Track listing and review

Public Image Ltd , Never Mind The Public Image (Naked Sun Co. NSCCD-005-1/2/3)
Japanese 3 CD bootleg compilation.

Track listing
DISC ONE: Public Image - 1st Single / The Cowboy Song - 1st Single / Death Disco - 2nd Single / No Birds Do Sing - 2nd Single / Death Disco - 12" Remix / 1/2 Mega Mix - 12" Mix / Memories - Single Version - 3rd Single / Another - 3rd Single / Poptones - BBC Session / Careering - BBC Session / Chant - BBC Session / Flowers Of Romance - 4th Single / Instrumental - 4th Single / Home Is Where The Heart Is - 4th Single / Pied Piper - From [MACHINES] / Albatross - Unedited Monitor Mix
DISC TWO: Mad Max (Bad Life) / Love Song (This Is Not A Love Song) / Young Brits (Solitaire) / Bad Night / The Slab (The Order Of Death) / Lou Reed Pt.1 / Lou Reed Pt.2 / Blue Water / Miller Hi-Life / Love Song - 12" Mix Version / The Slab - Pre Order Of Death / Bad Night - Rough Mix / The Slab - Rough Mix / Love Song - Rough Mix / 1981 - Demo / Love Song - 12" Mix Version 2 / Death Disco - Unedited Monitor Mix
DISC THREE: Bad Life / Question Mark / Rise - 12" Mix / Selfish Rubbish / The Body - Us Mix / Angry / Warrior - Extended 12" Mix / Disappointed - Extended 12" Mix / Cruel - BBC Session / Acid Drops - BBC Session / Love Hope - BBC Session / Think Tank - BBC Session / Albatross - Merodorama Mix

Review by Glyn Powell
Starting with the sleeve art, it's a cross / pastiche of the Pistols' Bollocks and the Bollock Brothers' NMTB 1983 album. The back cover is purple & black with song titles in yellow blackmail letter font. Sadly, there is no info booklet which would have been good, but then again it'd probably all be in Japanese. The disc labels themselves are nothing too special, I'd have gone for the PiL logos like Plastic Box, but you can't have everything! There is also a classic Jap mis-spelling, "Merodrama Mix" on Albatross, Disc 3.

Now to the CD's themselves. The sound quality is excellent apart from a slight tape hiss on a few of the out-takes on Disc 2.

Disc One.
We have the early singles a & b-sides, starting with the 7" versions of the 1st three, (Public Image, Death Disco, Memories), the latter being a rather poor vinyl rip with some static, which is a shame and lets the side down a bit. After this there's the 12" Death Disco in all its glory and the Megga Mix b-side.

Next we have the three 1979 John Peel session tracks, which are excellent quality apart from a little drop in the high end on Chant. We then return to the singles with Flowers of Romance - both versions (the 7" and the instrumental from the 12"), plus b-side Home Is Where The Heart Is. Rounding off the disc is Pied Piper, the rare track from the Machines compilation, followed by the Albatross Monitor Mix from the John Lydon - Best of British... DVD.

Disc Two.
Tracks 1 - 9 are the complete Commercial Zone album on silver CD for the very first time! It's taken from a vinyl source but is clean sounding.

Next comes a real highlight of the 3CD set, some of the rarer out-takes that appeared early in 2006 in traders' circles. These are as follows:
Love Song 12" mix (note this sounds like the 83 single).
The Slab Pre-Order of Death is very different from Commercial Zone version, and has Lydon mumbling a vocal overdub.
Bad Night Rough Mix is a strange one with a double tracked Lydon vocal.
The Slab Rough Mix is a completely different song with no lyrics - an unused acoustic instrumental piece.
Love Song Rough Mix is the tune of Bad Night with improvised lyrics of Love Song/Bad Night, kind of a work in progress. 1981 Demo - this one's great! The Commercial Zone line-up is on this one - it must have been unused for the CZ album - the difference is it has a bass line unlike the cut on This Is What You Want LP.

Following the out-takes comes Love Song 12" Mix Version 2, which is the version from This Is What You Want. The disc finishes with another Best of British... DVD track, Death Disco Unedited Monitor Mix.

Disc Three.
The disc is basically odds & ends from the mid - late 80's period. Bad Life & Question Mark are here, followed by the 12" version of Rise (6:04), Selfish Rubbish (b-side of Seattle), Body US Mix, Angry US Mix, Warrior 12" Mix from the white label 12" (sound of horses at the start), and Disappointed 12" Mix (6:43).

The BBC Mark Goodier session is next, which was originally broadcast live on Radio One as opposed to a recorded session. On the original airing there was some banter between songs which isn't here. Lastly is another Best of British... DVD track, which creases me every time, the aforementioned Merodrama Mix of Albatross.

Overall, I'd say its a worthy collection to track down, and a good companion to Plastic Box.

Review by Glyn Powell (25th November 2006)

Please note:  Do not contact God Save The Sex Pistols in relation to purchasing this item. It is illegal to manufacture, distribute or sell bootleg or counterfeit recordings.