The Swindle goes on
A new UK singles chart entry at Number 69 is Land Of Hope & Glory by The Ex Pistols (line-up: ‘Rotten Johnny’, ‘Pull Cock’, ‘Steal Jones’ and ‘Posh Pen Bollocks’). Music Week swallows the line that it’s a ’76 Sex Pistols recording refused a release by publishers Boosey & Hawkes, but close listeners smell a rat. In time it’s revealed to be a wheeze recorded in 1979 of sort-of soundalikes, possibly from Cambridge punks The Sinix, by former Pistols producer Dave Goodman. Goodman puts out other brazen soundalikes – ’88’s The Swindle Continues mixes tracks by both groups, while ’92’s Deny has Tony Barber, later of the Buzzcocks, on the sleeve – until a stern talking to from the Pistols’ lawyers obliges him to desist.