''Psycho's Path'' is a studio album by

John Lydon John Joseph Lydon ( ; born 31 January 1956), also known by his former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a British-born singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. He was the lead vocalist of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, which was ...

, released by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

in 1997. It is his only solo album. Lydon sang on all the songs and played most of the instruments, with additional guitars and keyboards supplied by Martin Lydon and Mark Saunders.

Production

The album was mostly recorded in John Lydon's basement studio at his home in Los Angeles. Several remixes from

the Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands in Manchester in 1992. They were pioneers in bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture. Originally known as The Dust Brothers, th ...

Moby Richard Melville Hall (September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, disc jockey, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "amo ...

Leftfield Leftfield are a British electronic music group formed in London in 1989, a duo of Neil Barnes and Paul Daley (the latter formerly of The Rivals and A Man Called Adam). The duo was influential in the evolution of electronic music in the 1990s ...

and Danny Saber were added to the album at the request of

to lengthen the album and attract the listeners of the dance-club hit " Open Up" by

, which was remixed by the Chemical Brothers for the album.

Release

released the album and gave little, if any, commercial support for its release. A tour supporting the album was started and ended after only a few dates because of Lydon's anger for the lack of support.

Music video

A music video for "Sun" was created with Lydon dancing and lip-synching in front of a blue screen. The video's premise is that of postcards which tell the story of a man who poisons his adulterous wife and ends up dancing on her grave. The

mix of the song was used for the music video, instead of Lydon’s original.

Critical reception

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' wrote that the album "features ydon'smost dissonant noises since PiL's 1981 ''

The Flowers of Romance (album) ''The Flowers of Romance'' is the third studio album by English post-punk band Public Image Ltd, released on 10 April 1981 by Virgin Records. The group's first studio album recorded following the departure of bassist Jah Wobble, ''The Flowers o ...

''."

Track listing

All songs written by John Lydon. #"Grave Ride" – 4:27 #"Dog" – 5:22 #"Psychopath" – 4:29 #"Sun" – 3:57 #"Another Way" – 6:08 #"Dis-Ho" – 4:43 #"Take Me" – 3:11 #"A No and a Yes" – 5:56 #"Stump" – 4:51 #"Armies" – 3:30 #" Open Up" (

The Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands in Manchester in 1992. They were pioneers in bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture. Originally known as The Dust Brothers, th ...

Mix Edit) – 4:58 #"Grave Ride" (Moby Mix) – 6:32 #"Sun" (Leftfield Mix) – 4:13 #"Psychopath" (Leftfield Mix) – 4:18 #"Stump" (Danny Saber Mix) – 5:47

Personnel

– production,

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

, keyboards,

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, programming *Martin Lydon –

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, guitar, keyboards *Mark Saunders – production, guitar, keyboards

References

External links

Psycho's Path Micro-Site
{{Authority control John Lydon albums 1997 debut albums Virgin Records albums Albums produced by Mark Saunders (record producer) Albums produced by Moby