Sex Pistols - Spunk (Bonus Track Edition) (1977)

In the fall of 1977, the Sex Pistols were the most infamous rock band in the U.K., beloved by rock & roll upstarts for their stripped-down, angry sound and outlaw attitude, while they were also hated by people who disliked their open disrespect for authority, hygiene, the Royal Family, and the accepted rules of British show business. The Sex Pistols were soon to release their wildly anticipated first album, Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols, when a mysterious bootleg, Spunk, appeared in hipper record shops. As it happened, Spunk collected the original demo recordings of the Sex Pistols' best-known songs, as recorded by their soundman Dave Goodman and featuring original bassist Glen Matlock before he was sacked in favor of Sid Vicious. While the Pistols' label, Virgin Records, quickly jumped in to halt distribution of Spunk, the bootleg soon gained a reputation as a classic punk artifact, capturing the Sex Pistols in raw but powerful form. Years after the fact, Spunk was given an authorized release (the same material also appeared on a semi-legit album titled No Future UK?), and while the album lacks the focus and clarity of Never Mind the Bollocks, without the many layers of guitar overdubs that buffered the official recordings, Spunk certainly has a certain breathless energy and spontaneity that comes closer to the impact of their explosive live shows (and given that most live Sex Pistols bootlegs from their original run sound abysmal, the rough but very listenable audio of these tracks is a welcome alternative). Never Mind the Bollocks is the definitive Sex Pistols effort, but Spunk is a more than worthy supplement, a rough draft that catches a few important virtues that were blurred in the final edit.