Sex Pistols – “The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle”
The Sex Pistols are considered to be one of the most influential punk bands of all time, inspiring such acts as Joy Division, Magazine, The Fall, Buzzcocks, The Smiths, Nirvana, Greenday… the list goes on. One of the most important shows the Pistols ever played was at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester, June 4th 1976. Tonight, the Sex Pistols are doing a show in my city, I am going. Now, obviously, Johnny Rotten isn’t fond of the Pistols, so it’ll sans Rotten, but I am eager to hear Frank Carter perform the songs.
Now, I could’ve definitely done a write-up of their album “Nevermind the Bullocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols” because that is really their one true album. The rests are bootlegs or compilations, or in this case, a soundtrack. “The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle” carries many stories with me from the time I got it for Christmas from my mother in my early teens, to watching it with my grandmother a few days after. Or, when my friend in the eighth grades, super conservative parents found out I snuck it into their house. I’ve watched the movie many times over the years, and enjoyed it with many friends. I feel it really the Sex Pistols in a way that no other release they’ve done has, because this selection of songs really captures the essence of Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock, who to me are really the Sex Pistols.
The album opens with the orchestral version of “God Save the Queen (Symphony)” – with the spoken word intro from the film by Malcolm McLaren, as he explains who each member of the band is. I got this version a few years ago from a seller on Discogs, now it wasn’t the version I had originally purchased but he ended up mixing up copies and sending me this one, which isn’t the complete soundtrack. We go into the title song, “The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle” which essentially was a try-out session for a new vocalist for the Sex Pistols, and most of the singers aren’t really anyone we know, except for one, Edward Tudor-Pole (of Tenpole Tudor) who’s voice distinctly stands out over every other vocalist. The album does drift away from the punk sound for a song (or two) to give us Malcolm McLaren singing the song “You Need Hands” (by Max Bygraves) and to see Malcolm perform it in the film and hear him singing it, I can still clear as day see him dancing around as he sings. Now one of my favorite Jones / Cook songs comes next, “Silly Thing” which is performed by Paul Cook, (though it was later released as a single with Steve Jones on vocals), this song was recorded after Johnny Rotten left the band, and I guess Sid too, as Steve Jones plays the bass on this song as well. I find this song to be one of the heavy hitters of this album. But we don’t end there, we get Steve Jones on vocals for “Lonely Boy” and it’s a fantastic song, which you really hear that Jones / Cook sound. In my opinion, Jones / Cook can easily be considered to be in the top ten greatest song writing duos. The bass and drumming in this song are phenomenal. What else do you do when your lead singer quits your band? Get every member to sing, Sid Vicious closes out the A-Side with a cover of Eddie Cochran’s “Something Else” and it is another one of the songs, where if you have seen the movie as many times as I have, you can literally envision the scene when the song is performed. It’s fantastic.
We open the B-Side with Edward Tudor-Pole singing his version of “Rock Around the Clock” which features bells, screams, whistles and what sounds like a honky-tonk piano in the background. Is it as good as the original version of the song? Debateable. Sid Vicious returns with a cover of yet another Eddie Cochran song, the bass on it, it’s thick. The guitar playing is on point. Paul Cook is just one of the best punk drummers. Sid, not a bad singer. Completely unrelated story, but back in 2008 I was in New York City for a class field trip and we stopped a little diner down by the Chelsea, and I had my leather shoulder bag which had Sid and Nancy on it, I got stopped by the doorman at this little diner we were eating in who told me I shouldn’t wear that bag because neither of them were good people, and that he knew them both personally. Of course, my response was “Can I get a picture with you?” to which he promptly told me “No.” “Who Killed Bambi?” comes next, with Edward Tudor-Pole on vocals, and this song was written by Edward and fashion designer, Vivienne Westwood, who was also very much involved in the marketing of the Sex Pistols alongside Malcolm McLaren. I’m not too fond about how the song does the intro at the end of the song ago. “No One is Innocent” comes next, and once again, when your lead singer quits, what do you do? You get one of the Great Train Robbers to sing the lead vocals, and that is just what Ronnie Biggs does, Steve Jones’ vocals really stand out on the backing chorus, his guitar playing is very distinct. I think Steve Jones and Paul Cook just have that sound that no matter what they play, you just can tell it’s them. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll wish you hadn’t when that song comes on. Now, next up, is supposed to be the French version of “Anarchy in the UK” (“L’Anarchie Pour Le UK” which was recorded by a trio of street musicians, sometimes credited as Jerizmy or Louis Brennon) but instead, we get an alternate take of the song sung by Johnny Rotten (his only appearance on the album, aside from song writing credits). We close the album out with Sid Vicious performing a cover of Frank Sinatra’s (Paul Anka / Claude Francois) “My Way” which starts with Sid mockingly singing out of tune before we are greeted with Steve Jones’ guitar riff before Sid goes into some of the most sincere punk vocals, that has stood the test of time. It’s also one of the few UK Top 10 Hits to feature the word ‘cunt‘.
The film was shown at the wake of Ian Curtis of Joy Division.
Catalog Number:
V2168
Credits:
Vocals (B1 / B3) – Edward Tudor-Pole (credited as Ten Pole Tudor)
Front Cover – Animation City
Back Cover – Pearce Marchbank
Released:
1980
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