JUNE 7, 2017
“HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS” (WRITERS: MARTIN ATKINS, KEITH
LEVENE, JOHN LYDON, JIM WALKER)
ARTIST: PUBLIC IMAGE, LTD.
RELEASED 1981 ON 7” AND 12” 45
Public Image, Ltd. never aimed low. They chased goals that others
didn’t see, vying for total musical freedom and as much career control they
could muster on a major record label.
After leaving the Sex Pistols in 1978, John “Rotten” Lydon
hooked up with guitarist Keith Levene, formerly of the Clash, and a succession
of other players, notably bassist Jah Wobble and drummer Jim Walker. While
making three contentious, scabby, but interesting albums, PiL shed and gained members.
Wobble departed for solo work, Jeannette Lee joined as an imagist/videographer,
Walker left to be replaced by Martin Atkins, Atkins gradually fell out with
Levene, Levene gradually fell out with Lydon.
By the time of the collective’s fourth LP, the Flowers of Romance, it was down to Lydon,
Levene (most of the time), Atkins (some of the time), and engineer Nick Launay
banging on strange instruments and using loops, echo, and other effects. I
consider it groundbreaking, a brilliant and fascinating work with no precedent and no
antecedent.
Some songs were lyrically representational. “Francis
Massacre” concerned Lydon’s three-month imprisonment in Ireland, awaiting trial
on trumped-up charges that were immediately dismissed. The parade of people wanting
to meet Lydon inspired “Banging the Door,” while the searing “Go Back” mocked the
right-wing fascism gripping Britain in the early 80s.
Without a real band to work with, PiL allowed itself freedom
to turn weird impulses loose. Drums were either dominating (if by Atkins) or
tentative (if by Levene). There was metal without guitars, punk without bass,
medieval strings and tolling bells, muezzin yelping, ticking watches, ominous
synthesizers, spoken asides, grinding percussion, goofy solos…and Lydon matched
the moods of the songs with appropriate deliveries of strange, disaffected
lyrics.
The album’s single was “The Flowers of Romance,” which was
as good a choice of any—at least it had a beat. But flip it over and you get a
great song released only as a b-side.
“Home Is Where the Heart Is” reaches seven minutes with its
enveloping psychedelic dub. Even now, it is not clear who plays on this
recording; Levene claims to have made loops of Wobble and Atkins’ playing and
created the track himself. A demo of the song from 1980, however, points to Wobble
and Atkins actually playing on the record, despite the songwriting credits
listing PiL’s first drummer, Jim Walker.
When I first heard it in 1981 it was like being sucked
into a sonic vacuum cleaner, Levene’s aggressive guitar picking and chording
swelling in and out of the mix, the hypnotic drum and bass, and Lydon’s simple
melody and lyrics which seem to be contrasting banal everyday life with a deep
emotional emergency.
I got the oven repaired; this
was security and luxury.
Home is where the heart is; the
daily paper and the carpet.
My body burns.
By geography, I’m not a stranger
My fingers burn my body burns
I’m practicing I’m separating.
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