Category: Sex Pistols

I bought a second-hand CD a long time ago, specifically for the purposes of having a bit of fun on the blog, and I’ve decided to use the normally quiet festive period, when the traffic and number of visitors drops quite dramatically, to go with it.

The CD was issued in 1996.  It is called Beat On The Brass, and it was recorded by The Nutley Brass, the brains of whom belong to New York musician Sam Elwitt.

The concept behind the album is simple. Take one bona-fide punk/post-punk/new wave classic and give it the easy listening treatment.

There are 18 tracks on the CD all told.  Some have to be heard to be believed.

Strap yourselves in.

mp3: The Nutley Brass – Pretty Vacant

And, just so you can appreciate the magnificence (or otherwise) of the renditions, you’ll also be able to listen to the original versions as we make our way through the CD in random order.

mp3: Sex Pistols – Pretty Vacant

Released as a single in July 1977.

NB : I’ve good news if those of you have been following this series turned out to be disappointed to find that the mp3 of the Nutley Brass version of New Rose skipped and ground to an untimely stop.  I wasn’t aware until earlier today of the problem, but I’ve now loaded up a fresh and clean copy of the file.

JC

The traffic to the blog slows up over the Festive period, and it’s therefore something of an opportunity to take a bit of a breather.

Over a period of 26 days, I’ll be posting a single never previously featured on its own before – it might have sneaked in as part of an ICA or within a piece looking at various tracks – with the idea of an edited cut’n’paste from somewhere (most likely wiki) and then all the songs from either the vinyl or CD.

P is for Pretty Vacant released by Sex Pistols as a single in July 1977.

I did think long and hard about featuring this.  I do despise everything that John Lydon has become in recent years, and the blog really should be giving him as much oxygen as it does Morrissey.  But I never invested anything near as much, emotionally and all the rest of it, in Lydon/Sex Pistols/PIL as I did with The Smiths/Morrissey, and as such, I can, in my head, make some differences.  Besides, homing in on Pretty Vacant, and extending it to the b-side, does allow some sort of link to how yesterday’s post finished off.

It was released on 2 July 1977 as the band’s third single, reaching #6 in the UK singles chart. And yes, I’m still amazed all these years later that the BBC and all other radio stations accepted that the singer was pronouncing it as ‘vacant’………….

mp3: Sex Pistols – Pretty Vacant

Here’s the b-side, seemingly a one-take in the studio, featuring a cover of a Stooges song:-

mp3 : Sex Pistols – No Fun

Talking of covers, The Ukrainians, the band fronted by Peter Solowka, formerly of The Wedding Present, did this in 2002:-

mp3: The Ukrainians – Цiлкoм Baкaнтнi

JC

mp3 : Sex Pistols – Anarchy In The UK

It’s more than 40 years since Anarchy in the UK propelled Sex Pistols into all of our lives. Recorded on 17 October 1976 and released by EMI Records on 26 November, it limped to just #38 in the singles charts. But then again, nobody was able to hear it due to a near blanket-ban on radio and TV and many of the bigger department stores, where many folk did buy their singles and albums at the time, refused to stock it.

By January 1977, the band had been fired by their label.

There would be three further singles in 1977, all of which went Top 10, before Johnny Rotten decided he’d had enough, quitting the band, dropping his punk aka for his proper name of John Lydon and forming Public Image Ltd.

This was the b-side:-

mp3 : Sex Pistols – I Wanna Be Me

Was the debut their finest 45? I really shouldn’t have to pose that question……….

JC

I’ve never posted anything featuring Sex Pistols before. Don’t know why….just never got round to it.

Seems a good time to rectify things….and I don’t think I really need any to add any words of thoughts to this song except to mention that we are fast approaching the 40th anniversary of its release. And to think that, as a teenager, I already thought of the Queen as being ancient back in 1977….she was, as I’ve just checked, 2 years younger than I am just now!

mp3 : Sex Pistols – God Save The Queen

Here’s yer rather excellent b-side:-

mp3 : Sex Pistols – Did You No Wrong

A #2 hit (of course!!!) on Virgin Records. If you want a copy of the A&M version of the single I spotted that someone was selling it on Discogs a few weeks back for £15,000.

Enjoy.