As there still seem to be some kinda confusion over these recordings among the younger Sex Pistols fans here's a run through the songs and vinyls credited to the Sex Pistols and/or the Ex Pistols etc that in fact has nothing to do with the real band. All records here were released through original Sex Pistols soundman and producer Dave Goodman, who also played on the fake recordings. To be fair to him he has also released a lot of good real SEX PISTOLS recordings previously unavailable.
The first fake Sex Pistols recording released and this one had a lot of us fooled in the beginning even though the band is credited as the Ex Pistols. Backed by Flowers Of Romansk (NOT Flowers Of Romance) it was out as a 7'', a 7'' pic disc and a 12''. A ltd ed promotional t-shirt were also issued in 1984 (I didn't scan it 'cause it's the same as the 7'' front cover).
The A-side would have been a pretty good punk rock version of Elgar's song, if it hadn't been for the annoying London Synthphoney (NOT Symphony) Orchestra parts played by Goodman and Dave Rose.
Goodman got David Spiers (voc) and Dan Wiseman (gtr) from The Sinix to record the punk parts in 1979 or 1980. Chris 'Panic' Free (gtr) and Andrew Bor (dr) of The Users may also have been involved, though that's just a rumour.
A Jock McDonald SEX PISTOLS compilation album of Goodman live and studio recordings, mostly from the Burton On Trent gig on September 24 1976.
The version of Anarchy In The UK here is however not the Sex Pistols, but not really a fake either. It's simply the PiL live version from their appearance at UK TV show The Tube October 28 1983. As John didn't have much of a band left then this version isn't very good. I think he himself once referred to it as The Cabaret Version.
A US/Canadian SEX PISTOLS compilation album that includes the non-Sex Pistols track Schools Are Prisons (see DENY LP below). It didn't fool anyone. There's also a TV ad for the Australian Sex Pistols compilation album COLLECTION (TELEMARK 1988) that too included some fake songs like Dancing On The Dole. The PIRATES album is well worth finding as it has the original untouched Oct 17 1976 Wessex Studio recordings (minus No Fun) that Paul and Steve later overdubbed in 1978 for the Swindle soundtrack (with Goodman engineering, I might ad).
Pink/white marbled vinyl in a gatefold sleeve. Also released as Cassette and CD.
WANTED: THE GOODMAN TAPES LP (SKYCLAD 1988)
Again a US/Canadian SEX PISTOLS compilation album that includes a non-Sex Pistols track. This time it's Revolution In The Classroom, presented here as an 'ultrarare mystery track'. Can't have been that much of a mystery to Dave Goodman though, as he plays on it... (see DENY LP below). Most of the real stuff on this LP have been released over and over again, but it does have a demo version of the Steve and Paul song Here We Go Again.
Also released as Cassette and CD.
Side A and B are the real thing. Side C and D (credited to the Ex Pistols) have a number of non-Sex Pistols tracks on them - Revolution In The Classroom, Judging Minds and Dancing On The Dole from the DENY recordings, plus an unplugged version of Anarchy In The UK.
Then there's a medley of Sex Pistols songs called Sex On 45. This dates back to c:a 1981, when Andy Blade of Eater was working for Goodman's The Label, and they did the Tribute To The Heroes Of 1977 recording. This song, recorded by the Sinix (Dan Wiseman - guitar, David Speirs - vocals and Andrew Bor - drums) with Goodman on bass, was previously unreleased, though another number called Punks On 45 (not on this record) featuring Andy Blade singing, came out with the band being dubbed The Friendly Hopefuls. (Also see Dan Wiseman's comment in the Letters To The Editor section).
Finally there's The Swindle Continues; a song based on the Great Rock'N'Roll Swindle title track, which was most likely recorded during the DENY sessions.
Worth finding for the great colour pictures from the river boat trip June 7 1977 and a different version of Paul's take on Silly Thing.
Released in Japan.
This US/Canadian single is backed by Schools Are Prisons and credited to the Sex Pistols even though they have nothing to do with either of the songs. My copy is red vinyl but I've seen it in blue too. A pretty pointless release as the 2 songs were already available. Trying to pass it off as a genuine Sex Pistols recording was simply insulting.
The worst of all the records here. Dave Goodman took his soundboard recording of the Sept 17 1976 gig at the Chelmsford Maximum Security Prison and completely ruined it with overdubs. There's a non-Steve Jones guitar and Goodman's own extra basslines added to the songs and a very bad John sound-alike (sometimes on top of the real John!) pretending to sing parts of the songs, insult the audience and incite a prison riot. To top things off Goodman used the sound from a Sean Penn prison film to illustrate this ''riot'' between the songs.
At the time of this release the Chelmsford gig was a much sought-after item and it was well known among fans that Goodman had a good soundboard recording of it. Let's just say that we were all extremely disapointed when we got this album. It can't have fooled a single person - the riot-soundtrack has a completely different sound and you can easily hear when it's on or off. My neighbour's dog could do a better John that this joker.
(The SEX PISTOLS - LIVE AT CHELMSFORD PRISON CD (DOJO 1992) has the recording without these overdubs, even though it plays the songs in the wrong order just as the fake LP. Get that one and avoid the above LP like the plague. Note: One version of Anarchy In The UK - played twice this day - plus some between-songs banter are missing from both releases).
A 14-track LP in a ldt edition of 649 individually numbered copies of which 500 came in a sleeve. Mine is no 000 183.
At least they didn't pretend that this was the real thing, even though Glen Matlock plays on two of the songs and co-wrote one - Happy Families (his excuse is the well-used classic 'I was drunk'). The album was not sold but given away to people with an interest in the Sex Pistols. The band also put copies on the racks at record stores like Tower and Virgin Megastore with a 'free album' sticker on them much to peoples' confusion. Of course it's nowhere near the real thing but it is actually a pretty good album that could have done ok without all the Sex Pistols references.
The band included ex-Doll By Doll members like Dave McIntosh (guitar) and was recorded in early 1988 at the time when Matlock and Goodman were producing the Concrete Bulletproof Invisible 12'' and McIntosh and Matlock were working with the Gang Show project. Vocals was done by one Tony Rotten, rumoured to be Tony Barber (Buzzcocks / Matlock / Boys Wonder etc).
The songs are: We're Dancing On The Dole / The Great British Weekend / Cliches / Nicotine Addict / Daily Life / Can't See The Bars 'Till We Try To Get Out / Factory / Don't Fear That Your Life Will Come To An End Only Fear That It Won't Begin / Schools Are Prisons / Judging Minds / Boasting / Revolution In The Classroom / Happy Families and an un-named song.
All copies came with a lyric sheet. Produced by - you guessed it - Dave Goodman.
SEX PISTOLS books and records reviewed in REVIEWS sections!
More SEX PISTOLS through-out the SUMMER OF HATE.
