{"id":16569,"date":"2019-05-23T05:30:40","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T09:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=16569"},"modified":"2019-03-26T12:34:55","modified_gmt":"2019-03-26T16:34:55","slug":"pistols-were-a-gas-the-great-rock-n-roll-swindle-at-40-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/23\/pistols-were-a-gas-the-great-rock-n-roll-swindle-at-40-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Pistols Were a Gas: \u2018The Great Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Swindle\u2019 at 40 (Part Two)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One<\/a>…<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"The same is true\u2014even more so\u2014when the Sex Pistols attack \u201cStepping Stone.\u201d Jones changes the chords around, and Lydon flails as is his wont, but here he seems to know all of the words. The cavernous production aesthetic isn\u2019t really needed, but the tracks works on all levels. The other band members help out on the \u201cAye-yi-yi-iy-iy\u201d vocal refrain. Jones overdubs a \u201csolo\u201d of sorts that\u2019s really just a squall of feedback, but it fits nicely in this context.<\/p>\n

Another gratuitous track follows: French street musicians performing a gypsy-flavored \u201cAnarchi\u00e8 pour le U.K.\u201d As a joke, it works, but three and half minutes of \u201cAnarchi\u00e8\u201d is at least three too many.<\/p>\n

Continuing on the foreign-language theme, the next track is titled \u201cEinmal war Belsen Vortrefflich.\u201d In English, that\u2019s \u201cBelsen Was a Gas,\u201d one of the Sex Pistols\u2019 most off-color numbers. Featuring Sid Vicious on bass, the live recording dates from the group\u2019s final performance at San Francisco’s Winterland on January 14, 1978. Lyrics aside\u2014which isn\u2019t easy\u2014it\u2019s an exemplar of punk.<\/p>\n

In one of the odd soundtrack\u2019s oddest moments, yet another<\/i> version of \u201cBelsen\u201d follows. This time it\u2019s titled \u201cEinmal war Belsen wirklich Vortrefflich\u201d (\u201cBelsen Vos a Gassa\u201d) and features Ronnie Biggs, notorious as one of the gang who carried out the Great Train Robbery of 1963. Biggs escaped prison in 1965 and was in exile at the time of this recording (and, indeed, until 2001). Jones and Cook traveled to Rio de Janeiro to record the Swindle<\/i> version of this and one other tune with Biggs. He\u2019s no singer of note, but then one could argue that neither was Rotten in those days. There\u2019s nothing remotely punk about Biggs\u2019 gurgling vocal delivery, though.<\/p>\n

Side Three of The Great Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Swindle<\/i> focuses largely on material cut without any involvement by Johnny Rotten. The opening cut is \u201cSilly Thing,\u201d featuring drummer Paul Cook on lead vocal. It doesn\u2019t really sound much at all like the Pistols (well, perhaps a de-fanged version of the band), but it\u2019s a solid enough pop tune, and Cook acquits himself surprisingly well.<\/p>\n

One of the few moments of any redeeming value in the Swindle<\/i> film is a Sid Vicious showcase, a reading of Paul Anka\u2019s \u201cMy Way.\u201d The first part of the recording is built upon a lugubrious orchestral arrangement of the schmaltz classic, with Vicious camping his way through the lyrics in a mock-husky voice. After a moment or two of that nonsense, a sort of \u201corchestral punk\u201d arrangement takes over, and Vicious\u2014who, as a singer, still doesn\u2019t hold a candle to Rotten, Cook or Biggs\u2014is much more in his element. He seems to be parodying himself, and perhaps he is.<\/p>\n

\u201cI Wanna Be Me\u201d likely comes from the 1976 sessions. It\u2019s surprising that the song wasn\u2019t cut for Never Mind the Bollocks<\/i>. The band is tight, handling a mid-song full stop with accuracy, and\u2014since it\u2019s a band original\u2014Rotten seems equipped with a full set of lyrics.<\/p>\n

Next, Sid Vicious shows that \u201cMy Way\u201d notwithstanding, he can sing after a fashion. A cover of Eddie Cochran\u2019s \u201cSomething Else\u201d is quite solid. Still, it\u2019s perhaps more than a little unnerving to hear piano trilling along on a Pistols tune. For their trouble the band scored a #3 hit on the U.K. charts; the British have always had a greater appreciation for American classic rock \u2018n\u2019 roll than do Americans.<\/p>\n

Another guest vocal\u2014this time by Edward Tudor Pole \/ Ten Pole Tudor\u2014is another cover. This time it\u2019s Bill Haley and the Comets\u2019 \u201cRock Around the Clock.\u201d Tudor can\u2019t sing worth a damn, and try as they might, the Pistols sound a bit tired here.<\/p>\n

Steve Jones sings his \u201cLonely Boy.\u201d Though he\u2019d eventually do better on his solo album Mercy<\/i>, here his vocals are hopelessly weak. His lyrics aren\u2019t much better, and the rote chord changes are wholly unremarkable.<\/p>\n

Ronnie Biggs sings \u201cNo One is Innocent,\u201d a tune credited to him, Cook and Jones. Musically it sounds like nothing so much as a rewrite of any number of other Pistols tunes. Biggs\u2019 lyrics (\u201cGod save…\u201d) are meant to be funny or clever; they\u2019re neither. The chorus\u2019s unison refrain about Biggs having sold his soul for punk is almost<\/i> clever.<\/p>\n

The fourth side of Swindle<\/i> opens with another Sid Vicious vocal. Again he\u2019s covering Eddie Cochran; this time it\u2019s \u201cC\u2019mon Everybody.\u201d His lack of vocal ability doesn\u2019t work against him here; in fact it\u2019s an asset, helping to give the already-rocking tune just the right punk edge.<\/p>\n

Another hopelessly strange track is \u201cEMI (Orch),\u201d which is just what it sounds like: a strings-and-tympani reading of the track from Never Mind the Bollocks<\/i>, with Steve Jones providing a spoken-word recitation of the lyrics. As a recorded performance, it\u2019s totally without value.<\/p>\n

The title track from The Great Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Swindle<\/i> is a standard yet catchy enough pop-punk number; it features vocal contributions variously from Vicious, Cook, Jones, Tudor, McLaren and others. It probably worked better in the film than it does on record.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A spirited reading of the drinking song \u201cGood Ship Venus\u201d (retitled here as \u201cFriggin\u2019 in the Riggin\u2019\u201d) is an album highlight. The arrangement attempts to hybridize punk and orchestra music, and on that level it\u2019s reasonably successful. Americans will recognize parts of the melody as \u201cYankee Doodle Dandy.\u201d With a vocal from Steve Jones, the track was\u2014inexplicably\u2014one of the Sex Pistols\u2019 highest-ever charting singles.<\/p>\n

Even against the backdrop of the bizarre selections on Swindle<\/i>, \u201cYou Need Hands\u201d is deeply strange. Malcolm McLaren sings Max Bygraves\u2019 1958 music hall ditty while an orchestra provides support. Its inclusion seems designed to test the patience of viewers and listeners. If that\u2019s the case, mission accomplished.<\/p>\n

The Great Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Swindle<\/i> concludes with \u201cWho Killed Bambi,\u201d sung by Tudor. It sounds like a tune from a stage musical, albeit one with the worst singer possible. Depending on one\u2019s viewpoint, it\u2019s a perverse or perfect way to end this mess of an album.<\/p>\n

Upon release, Swindle<\/i> charted in the UK, eventually reaching #7 on the album charts and earning a Gold record. Six singles were released from the album, and all made it to the Top 40 in England. Intentionally uneven, confusing and confounding, The Great Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Swindle<\/i> nonetheless remains an essential part of the Sex Pistols\u2019 (uneven, confusing and confounding) legacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One… The same is true\u2014even more so\u2014when the Sex Pistols attack \u201cStepping Stone.\u201d Jones changes the chords around, and Lydon flails as is his wont, but here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,65,70,73],"tags":[1932],"class_list":["post-16569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-punk","category-review","category-soundtrack","category-vinyl","tag-sex-pistols","cat-59-id","cat-65-id","cat-70-id","cat-73-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16569"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16570,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16569\/revisions\/16570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}