PiL’s 2nd, 5th LPs Going All Super-Duper

Deluxe, four-disc editions of PiL’s second album, 1979’s Metal Box (later issued with more conventional packaging as Second Edition) and fifth album, 1986’s generic Album (or Compact Disc or Cassette, depending on your format preference) are being reissued in deluxe versions by Universal/Virgin with loads of bonus material.

Along with the remastered original albums, each four-disc package (on LP or CD) will include B-sides and other rare tracks, BBC radio sessions, demos, alternate mixes and otherwise unreleased live performances from the respective time periods. Metal Box is generally regarded as the peak of John Lydon’s post-Pistols/post-punk iconoclasm, while the Bill Laswell-produced Album brought a more pronounced (and conventional) hard rock wail to the forefront, with guest players including Steve Vai and Ginger Baker.

Metal Box will even be housed in a metal tin, albeit a square one this time, not a round film tin. Both are due out on October 28th.