The Sex Pistols’ US Tour in Vinyl Bootlegs: ‘FIRST US ShOW!’: ODD TWO / ‘ROT-N-ROLL’:K&S 023 / ‘PISTOLS SHOCK USA!’ / ‘Welcome To the Rodeo’: SP 2800 / ‘GUN CONTROL’: SP 2900 / ‘SEX PISTOLS FILE’ 4 LP Box

5 January 1978     Atlanta, GA  (Alex Cooley’s) Great Southeast Music Hall (First show of the tour)

All ODD TWO LP’s found with green ‘VON GROSSENSHUSS’  labels

Side 1  God Save The Queen / I Wanna Be Me / Seventeen / New York / Bodies / Submission
Side 2  Holidays In The Sun / EMI / No Feelings / Problems / Pretty Vacant / Anarchy In The USA

Audience recording. Sound quality: ?

Notes from THE Sex Pistols vinyl bootleg site. http://www.philjens.plus.com/pistols/pistols/pistols_bootlegs_vinyl.htm 

(which can still use some improvements, additions & clarifications and I hope I can add to that here)

USA LP. Plain white sleeve with yellow insert and WL [no sightings with a white label that I know of]. Released in 1979 [ if that is correct, that would date all the releases found with the Von Grossenshuss label].
European ’80’s repress of ODD TWO stated the wrong date. Came in a plain white sleeve with a wraparound blue A3 xerox. Light blue label with black lettering.  
German repress of ODD TWO came in plain white sleeve with a dark blue A4 insert. B&W labels.

Which version is this?

Repressed as K&S 023 on mcv PVC and also without the K&S logo on black PVC.

Another reissue of the ODD TWO master happened on Pistols Shock USA! – not to be confused with the 1984 European bootleg Shock USA!

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10 January 1978     Dallas, TX     Longhorn Ballroom

Also available with Ruthless Rhymes, bronze colored blank, yellow RECORD 1 – SIDE 1 – and reissued with Full Tilt labels. An eBay seller wrote: “To make it even more rare the label on the actual lp reads Serious Endeavour on Full Tilt Records which I believe was an early Clash bootleg LP”. Fact is that all FT labels are the same and say this, regardless of the performer.

Then, there is the ‘picture labels edition’:

Matrix: SP 2800 – A/B Re-1

philjens.plus.com says: Notes. Two pressings. 1) Black & white glued insert. 2) Red cover. [Must be the Full Tilt re-issue shown above]
USA LP. Also SP 2800, came with a 30 cm X 30 cm xerox cover not glued on the plain white sleeve. This version was sold only in the UK initially. There is a difference on the cover, with the ‘Made In England’ [‘Printed in England’ – as visible on the far left] line removed. Most of the copies came with plain full bronze labels.

Side 1: Radio Advert  / God Save The Queen  / I Want To Be Me  / Seventeen / New York / E.M.I. / Bodies         
Side 2: No Feelings  / Problems  / Pretty Vacant  / Anarchy In The U.K. / No Fun

Set list:

01. God save the queen 4:09
02. I want to be me 4:39
03. Seventeen 3:13
04. New York 4:33
05. EMI 4:34
06. Bodies 5:02
07. Belsen was a Gas 2:13
08. Holidays in the Sun 5:21
09. No feelings 4:04
10. Problems 4:40
11. Pretty Vacant 3:56
12. Anarchy in the UK 6:19
13. No Fun 6:13
Encore break
14. Submission 4:55
15. Liar 3:47

Fan review: “This is one of the best bootlegs I own.  Capturing the Sex Pistols during their whirlwind 1978 tour of some of the United States’ most elegant saloons, this features a zonked-out Sid Vicious as court jester (at one point referring to the audience members–in Dallas, Texas, mind you–as “faggots”), essentially leaving Steve Jones in charge of all the musicianship here.  As Johnny Rotten blood-curdling voice roars an epic cover of the Stooges’ “No Fun” (which is, believe it or not, even better than the original!), Jones slashes away on this simple two-chord track as if his life depended on it, putting even Johnny Thunders’ guitarwork–the player Jones most clearly imitates–to shame.  This live album is not about musical precision: it’s about the shambolic spirit of sloppy musicianship combined with precision of passionate onstage intensity that transcends anything capable by the likes or Rush and Genesis.  This is the real shit right here.”

“A pretty good sounding recording of the show. I think the best boot of the ill-fated 1978 US tour is [the CD] “Kill the Hippies”.“

Rated as “Vgs”

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14 January 1978     San Francisco, CA     Winterland Ballroom

Notes again from the philjens.plus.com/pistols/pistols/pistols_bootlegs website [with changes ]

GUN CONTROL LP; SP2900 PLATES

Different color inserts: yellow, blue, green, orange, white, pink.
First Pressing: Ruthless Rhymes, cream labels.
Second Pressing: Ruthless Rhymes,  yellow labels. [I removed “an original first pressing” from the description, as it says that on the generic Ruthless Rhymes labels, same as the non-image side for Dragonfly always says “Number 5 In This Series”]
Third Pressing: Dragonfly Records label.

Fourth Pressing: Slipped Disc Records label. Slipped Disc logo labels
Box Set (Sex Pistols File 1976- 1978 “A Four Record Set”). Plain Cream labels.Totally new insert made. (this was then copied in the UK as Blank Tapes (UK-5 plates).

Last pressing came with a dark red & white insert with a Sid Vicious picture by Dennis Morris. Black & white pictures from Ray Stevenson’s book, ‘Sex Pistols File’, on the labels. Some copies with yellow & black insert.   

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TAKRL  # 916:

Same songs on both sides due to a mix up at the plant:

God Save The Queen / I Wanna Be Me / Seventeen / New York / E.M.I. / Belsen Was A Gas / Bodies / Holidays In The Sun

Rated “Gs”

Copies are usually found with this generic BLANK/Spunk label, that was also used on other non-Sex Pistols titles in the 900 series, as well as reissues of older TAKRL titles with b&w printed covers done around the same time.

In the US, this label is generally linked to TAKRL # 929 SEX PISTOLS – SPUNK, a copy of the European bootleg of the same name, released in August or October 1977, depending on source,  and first mentioned in the music press (Sounds) on 22 October 1977 (Matrix #s: LYN 4372-111  & LYN 4373-111.

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Sex Pistols File 4 LP box

US version produced by Ruthless Rhymes, 250copies mentioned but as Hot Wacks states many were seized in a raid on an LA area pressing plant. This may be connected to Vicky Vinyl being taken out of business in February of 1980.

Contains re-pressings of the titles: Spunk / Indecent Exposure / Welcome To The Rodeo / Gun Control

Wrap around box slip sheet. Numbered & unnumbered versions issued, not particularly rare. Numerous label versions for each record exist (more than 30 identified).

On the original numbered pressings, the bottom right corner will say :
“limited edition. – 250 sets only – This is No ____” (handwritten number entered)

• Matrix  Record 1 : BLA A / BLA B
• Matrix  Record 2 : SP6418A / SP6418B
• Matrix  Record 3 : SP2800-A Re 1 / SP2800-B Re 1
• Matrix  Record 4 : SP2900-A / SP2900-B

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US Tour Dates:

29 December 1977     Homestead     Pennsylvania     Leona Theatre     CANCELLED
31 December 1977     Chicago     Illinois     Ivanhoe Theatre     CANCELLED
1 January 1978     Cleveland     Ohio     The Agora     CANCELLED
3 January 1978     Alexandria     Virginia     Alexandria Roller Rink     CANCELLED
5 January 1978     Atlanta     Georgia     Great Southeast Music Hall
6 January 1978     Memphis     Tennessee     Taliesyn Ballroom
8 January 1978     San Antonio     Texas     Randy’s Rodeo
9 January 1978     Baton Rouge     Louisiana     Kingfish Club
10 January 1978     Dallas     Texas     Longhorn Ballroom
12 January 1978     Tulsa     Oklahoma     Cain’s Ballroom     [the only venue that still exists today]
14 January 1978     San Francisco     California     Winterland Ballroom

FLEETWOOD MAC ‘SIN CITY 77’ / ‘PLAY THE CITY OF ANGELS’: TAKRL 922

Matrix: MAC 1-A/B/C/D – I have only ever seen this with Ruthless Rhymes labels.

It appears that the song “Monday Morning” is missing from the set list, so this is not the complete concert after all.

From a recent needle drop torrent share: “This is in my opinion one of the finest Fleetwood Mac shows ever put on tape. Not only are you getting the group in its prime while riding high on the “Rumours” tour, you are getting a heartfelt, genuine performance as well. The entire group is at peak, with Stevie Nicks as a standout. She has never sounded better. She catapults both “Dreams” and particularly “Rhiannon” into the stars. The girl is on fire, and it shows.  …this double boot LP along with the Jethro Tull title “A Sack Full Of Trousersnakes” sold out very quickly and was repressed several times. All copies of this show ran just fast enough to make the performance sound a little sick. I’ve corrected the speed to make the the album pitch properly. Even though this was just by a small amount, it makes a huge difference in the sound quality.”

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Later re-issued as TAKRL 922 by squeezing most songs on two sides and dropping “World Turning” and all of side 4:

Unlike the original, a bootleg you can barely give away these days.

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FM live in Seattle on September 3rd that year. Photo by Bill Hansen.

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Personal memory: We only had one store in my old hometown that carried boots, “Red Star”, a communist/socialist book store in the old part of town. They got the 2LP set in and put it up on the wall, must have been late 1978 or in ’79 and I was interested but couldn’t afford it. A class mate of mine went in and listened to it and didn’t like it because it sounded like it was recorded in a small club. I thought “who cares, does it sound good, that’s all that matters”. You just can’t please everybody. … Strange that I even still remember this.