The earliest known live recordings of the Sex Pistols (often referred to as ‘The Savage Young Pistols’), the bulk of which were recorded at the Nashville Rooms in London in April 1976, just five months into the band's live career, stand as a damning indictment of the 18 months that would follow. Already, the majority of the band's repertoire is firmly in place; already, the incendiary assault that would characterise their career has been perfected. Only the absence of the still-unwritten "Anarchy in the U.K." and "God Save the Queen" prevents one from writing off the rest of their life as a sheer waste of time. Of course, the media circus that would soon attach itself to the band was scarcely conducive to creativity but, while the Pistols' own insistence on playing up to their image, rather than getting on with the music, might be understandable, it's still infuriating. Comparable to a great tape of the unsigned Stones or Beatles (hence the alternative title, a play on the Hamburg-era Savage Young Beatles collection), The Nashville Tapes showcases a classic and classically inventive rock band in the making, tearing up the rule book as Johnny Rotten's anti-voice yelping rises above the thrashing maelstrom to signpost rock's next direction. If they hadn't been derailed, who knows what could have happened?
1 Did You No Wrong 3:13
2 No Lip 3:48
3 Seventeen 2:26
4 New York 3:27
5 Watcha Gonna Do About It 4:05
6 I’m Not Your Stepping Stone 3:15
7 Submission 3:48
8 Satellite 3:51
9 No Feelings 2:53
10 Pretty Vacant 3:27
11 No Fun 5:27
12 Substitute 2:05
13 Problems 4:21
14 Understanding 4:17
15 Problems 3:24
16 No Feelings 2:29
17 Pretty Vacant 1:57
18 Anarchy In The UK 5:34
19 I Wanna Be Me 3:05
20 Liar 3:10
21 No Feelings 2:48