NEVER MIND THE BANS

Disc One:  (Sex Pistols Manchester, December 9th, 1976)  1. Anarchy In The U.K., 2. I Wanna Be Me, 3. Seventeen, 4. Stepping Stone, 5. Satellite, 6. Submission, 7. Substitute, 8. No Feelings, 9. Stop Gobbing, 10. Liar, 11. Pretty Vacant, 12. God Save The Queen, 13. Problems   (The Clash, Manchester, December 9th, 1976):  14. White Riot, 15. Bored With The USA, 16. London's Burning, 17. Hate And War, 18. Protex Blue, 19. Career Opportunities, 20. Cheat, 21. 48 Hours, 21. Janie Jones, 22. 1977

Disc Two:  1. Today Programme, 2. Statement by Derbyshire County Council, 3. Malcom McLaren Interviewed on Yorkshire TV, 4. Interview wth the Dean of Leeds Polytechnic,  (Sex Pisols, Leeds Polytechnic, December 6, 1976): 5. Anarchy In The U.K., 6. I Wanna Be Me, 7. Seventeen, 8. Stepping Stone, 13. God Save The Queen, 14. Substitute, 15. No Feelings, 16. Liar, 17. Pretty Vacant, 18. Problems, 19. Demonstration at Sex Pistols Anarchy Tour, Caerphilly Gig in Wales  (Buzzcocks, Manchester, December 9th, 1976) Tracks 20-30

An interesting snapshot from a time and place where the punk "movement" was in full agitation.  There is plenty of attitude, apprehension, nonsense, vulgarity and of course...some music too. Imagine being anywhere near this action!  The "Anarchy In The U.K. Tour" featured not only The Pistols, along with The Clash but second on the bill was The Damned, Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers...and then of course, The Buzzcocks for a few dates as well.  Incredible when you look back on it now.  This release documents a few of the moments in the lives of those involved with these audio recordings...AND with the assimilation of poster art, interview fragments, quotes and pictures featured on the 6-panel foldout cover which is really great.

The set houses a couple of very marginal audience recordings that sometimes sound like they are being recorded from in the bathroom or outside the venue!  These are pretty marginal mono recordings but are again, very interesting to sample.  Sample, because I don't think many can actually listen to these discs in their entirety with much enthusiasm.  The interviews with some local authorities and whacked-out Pistols' Mgr. Malcolm McLaren featured on Disc 2 give the set the legitimacy of that old "document of historical nature" and the feeling of an event or a time in which these characters were purposely volatile to provoke a reaction.  And, it worked for a time.