Sex Pistols - The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle

When you do a quick search of ‘The Sex Pistols’ on Amazon, you’ll find over a hundred results. Pretty impressive for a band that only managed one full-length during their two-and-a-half years together.
Of course, the primary reason why there’s such an influx of posthumous Pistols releases is because Never Mind The Bullocks is an undeniable classic album; not one track sucks and not one record collection should be without it.
So it’s no surprise that people who absolutely love Bullocks will go out of their way to find some sort of additional revelation, rehearsal, or lost track that the band might have laid to tape during their brief existence.
The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle was the Sex Pistols’ first official posthumous release, if you allow the notion that a Malcolm McLaren project could be considered “official.” You’ve got to hand it to the guy: he never lied to fans that his ultimate intention was to swindle them, and that’s exactly what this soundtrack album does.
Oh, did I neglect to mention that The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle was a movie too?
Indeed. And it’s an even bigger piece of shit than the soundtrack itself.
Spanned over a two record set is, essentially, a half-dozen “true” Sex Pistols songs, most of which are outtakes and cover versions. Hardly revelatory, the songs instead point to the overlooked admission that the band was a pretty good rock band that had a fairly respectable list of influences (Chuck Berry, The Modern Lovers, and The Who).
“But they don’t even finish them!” You say.
Professionalism aside, it’s a hell of a lot more fun than the symphonic versions of “God Save The Queen” or “EMI” that are included, or Ten Pole Tudor’s retarded version of “Who Killed Bambi.”
Or a Pistols disco-medley titled “Black Arabs.”
Or Malcolm McLaren self-indulgent “You Need Hands.”
Or some French street performers’ rendition of “Anarchy.”
Or the Paul Cook and Steve Jones’ notion that they could continue on the Sex Pistols name by simply replacing Rotten with the Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs on lead vocals.
Yeah, he makes a couple of appearances too; It’s as stupid as you could imagine.
Various Pistols contribute some solo material, all of which is fairly pedestrian with the exception of the infamous version of “My Way” by Sid Vicious. The single version included here is a hoot, and his rendition of “C’Mon Everybody” and “Something Else” only reaffirms Sid’s musical deficiency (he can’t carry a tune and he doesn’t play a note on any of these tracks).
“Belsen Was A Gas,” a (ironically) Vicious-penned Pistols outtake, also makes an appearance and it may qualify as being one of the most frightening tracks that the band has ever done.
With just a handful of arguably worthy tracks, Swindle manages to sink lower that even its title would suggest. Devoid of power, lacking the humor it desperately tries to achieve, The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle is not only first official Sex Pistol release after the band’s crash; it’s also punk rock’s first novelty record.