Sleeve
notes written by Scott Murphy
Track
by Track
Extended Track Listing InformationDisc
1 Studio & Early Demos
Disc 2 Demos & Rarities
Disc
3 Live
Disc 1 - Studio Tracks & Early
Demos
Holidays in the Sun
Cook/Jones/Rotten/Vicious
Published by Warner
Chappell Music Ltd
Taken from the LP Never Mind the Bollocks
Produced by Chris Thomas
Engineered by Bill Price
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London, June 1977
John:
We tried our holiday in the sun on the Isle of Jersey, and that didn't work. They
threw us out. Being in London at the time made us feel like we were trapped in
a prison camp environment. There was hatred and constant threat of violence. The
best thing we could do was to go set up in a prison camp somewhere else. Berlin
and its decadence was a good idea. The song came about from that. I loved Berlin.
I loved the wall and the insanity of the place. The communists looked in on the
circus atmosphere of West Berlin, which never went to sleep, and that would be
their impression of the West. I loved it.
Steve:
Holidays in the Sun was inspired by our trip to Berlin, by the wall,
where it was raining and depressing. We had to escape from London at the time,
the song pretty well sums up the trip.
Bodies
Cook/Jones/Rotten/Vicious
Published by Warner Chappell Music
Ltd
Taken from the LP Never Mind the Bollocks
Produced by Chris Thomas
Engineered by Bill Price
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London, August 1977
Paul:
You had to keep your distance from Pauline. She was a mad fan who used to turn
up everywhere. She was dangerous and very crazy, someone you really had to worry
about. She was a pretty girl, but she had these really mad eyes.
Steve:
Everything, tune and lyrics inspired by the infamous Pauline from Birmingham.
The girl with the crazy look who would follow us around. The mad opening of the
song still reminds me of her.
John:
Pauline was a girl who used to send these letters to me from some nuthouse up
north in Birmingham. She was in mental asylum. She turned up at my door once wearing
a see-through plastic bag. She did the rounds in London and ended up at everybody's
door. There's a line in the song about Pauline living in a tree. She actually
had a treehouse on the estate of this nuthouse. The nurses couldn't get her down
and she'd be up there for days. Apparently, punk rock pulled her out of her cocoon...
She might have had wealthy parents who buggered up her life, probably like Nancy
Spungen really. She was one of many lunatics that used to attach themselves to
us.
No
Feelings
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music
Ltd
Taken from the LP Never Mind the Bollocks
Produced by Chris Thomas
Engineered by Bill Price
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London April/May 1977
John:
No Feelings originally came from a Steve Jones riff. It would work
this way. One night someone would have an idea and then everyone else would just
build around it until it was done. It's a haphazard way, but thats the way
it was. You don't need to be technically proficient at your so-called art to write
songs. If you are musically proficient, usually you won't be any good at writing
songs because you won't be able to express your feelings. You'll be bogged down
in the technology of note perfections, set patterns and set ideas.
Glen:
Very rock 'n' roll, courtesy of Steve. Knocked into the overdrive by John's
blatant vocal. This was probably the only fast song we had. If you listen to anything
by the Pistols youll be surprised how slow it is. No Feelings
is quite fast, the rest are medium paced.
Steve:
This came together so easy. I came in, going mad on guitar, John went mad on
vocals and that was it... easy.
Liar
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music
Ltd
Taken from the LP Never Mind the Bollocks
Produced by Chris Thomas
Engineered by Bill Price
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London, April/May 1977
Paul:
We never used to believe anybody then. 'Liar' was one of the earliest songs that
John and Glen worked on together. It was the friction in the band that made it
work well.
John:
Self explanatory, really, considering the manager we were working with...
Glen:
At a gig inside Chelmsford Maximum Security Prison, John announced this as
being about then Prime Minister Harold Wilson. I was pretty relieved as I thought
he was having a poke at me.
God
Save The Queen
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell
Music Ltd
Taken from the LP Never Mind the Bollocks
Produced by Chris Thomas
Engineered by Bill Prices
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London, March 1977
Paul:
It started with Glen's bass riff. Steve got hold of it, then I started playing.
Suddenly John came up with 'God Save The Queen.' We thought, What's this? It wasn't
written specifically for the Queen's Jubilee. We weren't aware of it at the time.
It wasn't a contrived effort to go out and shock everyone. No way. It didn't even
click there was a Jubilee coming up.
John:
The whole thing was written in one go. I had the lyrics ready. I wrote them
a while back, but never used them. The words didn't fit in with any of the other
tunes. I didn't think it would ever fit to anything. It was more like a big tirade.
It was excellent that it did fit in with the pattern that Glen had. Steve fell
into it very quickly. Paul aided and abetted it very quickly with the drums.
Glen: The main riff was something I found piddling around on the piano,
while we recorded the aborted version of 'Anarchy'. I had a pretty fixed idea
of how the tune should go, but John had other plans.
Steve:
One of my favourites. I liked the chaos surrounding this record! Recorded after
just two takes, with guitar and drums, like most of the other tracks.
Problems
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music Ltd
Taken from the LP Never Mind the Bollocks
Produced by Chris Thomas
Engineered by Bill Price
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London, April/May 1977
John:
We had run out of ideas for songs, a major problem. The idea was put to Steve,
the guitar hero of the band, who couldn't come up with any riffs at all that particular
evening, to put something together using an A, B, C, and D chord sequence. As
the song progressed it got better. The cynicism of the title and the chords being
A, B, C, D is still there. We didn't add any bridges. We were very good at burning
them though.
Glen:
Real bad mood at Denmark Street, nothing happening, I played the first thing that
came into my head to get things going and Paul immediately picked up on it and
we had the main riff. Steve had this idea which became the chorus and John supplied
the lyric, real spontaneous.
Steve:
A simple chord sequence, which I still like. The same goes for the lyrics.
We had plenty of problems at the time.
Seventeen
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music Ltd
Taken from the LP Never Mind the Bollocks
Produced by Chris Thomas
Engineered by Bill Price
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London, April/May 1977
John:
It was originally called 'Lazy Sod'. The song was already set up by the others
before I came along. I remember laughing at Steve's original words. I couldnt
read the original set of lyrics, and Steve couldn't remember them. Everything
was misspelled. I'm all alone, Give a dog a bone. That was one of
the original lines.
It was about being young, having nothing to do, and going
through the typical emotions that every seventeen year old goes through. You are
lazy, you don't see any future, and you really dont care. You give up before
you even begin. Everybody goes through that period. Unfortunately most English
people stay there.
Glen:
Another pretty early effort, both music and initial lyrics being down to Steve.
However, John got hold of it and put in a much higher orbit... I always thought
it funny-peculiar that despite our youth, we still felt obliged to knock a year
or two off our ages in the early interviews.
Anarchy
In The UK
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music
Ltd
Taken from the LP Never Mind the Bollocks
Produced by Chris Thomas
Engineered by Bill Price
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London, October 1976
Glen:
I had this idea for a sort of 'theme tune' and had been knocking ideas about at
home, but nothing concrete. We'd had yet another ruck about who and who wasn't
pulling their weight. Steve was short of ideas and snapped at me, You're
so fucking clever, what have you got!? Well, not a lot, but he'd well and
truly put me on the spot, so with this vague fanfare idea in mind, I jammily came
up with the whole chord sequence, there and then. John came up with these amazing
lyrics half an hour later, the rest, history. The only thing that bugged me about
this was the dreadful 'Antichrist' / 'Anarcheeest' rhyme...
Steve:
Glen came up with a clever riff. Ditto John's lyrics. I turned up the guitar and
thrashed away. Paul somehow held it all together, a classic.
John:
I kept really quiet that evening. I had written the words down while they
were in the corner arguing. I used to have terrible trouble rehearsing because
I was so fucking shy about it. I always wanted to be brilliant, excellent, loved
and adored right from the start. When I finally finished the words, Glen was absolutely
furious. He thought it was appalling and a silly idea for a song. I proved him
right.
Paul:
It was Glen's riff originally, and Steve beefed it up. Glen felt a little precious
about it being his song. He was upset about Johns terrain being thrown over
the top. John and Glen had such different ideas, and Steve and I were in the middle.
But I thought the tension was working. 'Anarchy' was the classic example of everything
working perfectly.
Submission
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell
Music Ltd
Taken from the LP Never Mind the Bollocks
Produced by Chris Thomas
Engineered by Bill Price
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London, June 1977
John:
We were in Camden Town rehearsing at the Roundhouse for a small period. The
arguments between Glen and me became severe by this time. Malcolm finally insisted
we go to a small pub upstairs and sit down and work it all out. We did. We were
given 20 quid to sit down and get drunk and put our differences aside. The result
was we both got along on the Doors. The Doors was the common ground, we found
a band we, shockingly, both liked.
Paul:
'Submission' had a classic riff that's been done millions of times before. We
slowed it down. It was similar to that Doors riff in Hello I Love You,
The Whos Cant Explain, and the early Kinks. We made it
more subversive.
Glen:
This was an early one. Malcolm had been constantly nagging me to write a song
about bondage, How about calling it Submission? I told John about
Malcolm's idea and we both groaned about it.. A couple of minutes passed and with
a wicked gleam in his eye John said, How about a submarine mission?
Take the piss and shut Malcolm up in one fell swoop. We sat there and traded lines.
John:
Malcolm gave us a list of words and ideas. It was so funny. One of the words
was submissive. We turned it into Sub Mission, a submarine
mission. Glen and I enjoyed the humour of it all I dont think Malcolm did.
That was the first and last managerial musical intrusion ever.
Pretty
Vacant
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music
Ltd
Taken from the LP Never Mind the Bollocks
Produced by Chris Thomas
Engineered by Bill Prices
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London, March 1977
Glen:
Well before 'Anarchy', this was the flag we waved. To cut a long story short,
I was short of a riff. Abba's SOS. came on the jukebox and hey presto!
I had it. But you've got to know where to look... I wrote the lyrics, apart from
a couple of lines John later changed. Id written something like, If
you dont like it, stick it up your bum. John changed it to, Stick
your cheap comment, we know were for real. Which is a far better lyric.
Paul:
Glen reckons the original riff was influenced by Abba's 'SOS.' I can't see
how he worked that out. Its about being young and hanging around being vacant.
Steve:
A Great intro with lots of layered guitars and great chorus, which I really
beefed up. I liked to beef up Glen's tunes.
John:
Steve toughened it up because the original guitar line was very sissy. Glen
wanted it to be very nice. My accent would have been on Vacant. Glen's
would have been on Pretty. Va-cunt is me all over. I love
to play with words and throw them into different arenas. They didn't mind it on
the radio because they didn't know.
New
York
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music
Ltd
Taken from the LP Never Mind the Bollocks
Produced by Chris Thomas
Engineered by Bill Price
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London, April/May 1977
Paul:
Malcolm had this big thing about the New York Dolls. He loved New York and thought
it was all so great, he'd been there once. New York' was originally Steve's
riff and John came up with the lyrics to wind up Malcolm.
John:
The only thing anyone knew about this so-called New York scene was what Malcolm
would tell us. It was hard to listen to the same old stories night after night,
slightly changed each time. It got blown out of all proportion and the mythology
of it became unbearable. The song is a reaction to that. It used to be spectacular
fun to play the song live. The folks at the Longhorn Ballroom in Texas had the
same opinion as us about New York. Everything that came out of there was poetry
based and too arty. These people were much older than us and had more old-fashioned
attitudes, they still do!
Glen:
The original bass-line and chords started out as a 60's spy TV theme effort, a
bit like 'Danger Man' or something. John mercilessly crucified the New York scene
and that was the size of it.
EMI
Unlimited Edition
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell
Music Ltd
Taken from the LP Never Mind the Bollocks
Produced by Chris Thomas
Engineered by Bill Price
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London, March 1977
John:
I recommended a lousy record company every time you run out of songs. The material
is glorious. It's one of my faves of the lot. Again, it's not done in the way
a song technically should be. These songs break so many traditions of songwriting.
Isn't it funny? After sacking the Pistols, EMI ends up with them again 25 years
later.
Glen:
Steve's baby, but the original bass-line was cool...
Paul:
We weren't trying to be clever. Just blatant. EMI. You know what this is about.
Direct.
I
Wanna Be Me
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell
Music Ltd
Taken from the B-side of Anarchy in the UK 7 single
Produced
by Dave Goodman
Originally recorded at Denmark Street rehearsal room, London,
July 1976
Mixed/Overdubbed at Riverside Studios, London, July 1976
Paul:
We worked on this song at our rehearsal studio in Denmark Street, a famous musical
area in London. It was just an old shack out the back of Tin Pan Alley. We'd be
there every night rehearsing and writing songs. The rehearsal room was downstairs,
and there was a living dump upstairs. Steve used to stay there a lot because he
didn't have anywhere to live. Glen, John and I used to stay there on and off.
Glen:
Simple music. Paperback writer lyrics; the 'Nick Kents' of this world.
Steve:
Another early tune recorded in our rehearsal room in Denmark Street, our base
at the time, where we'd meet, hang out and fight!
No Feeling
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell
Music Ltd
Taken from the B-side of withdrawn A&M God Save the Queen 7
single
Produced by Dave Goodman
Originally recorded at Denmark Street
rehearsal room, London, July 1976
Mixed/Overdubbed at Riverside Studios, London,
July 1976
Although
the Sex Pistols were only signed to A&M for little over a week in March 1977.
The company had went ahead with pressing up Chris Thomas new mix of God
Save The Queen. Backed by Dave Goodmans July 1976 version of No
Feeling (sic). The single was never released. However, 25,000 were pressed
before A&M ordered all copies destroyed. Despite of this some copies escaped,
and now fetch anything up to £3,000 with record collectors.
Did
You No Wrong
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell
Music Ltd
Taken from the B-side of God Save the Queen 7 single
Produced
by Chris Thomas
Engineered by Bill Price
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London,
March 1977
Paul:
Did You No Wrong' was one of the only songs that came along before John
joined. We were just learning still. We finally recorded it properly at Wessex
for the B-side of 'God Save The Queen.'
John:
I changed the lyrics because I didn't like the niceties of the song. It's a News
Of The World epic, which is a fairly good indication of where I was heading. Completely
anti-social.
Glen:
Wally Nightingales dad wrote the lyrics to our first song, Scarface.
They were truly horrendous, Scarface, Scarface, Scarred from ear to ear,
Scarface, The girls dont even care. Terrible. We knew they had to
go so we messed about with it. In time John added some new words. But we stuck
with the same tune that Wally had come up with. You can hear The Faces influence.
Its a real Ron Wood lick, which was what Wally was all about.
Steve:
One of our early songs. A bit of an old-fashioned riff, but a good one. We
would open the set with this at the first gigs.
No Fun (unedited)
The Stooges
Published by Warner Chappell Music Ltd
Taken from the B-side of Pretty Vacant 7 single
Produced
by Dave Goodman
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London, October 1976
At nearly seven minutes the original Dave Goodman take of No Fun wouldnt
fit onto a 7 single. So it was decided to edit it down to 6:32. The version
included here is the original unedited 6:58 take.
John:
No Fun is a song I love. We made up that version on the spot. I always
wanted to do it. I asked Steve to learn the riff, which he did very quickly. Paul
filled in, and it went on from there. I hummed and hawed around the words because
I didnt quite know them. Thats fairly typical of me. While I love
the feel of No Fun , I dont like the actual lyrics. I think
theyre flippant in some places while they can be very astute in others.
No fun was definitely what we were having at that particular time.
Satellite
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music Ltd
Taken from the B-side of Holidays in the Sun 7 single
Produced
by Chris Thomas
Engineered by Bill Price
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London,
April/May 1977
John:
Its the story of the travelling nonsense, around the satellite towns of
London, and picking up enough money to survive for a day or two. We had to do
it, but in a way, that's what built the Sex Pistols crowd. They came from all
those godforsaken new towns; Milton Keynes, St Albans. As bad as it was
in London for young people, they had nothing at all in the satellite towns. No
social scene, nothing.
Paul:
There was another reason we liked playing a bit further out. There was a bit of
a buzz about the band before we even played a gig. It was ridiculous. We were
this band that had something to do with Malcolm and the Sex Boutique, and Seditionaries.
We wanted to do some gigs for ourselves, get together as a band and beat each
other up on a transport van away from the motorway.
John:
We didn't have Malcolm McLaren's friends turning up at those gigs. At that time
it was just a clothes horse display by that lot. None of the band wanted to be
a part of that.
--------------------------------------------------------
Problems
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell
Music Ltd
Pretty
Vacant
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music
Ltd
No
Feelings
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music
Ltd
Chris Spedding Demo Sessions
Produced by Chris Spedding
Recorded at Majestic
Studios, London, May 1976
With
growing record company interest in the Pistols it was decided a demo tape was
needed. Through his connections with McLaren, guitarist and producer Chris Spedding
who'd recently had a hit with 'Motorbiking' and had worked with the likes
of Brian Eno was given the task of capturing the band's sound. Spedding
picked three original tracks from the Pistols growing repertoire to showcase to
perspective record companies Problems', (I'm So) 'Pretty Vacant' &,
'No Feelings'.
Despite the band's naivety in the studio, they were far from
intimidated by the 24 track Majestic Studio, and the three tracks were recorded
in little more than five hours. Things went so smoothly that Spedding commented
they were recorded more or less on first take. He would get the band to rehearse,
and without them realising, would press the record button. He then added a couple
of overdubs and that was that. The only slight problem Spedding had was with No
Feelings. He suggested for the band to play the track a little slower than
normal. However, they started off slow and then sped up to their usual speed.
If you listen to this version you can hear the evidence.
Rumour had it at
the time Spedding played guitar on these demos, this is not the case. As Paul
Cook later countered, Spedding cant play as good as that...
Disc 2 - Demo & Rarities
Pretty
Vacant
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music
Ltd
Submission
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music Ltd
Dave Goodman Demo Sessions I
Produced by Dave Goodman
Originally recorded
at Denmark Street, Rehearsal Room, London, July 1976
Mixed/Overdubbed at Riverside
Studios, London, July 1976
Dave
Goodman had worked as the Pistols live soundman since April 1976. He knew their
sound better than most, and was asked to produce their next set of demos. Pretty
Vacant, Lazy Sod (aka 17), Satellite, Submission,
No Feelings, I Wanna Be Me & Anarchy in the
UK were recorded at these sessions. Submission & Pretty
Vacant complete with Steve Jones Beatles piss-take spoken intro
are included here.
The original sessions were conducted on a 4 track mixing
desk at the Pistols Denmark Street rehearsal rooms. They were later mixed and
overdubbed at Riverside Studios in Chiswick (note: This is not the same Riverside
Studios the fledgling Sex Pistols had used for rehearsals prior to Rottens
arrival).
I Wanna Be Me from this session later turned up as
the B-side of the Anarchy in the UK single. While the version No
Feelings would have been the B-side of the withdrawn A&M God Save
The Queen single (see disc 1).
--------------------------------------------------------
Anarchy In The UK
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner
Chappell Music Ltd
Dave Goodman Anarchy Sessions
Produced by Dave Goodman
Recorded
at Wessex Studios, London, October 1976
This
was the second version of Anarchy in the UK Dave Goodman recorded
with the band. The first being back at the July 1976 Denmark St sessions. This
take from October originally intended for release as a single is a much
rawer version than would later be released. The band sound harder, and Rotten
screams his way from the Vinyl quotation number 1 intro right through
to the Get pissed, Destroy ending. EMI obviously had their doubts
about its commercial appeal.
These sessions didnt go well, with
the band spending nearly ten days trying to record the single. First at Lansdowne,
then at Wessex Studios in Highbury. Frustration crept in with Goodmans approach,
and it was decided to abort the session. Chris Thomas would later take over on
production from Goodman.
--------------------------------------------------------
Substitute
Pete
Townsend
Published by Fabulous Music Ltd
(Dont
Give Me) No Lip
Thomas/Richards
Published by Shapiro Bernstein &
Co Ltd
(Im
Not Your) Stepping Stone
Boyce/Hart
Published by Screen-Gems-EMI Music
Ltd
Johnny
B Goode
Chuck Berry
Published by Jewel Music Publishing Ltd
Road
Runner
Jonathan Richman
Published by Castle Music Ltd
Whatcha Gonna Do About it?
Potter/Samwell
Published by Fanfare
Music Ltd
Through
My Eyes
Garner/Phillips
Published by EMI United Partnership Ltd
Dave Goodman Anarchy Rehearsal Sessions
Produced by Dave Goodman
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London, October 1976
To
warm up, while desperately trying to record Anarchy In The UK, at
Wessex in October 1976 the band would run through their rehearsal set. Which still
included many cover versions. More of a jam session than intended demo tracks
some of these tracks were recorded by Dave Goodman.
Substitute
(The Who), Whatcha Gonna Do About it (Small Faces), Road Runner
(Jonathan Richman), No Lip (Dave Berry) & Stepping Stone
(Monkees) were part of the bands live staple for sometime prior to Rottens
arrival. Through My Eyes (The Creation) was introduced to rehearsals
by Rotten himself. Johnny B Goode (Chuck Berry) was more of a spur
of the moment piss-take captured forever on tape. No Fun (The Stooges)
which later ended up as the B-side of Pretty Vacant also
came from this session.
--------------------------------------------------------
Anarchy In The UK
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner
Chappell Music Ltd
Rejected version of the Anarchy in the UK 7 single
Produced
by Chris Thomas
Engineered by Bill Price
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London,
October 1976
As stated earlier, EMI had their doubts about Dave Goodman
as producer. So Chris Thomas was brought in to re-record Anarchy in the
UK, yet again... Thomas had previously worked with Roxy Music, and Kilburn
and the High Roads. Both of whom the band were fans of. Paul Cook in particular
pushed for them to use Thomas due to his Roxy connections. This is the rejected
first version of the single with Thomas producing. Fairly similar to the released
single this version features a well over-the-top, non-punk, guitar solo from Steve
Jones at the end of the second chorus. I just told him to go crazy
Thomas sheepishly recalls.
--------------------------------------------------------
No Feelings (instrumental)
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published
by Warner Chappell Music Ltd
No Future (God Save the Queen)
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music Ltd
Liar
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music Ltd
Problems
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music Ltd
Mike Thorne Demo Sessions
Produced by Mike Thorne
Recorded at Manchester
Square Studios, London, December 1976
Mike
Thorne was one of the A&R men responsible for getting the Sex Pistols signed
to EMI. Although Thorne was never meant as a producer he still managed to get
the band to record four demo tracks in one day, something of an achievement.
After the release of the first single, and in between the furore of the Bill Grundy
incident, the Pistols went into a small 8 track studio in the basement of EMIs
Manchester Square offices to record a selection of demos. EMI showed such trust
in the Pistols that they ordered the security guards to lock all the doors surrounding
the studio!
This embryonic version of No Future, later rechristened
God Save The Queen, runs to over five minutes. The song is still definitely
work in progress, with Rotten even using rhymes about Windowlene to
help fill the lyric track.
--------------------------------------------------------
New
York
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music
Ltd
God
Save The Queen
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell
Music Ltd
Dave Goodman Demo Sessions II
Produced by Dave Goodman
Recorded at Gooseberry
Studios, London, January 1977
Mixed at Eden Studios, London
On their
acrimonious departure from EMI in early January 1977 the band were herded into
the studio to take their mind off the growing post-Bill Grundy media witch-hunt.
Dave Goodman, who was still working with the band as live soundman, was invited
back to record another demo session. No Future, Problems,
Pretty Vacant, New York, Liar & EMI
were recorded at these sessions. No Future & New York
are included here. This would be the last recordings with Glen Matlock on bass.
These sessions together with the previous July 1976 Denmark St sessions would
be immortalised on the legendary Spunk bootleg LP.
--------------------------------------------------------
Satellite
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music Ltd
EMI Unlimited Edition
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published
by Warner Chappell Music Ltd
Seventeen
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music Ltd
No
Feelings
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music
Ltd
Submission
(version #1)
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell
Music Ltd
Chris Thomas Never Mind the Bollocks Outtakes
Produced by Chris
Thomas
Engineered by Bill Price
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London, May-August
1977
The
release of the Sex Pistols debut album was delayed for months due to a variety
of reasons. Most namely due to the constant change in record companies throughout
early 1977. As the Pistols found it harder and harder to play live in the summer
of 1977 they ended up in the studio more and more. Recording, re-recording, overdubbing
or mixing the same tracks over and over again with producer Chris Thomas and engineer
Bill Price. The tracks included here are various outtakes of these sessions. Although
similar to the eventual NMTB versions, you can spot the subtle change
in overdubs and approach. Especially on Submission. A looser version
mixed by Rotten with (a little of) Sids help.
Disc
3 - Live at Screen on the Green 76, plus live rarities
Anarchy In The UK
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner
Chappell Music Ltd
I Wanna Be Me
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell
Music Ltd
Seventeen
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell
Music Ltd
New York
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell
Music Ltd
(Dont Give Me) No Lip
Thomas/Richards
Published by Shapiro
Bernstein & Co Ltd
(Im Not Your) Stepping Stone
Boyce/Hart
Published by Screen-Gems-EMI
Music Ltd
Satellite
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell
Music Ltd
Submission
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell
Music Ltd
Liar
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music
Ltd
No Feelings
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell
Music Ltd
Substitute
Pete Townsend
Published by Fabulous Music Ltd
Pretty Vacant
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell
Music Ltd
Problems
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell
Music Ltd
Did You No Wrong
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner
Chappell Music Ltd
No Fun
The Stooges
Published by Warner Chappell Music Ltd
Previously
unreleased live show recorded at Islington, Screen on the Green Cinema, 29.8.76
Never
one for convention, the Sex Pistols booked the Screen on the Green cinema in Londons
Islington for an all-nighter. On a Sunday night. The Sex Pistols headline amongst
a weird mixture of Kenneth Anger films, a disco, and other live bands. Buzzcocks
make their London debut, and so do The Clash...
The cinema isnt licensed
to sell alcohol so everyone is running around with spiked orange crush. The lack
of alcohol and fact the Sex Pistols arent set to take the stage till around
3am makes for a long night. To set the tone the Pistols begin their set by making
a god awful racket, shouting at everyone to wake up!
During the show Rotten
breaks his tooth on the microphone. Howling in pain, he asks the crowd in vain
if anyone has found his tooth, and then appeals for painkillers. John breaking
his tooth adds an extra anger and energy to the show. Although a little raw around
the edges the gig recorded two months before the band even got a record
contract should finally put an end to the myth the Sex Pistols couldnt play.
Its often cited by people who saw the band live as one of their best gigs,
judge for yourself...
--------------------------------------------------------
Understanding
Lane/Marriott
Published by Fanfare Music Ltd
Previously unreleased track recorded live at London, Nashville Rooms, 3.4.76
Understanding
the B-side of the Small Faces All or Nothing single, was a regular
of the early Sex Pistols repertoire until spring 1976. The band had been playing
the track in rehearsals along with another Small Faces track Whatcha
Gonna Do About It for sometime. However, Rotten, not exactly the
biggest Faces fan, soon decided one Faces number was more than enough!
Flowers
of Romance #1
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell
Music Ltd
Previously unreleased track recorded live at London, 100 Club, 29.6.76
Flowers...
#2
Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten
Published by Warner Chappell Music Ltd
Previously unreleased track recorded live at Birmingham, Barbarellas, 14.8.76
Flowers,
or The Flowers of Romance, has an almost mythical reputation amongst
Sex Pistols followers. Only performed a handful of times at early live gigs, it
was also the name of Sid Vicious first band. Later the name was used as
a single and album title for John Lydons Public Image Ltd.
Flowers
was never really meant to be a proper Sex Pistols song. It was meant
as declaration of intent at the beginning of the set. Basically a tuneless racket
with Rotten spouting off on top. It was a clever way of getting the attention
of the audience, and also a double edged piss-take at the journalists who reckoned
the band couldnt play. Two versions are included here, both very different.
The first version was once likened to Muds Dynamite, see what
you think! The second version sounds like nothing on this planet!
Despite
the drop in sound quality for these tracks, they are an important document of
band who couldnt care less what the audience thought.
Belsen Was a Gas
Cook/Jones/Rotten/Vicious
Published by Warner
Chappell Music Ltd
Previously unreleased track recorded live at Dallas,
Longhorns Ballroom, USA, 10.1.78
Arguably
the most controversial song the Pistols ever played. Belsen Was a Gas
is the only self-penned Rotten-era Sex Pistols track never recorded. (A rough
demo was recorded by John Boogie Tiberi at the bands Denmark
St rehearsal room in late 1977, but has long since disappeared).
Originally
written by Sid Vicious for his Flowers of Romance bedroom band, circa
1976. Belsen resurfaced in the Pistols set with reworked lyrics from
Rotten in late 1977. This version from the bands ill fated 1978 US tour
says it all...
Text
©2002 Scott Murphy. With
thanks to Virgin Records.
©2003
Phil Singleton / www.sex-pistols.net
All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced without permission.