Album: Album
Year: 1986
. . .
But of course, Johnny Lydon was too damn restless to stay in any place for very long, and so after Jah Wobble left, 1981’s The Flowers of Romance, was less bass-heavy, and 1984’s This is What You Want…This is What You Get, where Lydon wiped Keith Levene from the finished tracks and added shitty horns, and while it sported a relative hit, that relative hit was the dreadful “This Is Not A Love Song.”
So imagine my surprise a couple of later when Lydon released my favorite song of his entire solo career, the unlikely “Rise”, which somehow melds one of the greatest jazz drummers in history with one of the most overplaying guitarists with an old Irish folk saying and utterly anonymous mid-1980s production.
With it’s intentionally generic title and packaging, and big names like Ginger Backer, Steve Vai, Tony Williams, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Bernie Worrell assembled by producer Bill Laswell, Album was a weird beast.
But here’s the thing: there was nothing ever like the sound of Johnny Lydon’s voice, and even on the worst of his songs, it was totally compelling, and on “Rise,” it totally killed me.
I could be wrong I could be right
I could be black I could be white
I could be right I could be wrong
I could be white I could be black
Your time has come your second skin
The cost so high the gain so low
Walk through the valley
The written word is a lie
With Tony Williams providing a backbeat that could cut glass, Nicky Skopelitis jangling on the 12-string guitar. Shankar fluttering on his violin while Lydon chants his words, “Rise” is really more of a prayer than anything, especially on the chorus:
May the road rise with you
May the road rise with you
May the road rise with you
May the road rise with you
But it’s the second half of “Rise” that truly kills me. Steve Vai starts making all kinds of rude noise, which might be distracting, but at least for me, perfectly matches Lydon’s mantra, his credo, his ethos:
Anger is an energy
Anger is an energy
Anger is an energy
Anger is an energy
Anger is an energy
Anger is an energy
Anger is an energy
Anger is an energy
At the end, both Vai and Lydon take “Rise” completely off of the rails, the ugly rude noises they both make a complete contrast to both the utterly classic chorus and rock-sold rhythm section. And it’s that contrast I love: the opening of “Rise” is completely lovely, the ending is completely ugly, matching all of the lyrical contrasts he’s singing about. Wrong. Right. Black. White.
“Rise”
“Rise” music video
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