Sex Pistols
We Have Cum For Your Children/ Wanted: The Goodman Tapes
[Creativeman]
Rating: 1.9
"The Sex Pistols," Dave Goodman, the band's one time soundman and producer,
posits, "[are] a band that became a major milestone in musical history,
comparable only to the Beatles, Elvis Presley and Beethoven." While the
audacity of this statement certainly warrants a scoff, those arguing that
Pistols' peers are a bit less exclusive are correct-- the truth of its basic
thrust cannot be debated. The Sex Pistols spearheaded the late seventies'
British punk scene and while their ultimate limitations as artists prevented
them from making an album as fully realized as either the Clash's self- titled
release or London Calling, they still survive as that period's most
indelible image. Twenty years later, their filthy handprints stain the walls
of nearly every room of the pop music house. Their biting nihilism lit the
fire that burned in Kurt Cobain's belly just as much as promoter Malcolm
McLaren's revolutionary concept of band as marketing vehicle bore the Spice
Girls.
The Goodman Tapes, a collection of outtakes, interviews and live cuts
amassed from Goodman's archives, propounds to document
the band's early years, but unfortunately falls quite short of the task.
The demos and live cuts, excepting "Unlimited Supply," which later appeared
on Never Mind The Bollocks as "EMI," exhibit sound quality unfit for proper
release and the snotty interviews that once fueled a revolution
of sorts are today tired and irrelevant.
Exacerbating these shortcomings is
the album's structure, which lacks any coherent flow. Interviews and radio
promos provide interludes and even interrupt tracks haphazardly, giving the
entire collection a sense of purposelessness. The unreleased tracks neither
increase the Sex Pistols' legend, nor provide historic insight. The live
selections are barely audible and, with the exception of the album's fierce
unlisted track, are available in better rendition on Never Mind The
Bullocks. The demos, most of which are also better served on the Pistols'
1977 masterpiece, were best left in the vault.
To properly serve the artist, a posthumous or late career release of
backlogged material must either stand on its own merits or provide yet
uncovered understanding. That these goals seem nearly impossible in the
failure of The Goodman Tapes is a testament to the quality of the Sex
Pistols' released work. But if that's the case, what's the point here?
Filthy Lucre? Well, I'm not buying.
-Neil Lieberman