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Rating: After Jah Wobble's departure, the band turned to even more extreme influences and conceived a follow-up with that absurd masterpiece that was "Flowers of Romance" (L.P. Virgin Records, 1981). Three years later, John Lydon and Keith Levene clashed during a tour, leading to the latter's departure in favor of the singer's leadership. In doing so, Lydon reaffirmed once and for all that the project (by now) was becoming increasingly his own personal solo projection, rich with mutations and new directions.
With a new band of anonymous musicians but with new songs co-signed by Levene, he moved away forever from the New Wave to introduce his beloved project into the realm of 80s Pop-Rock. Of course, it was all done in his own way, the Lydon way, with a naïve yet interesting and brilliant sense of catchiness. "This Is Not A Love Song" was released a few months earlier as a single, hitting the charts with its Dance vibe as seductive as it was intensely provocative: the intention was still leaning towards the Punk spirit. Other good examples on the album are "Solitaire" and "Bad Life", which opens with a wobbly and resonant Funk, finally completing P.I.L.'s "danceable" influences and introducing the album with decent non-elegance. A track like "The Order Of Death" showcases an atmospheric sensitivity in contrast with the album; others like "The Pardon" or "Where Are You?" do not hide the continual desire to experiment, which has always been a constant and distinctive underlying feature since the early albums.
With a renewed style and overflowing creativity, "This Is What You Want...This Is What You Get" showed the world that Johnny had once again amazed us, even without Levene, even without the New Wave, relying solely on his (good) musical instincts that belonged to him. He gave us a further evolution of the P.I.L. sound, charting the course for an even more different future, perhaps too different for those who loved the blazing beginnings in the name of Post-Punk.
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