The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle [Soundtrack]

Forget objectivity this album is so obviously an insult to it's intended audience that it's beyond a joke.Then why do i find it so incredibly entertaining then? Punk rock always had a sense of the ridiculous.That was often missed by it's detractors but as it was an antedote to the po faced mush that preceeded it we can understand that.It's a mixed bag based on a film that was never really a film and contains all kinds of curios that many Pistols purists still find beneath contempt.As a collection of music it is fine, and like it or not, a part of the Pistols legend.

The Sex Pistols 'biopoc' film 'The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle' was cobbled together from various failed film projects after the band had split [with Eddie 'Ten Pole Tudor' taking Johnny Rottens uncooperative place], and the films soundtrack spawned two LP records - the nearest thing to the Sex Pistol's second studio album, but actually nothing of the sort. Great raucous fun though from the Sex Pistols and their mates, and often surprisingly sharply delivered.

I was 18 when this anarchic double album 'The Great Rock-n-Roll Swindle' was released [2 years after Punks anthem album: 'Never Mind the Bollocks']. I absolutely loved this double LP set - and the accompanying movie [particularly Irene Handle standing tastefully in the background]. But then I was a young(ish) punk [the target audience], and all my records were '20 of a different kind'. I bought this `Great Rock-and-Roll Swindle' double album knowing that my mother, father, aunts, uncles, and grandparents still absolutely loathed The Sex Pistols with a passion.....I mean how cool was that!

Granted the album was an endearing mess, with even the album tracks on the cover not corresponding with their order on the LPs - although the LP labels do say "Sorry about incorrect listing on sleeve - it's another swindle". For me `Never mind the bollocks' had already done all the anti-establishment stuff. And after all the Sex Pistols had shamelessly self-promoted themselves by being as rude, shocking and noisy as possible. At the time `Never mind the Bollocks' was banned from some record shop windows, with the law even sitting in judgement on whether the album cover was obscene [apparently the word was just Anglo-Saxon for a small handball, so no it wasn't]. In the era of `decency', Mary Whitehouse and a total swearing ban on TV, the Sex Pistols shocked - and in many ways deliberately so as part of their `great rock-and-roll swindle'. Any publicity is good publicity and their fame/infamy rapidly meant money, success and influence for them [Glen Matlock, their original musical architect and songwriter, was 'sacked' early on for allegedly liking The Beatles but more likely for valuing pop over posing] - but fortunately the Sex Pistols also had the raw energy and talent to deliver the goods. In this 'Swindle' double album the Sex Pistols are their honest selves, musically mooning at their fans and neither giving a t*ss. As one mature reviewer of the time said at the end of his review: "after playing this Sex Pistols album, every other record in your collection seems tame".....

For the Punk purist, please note that this CD version has been heavily edited from the original, and the correct order of the tracks from the 1979 album should be:

Side One: God Save The Queen (Symphony) / Johnny B. Goode / Road Runner / Black Arabs / Anarchy In The U.K.
Side Two: Substitute / (Don't Give Me) No Lip Child / (I'm not your) Stepping Stone / Anarchie Pour L'U.K. / Belsen Was A Gas / Einmal Belsen War Wirflich Bortefflich (Belsen Vos A Gassa)
Side Three: Silly Thing / My Way / I Wanna Be Me / Something Else / Rock Around The Clock / Lonely Boy / No One Is Innocent
Side Four: C'mon Everybody / E.M.I. (Orchestral version) / The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle / Friggin' In The Riggin' / You Need Hands / Who Killed Bambi

From memory, the above order roughly follows the correct order of the tracks within the film [this 'album' is just the movie soundtrack after all]. Apparently back in 1979 the double album was released in 2 versions with varying track listings, with the above [from my LPs] being the most common vinyl track order. To get the album as nature intended, avoid this edited CD and download the correct version of 'The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle' [Explicit] as an MP3 offering from Amazon instead [or there is an expensive but complete 'import CD']. Despite their massive influence on popular culture, the Sex Pistols were only around from November 1975 to January 1978.

With the departure of Johnny Rotten, the Sex Pistols should have been no more, and this album is excellent proof of that. It is mostly novelty songs and songs sung by other members of the band, but there is nothing that comes even close to anything that was sung/snarled by Johnny Rotten.

Let me ask you this - if it wasn't for the name 'Sex Pistols' on the front, would you buy and album of mostly cover versions sung by the other members of the band or their manager after the singer left, filled in with some accordian music and badly recorded rehearsals? I think not, and I regretted buying it on vinyl all those years ago for exactly these reasons. Never Mind the Bollocks was an awesome album, but this is only the Sex Pistols in name.

Go and buy Never Mind the Bollocks instead, it's a million times better!