fat book on the post-punk era, "Rip It Up And Start Again". One thing a book like this does, for those of us who lived the scene vicariously, from half a world away, through the pages of the NME and the half-heard radio signals of Sydney's 2JJ, is tell us a bit more about what was really happening at the time, and particularly the social and economic triggers, and the philosophical ideas that were in play (although the latter were played out to some extent in the NME, if we had been old or wise enough to understand any of them). Another thing it does is give us a friendly nudge in the direction of a few records or bands that we knew about but had never quite got around to listening to, through mental blanks and/or simple unavailability of their records in this country. (Exhibit 1: The Mekons. Exhibit 2: The Slits (save for their glorious take on "I Heard It Through The Grapevine", which I have always known and loved).)
The third thing this book does is send us back to the records we have owned since time immemorial, but which we no longer listen to. Specifically, for present purposes, "Second Edition", by Public Image Ltd, a record that turns out to have aged remarkably well. And it was mighty impressive then, if a bit unwieldy and a bit unfathomable. The unwieldiness is gone, owing to long-term familiarity. It's in m' veins. The unfathomability no longer matters, and may well have been the point. Here is an album that is all about sound, particularly - and featuring strongly on "Careering" - the overwhelming dub-inflected heft of Jah Wobble's bass and the wiry guitar playing of Keith Levene. On "Careering", though, Levene jettisons his guitar in favour of a parade of Moog synth noises that, although they sound suspiciously like they may have come from a Doctor Who sound-effects record, build a sense of malevolence that is perfect for the song. The other thing I hadn't previously noticed about "Careering", though, is how closely the opening few bars of it resemble the start of another great song of the era (and another one I haven't put on for years), Magazine's "The Light Pours Out Of Me". The two songs are, I seem to recall, close contemporaries. There must have been something in the water.
